In recent years, the business model of “franchising” has grown rapidly in Macao and elsewhere. There has been a significant increase in the number of franchising business opportunities in food and beverages, retail and tourism related industries. In view of this trend, the International Tourism Research Centre, IFT is collaborating with Oxford Brookes University, UK to do a joint research on identifying factors that can help current and potential Macao franchisees to be successful in this field.. The seminar on “Successful International Franchise Partnerships” was held at IFT today and attended by more than 30 participants comprising of business men, entrepreneurs and representatives from the small business sector of Macao. In attendance were also representatives from the Macao Economic Services and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. Two speakers of the seminar, Drs Levent Altinay and Maureen Brookes, both from Oxford Brookes University, have been involved in franchising and entrepreneurship research over a long period. They are among the foremost scholars in the area of franchising and entrepreneurship as well as service management. Altinay’s research is concerned with socio-cultural issues associated with the management of strategic alliances and has contributed to the understanding of identifying and selecting franchise partners in different country markets. Brookes’ research has focused on international market entry strategies, including franchise and alliance agreements and the design and relational issues that underpin the management of the inter-organisational forms created. Both have expertise in using mixed methods. Their research expertise and skills will be crucial in the conceptualisation of ideas, the development of research instruments and in the analysis of the findings. A third speaker of the seminar, Dr. Ruth Yeung, Assistant Professor of IFT, spoke about the current status and needs of the franchise business sector of Macao. The seminar covered introduction of franchising, types of international business format franchises, advantages and disadvantages analysis on franchising, and case studies of international successful franchising examples etc. Furthermore, the speakers shared the results of their research and hosted an in-depth discussion involving the audience in order to bring interactions to the seminar. The seminar is one of the celebration activities of IFT’s 15th Anniversary. The purpose is to promote franchising business model, and to create a platform for the franchising operators in various industries to gather ideas and exchange experiences, as a result helping franchising business development in Macao, which in turns helps to promote Macao as an international tourism city.
