The Effect of Franchising on Store Performance: Evidence from an Ownership Change
利用2007年Applebee's公司出售得州直营店给加盟商的外生变化，研究发现加盟后门店酒类收入增加15%，解决了此前因选址选择偏差难以估计特许经营效果的问题。
Although many franchisors choose to own some stores and franchise others, attempts to estimate the effect of franchising on store performance are hampered by an important selection issue: The franchisor may choose to assign the least desirable locations to franchisees. I overcome this issue by using a 2007 corporate sale that resulted in all franchisor-owned Applebee’s stores in Texas being sold to franchisees as a source of exogenous variation. I first find evidence that both observable and unobservable location-level factors were important in Applebee’s decision to own or franchise a store prior to the corporate sale. I next estimate the effect of franchising on store performance and find that franchising an Applebee’s store increases its alcohol revenues by 15%. This paper was accepted by Joshua Gans, business strategy.