Franchise partner selection decision making Levent Altinay aà and Fevzi Okumus b a Business School, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK; b Rosen College of Hospitality Management, The University of Central Florida, Universal Boulevard, Orlando, 32819 FL, USA (Received 16 January 2008; final version received 3 July 2008) This paper aims to investigate international franchise partner selection from the perspective of different decision making models and analyse the influence of organisational factors on the franchise selection decision making. Empirical data were collected from a leading international hotel group through multiple data collection methods. The research findings indicate that the participant organisation mainly exploits a processual approach to decision making. Power over the decision making shifts to different levels where the necessary information can best be accumulated and interpreted in different stages of the process. Different organisational parameters interact and exert influence upon each other while a franchise organisation decides to choose the most appropriate franchise partner. Keywords: franchising; decision making; strategy; leadership; communication; structure Introduction Research on international franchising highlights the importance of partner selection since failing to select the ‘right’ partner is a major cause of failure of collaborative relationships leading to adverse monetary and strategic effects (Madhok & Tallman, 1998; Todeva & Knoke, 2005). A central issue for the franchisors is to select franchisees who will adopt a system-wide standard perspective for their individual activities and will contribute to the attainment of franchise system goals (Taylor, 2000). This is paramount to the success of the franchise system because franchising essentially involves the transfer of a pre-established standard business format from the franchisor to franchisees (Grant, 1985). Poor franchise recruitment can lead to de-motivation and lack of commitment on the part of the franchisee and refusal to follow the franchise system (Dewhurst & Burns, 1993). Few studies have investigated partner selection with particular reference to franchis- ing. For example, Jambulingan and Nevin (1999) examined the relationship between key franchisee selection criteria such as financial capability, experience and management skills, demographic characteristics, and attitudes towards business dimensions. Clarkin and Swavely (2006) examined the importance of franchisees’ personal characteristics such as financial strength, attitudes and personality, psychological profiling, formal education, general business experience, and industry-specific experience. Doherty and Alexander (2004) identified the importance of relationships and in particular, the role of ‘chemistry’ in franchise partner selection. These studies have contributed to the under- standing of criteria for selecting prospective franchisees. However, little is still known ISSN 0264-2069 print/ISSN 1743-9507 online # 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/02642060802322275 http://www.informaworld.com à Corresponding author. Email: laltinay@brookes.ac.uk The Service Industries Journal Vol. 30, No. 6, June 2010, 929–946