IJEBR 2,3 48 Ownership redirection trends in franchising A cross-sectoral investigation Rajiv P. Dant School of Management, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA Audhesh K. Paswan School of Business, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA, and John Stanworth International Franchise Research Centre, Faculty of Business, University of Westminster, London, UK Introduction Spawned by the provocative work of Oxenfeldt and Kelly (1968) and nested within organizational life-cycle theory, the subject of ownership redirection in franchising has attracted considerable attention from scholars across a variety of disciplines. It has been examined from diverse perspectives including its socio-economic implications (Hunt, 1972; Ozanne and Hunt, 1971), its legal implications (Hunt and Nevin, 1975, 1976; Scammon and Sheffet, 1986; Sheffet and Scammon, 1985, 1986; Strasser, 1986), its impact on selection, training and control (Trombetta and Page, 1978; Wattel, 1968), and its public policy ramifications (Dant et al., 1992). In addition to Oxenfeldt and Kelly’s work, broad-based institutional frameworks like transaction cost economics (see Williamson, 1975, 1985) and agency theory (see Bergen et al. , 1992; Fama and Jensen, 1983a, 1983b) have sometimes been invoked in attempts to predict and explain ownership redirection patterns. The net result has been a rich stream of conceptual as well as empirical literature spanning 25 years. Recently, Dant et al . (1996a) have systematically attempted to review this empirical literature from a meta-analytic perspective. The ownership redirection thesis in franchising points to the premise that franchising and franchisees may simply be a short-term, early stage, development feature in the growth patterns of certain service-oriented businesses in Western (and increasingly global) economics. Once financial, human capital and local market intelligence resources are no longer at a premium, the (now former) franchisor will prefer to adopt more conventional growth strategies (e.g. opening company branches) in order to meet future challenges and the needs of future growth. W hile this debate has been waged for over 25 years now, it shows few, if any, signs of abating. The literature on ownership redirection is typified by several unresolved conceptual and methodological issues. For instance, theory construction for International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 2 No. 3, 1996, pp. 48-67. © MCB University Press, 1355-2554