Abstract

As franchise industry has grown, the role of a supervisor who is a contact point between franchisor and franchisees has become more vital to success of the business. This research, focusing on his/her specific role, explores communication type, leadership type, and followership type of the supervisor in relations with the organization, franchisor, and franchisees, respectively. Furthermore, we compared performance of franchises by the three types above through the franchise contract management leverage (FCML) which reflects business performance both qualitatively and quantitatively. According to the analysis on supervisors of a franchise business, 'Ganiyeok', the majority of supervisors' communication type were either supportive style or directive style. For the leadership type, team-type and impoverished-type leaders were the majority, while effective or passive followership appeared highest in followership type. In addition, supportive supervisors in communication style, team-type supervisors in leadership style, and effective supervisors in followership had highest FCML, while reflective and directive styles, impoverished style, and passive style had lowest FCML. Primary goal of a franchise business is stable profit generation. This study not only examined what characteristics supervisors need and which style is insufficient, but also proposed tailored solutions for each style. Thus, we confirmed that debates on franchise can be approached in perspective of both communication and business, and we further suggest diverse approaches on future franchise business.