Research on MicroFranchising

By David Stoker, Guest Author

While the concept of microfranchising sounds simple and exciting, and successful models are starting to emerge, there are endless opportunities for research in methodology and impact evaluation. One university that is dedicating specific resources to researching the field of microfranchising is Brigham Young University in Utah. Their business school houses a Center for Economic Self-Reliance which conducts research with partnering organizations to help families become economically self-reliant. They have a specific MicroFranchising Initiative and have published a series entitled “Where There Are No Jobs” which consist of handbooks for business training of microentrepreneurs and case studies of microfranchises.

They are also sponsoring the publication of a new book that is currently coming off the presses called, MicroFranchising: Creating Wealth at the Bottom of the Pyramid authored by Jason Fairbourne, Stephen Gibson, and W. Gibb Dyer. My copy is yet to arrive but I look forward to reading their outlook and forecast of the movement.

I am personally aware of a number of organizations that are experimenting with the concept and hopefully integrate monitoring and evaluation into their models to help all of us learn from their experiences.

In the last Post: My forecast of immediate needs