You are here: Knowledge, Learning and Capabilities in Franchise Organizations > Roles of Information Technology

ROLES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

So far, we discuss how the franchise knowledge is organized, the drivers enabling the franchise organizations to learn, and how franchise capabilities are developed.  In this section, we discuss what information technology can do to support effective management of knowledge, learning, and capabilities in franchise organizations.  Table 3 shows an Intranet-based franchise working knowledge repository, consisting of two classifications: (1) working knowledge level for the collaborative team, the franchisee outlet, the franchisor headquarters, and the franchise community; and (2) user skill levels, including Beginner in the Courting Phase, Novice in the “We”-Phase, Advanced in the “Me”-Phase, Master in the Rebel Phase, and Professional in the Renewal Stage of franchisee life cycle.  The foundation of the framework is the working knowledge of the five crucial elements – Knowledge, Attitude, Motivation, Individual Behavior, and Group Behavior – used by the collaborative team, to effectively influence others in building the franchise “family” relationship.  The working knowledge profiles at the franchisee outlet, the franchisor headquarters, and the franchise community can be modularized according to user’s level.  An Intranet-based curriculum of working knowledge modules can then be designed for the users to learn the profiles effectively.  The franchise capabilities, structured in the working knowledge repository, enable the Professional franchisees to work with the franchisor to continuously improve and leverage the current franchise working knowledge.     

For the Intranet-based franchise repository to work, two foundational information technologies are needed: data collection and data analysis.  Franchise working knowledge is generally accumulated from analytical information derived from the raw data obtained from the franchise business environment.  Volumes of data are collected every day by various applications systems in the franchise business.  Consider the front office operation system at the franchisee outlet.  At the end of each business transaction, activities such as billing, customer tracking, inventory control, and labor all generate enormous amount of data.  At the end of day, data sets from the franchise outlets, e.g., total sale, total cost of raw materials, and total cost of labor, are pulled through the telecommunication system to the franchisor headquarters to data analysis.  A variety of methods are used to perform the data analysis, e.g., (1) statistical data modeling including regression analysis, correlation analysis, time series analysis, forecasting, Pareto analysis, and quality assurance; (2) data mining modeling including decision tree analysis, cluster analysis, market segmentation analysis, cross-sell analysis, and association analysis.  These data analyses also help generate many business intelligence reports.  For example, a business outlet will receive its performance ranking report with respect to the franchise system along with the top 10 franchise outlets having the best sales.  Some rewarding programs are also built into the information generation process.  For example, the owner of a franchise outlet may receive a free trip to Hawaii if he/she has been among the top 10 lists for a number of consecutive time periods.