Bricolage and engineering in franchising: balancing standardisation and adaptation

Bricolage, as an approach to overcoming resource scarcity and extraordinary challenges in new venture creation, has become an important topic of entrepreneurship theory and practice. Yet, despite franchising being more often associated with entrepreneurship, and proven to be the fastest growing form of retailing with a large impact on the global economy, the use of bricolage among franchise ventures has not been investigated. My thesis addresses this research gap by exploring how franchisees use resources and to what effect, applying the lens of bricolage theory. The method comprises semi-structured interviews with 39 franchisees and a franchisor’s representative from the same franchise, Kumon Australia and New Zealand. The results of this study, based on retroduction as a mode of inference, explain how franchisees utilise resources and how different types of resource use are associated with different levels of franchise growth. The findings indicate that bricolage is common among franchisees, and that it is associated with venture growth when accompanied by engineering-based resource use and a strong intention to grow.