Many companies have acted to increase direct stock ownership among their employees. For most firms, these actions have not resulted in major changes in the ownership structure of the firm. However, from a personal portfolio standpoint, the typical level of employee stock ownership appears...

Franchising is commonly viewed as a source of expansion capital for small companies with "limited access to capital markets". Franchising, however, is used by many large, publicly traded companies. This paper summarizes the agency-cost explanation for why firms franchise and provides related...