What determines a service firm's organizational choice between equity-based control and franchising? This question, which has elicited some theoretical answers and a few empirical tests in a domestic setting, has never been addressed in an international context before. This study explains the...

Franchising, which accounts for a significant share of the U.S. domestic service industry, has also become a major strategic alternative in the international expansion of U.S. service firms. This article attempts to explain the international franchising and control decision by U.S.-based service...