dr. M.J. (Maryse) Brand

Franchising (with Evelien Croonen)

Franchsiing is a very powerful strategy for quickly rolling out new business concepts on a large scale. For franchisees it is an excellent way to use ready-to-use and tested concepts. But what agreements do franchisors and franchisees make? How do you guarantee innovation in a franchise organization? What scope do franchisees have to innovate?

To be successful together, it is important to keep an eye on each other's interests so that there is mutual satisfaction and trust. We conduct research in various projects in which these aspects are addressed.

We work with all relevant parties, such as individual franchisors and franchisees and franchise consultancies. We are also a knowledge partner of the Dutch Franchise Association (NFV) and Franchiseformules.nl.

We are actively involved in the discussion of the Franchise Act that will enter into force on January 1, 2021. In this context we conduct research for the parties involved.

Three times is a strike; professional, sustainable & profitable small businesses (linked to FEB's strategic themes Future Prosperity & Sustainability and Leadership & Governance)

In present times, firms are challenged by constantly changing environments driven by (technological) innovations and severe societal challenges. Additionally, Covid-19 is having a large impact on many businesses, large or small. Many SMEs are fighting for survival and governments try to help them with a variety of financial support measures. Somewhere in the near future, however, these businesses will have to compete in a new environment. That can be difficult, but it can also provide opportunities. Companies have already changed part of their routines: people work at home, distribution channels have been changed, work is organized differently, products are adapted to new customer needs, et cetera. How can these firms prepare themselves to pro-actively take on this uncertain future and improve their chances for entering this new competitive environment as a professional, sustainable & profitable small business? In this project we focus on issues such as management quality and productivity and develop an instrument (the so-called PSP-scan) and apply it in a limited group of SMEs from various industries. The firms will receive the results of the scan and also advise on how to be better prepared for the future. The results of the group of SMEs together can be viewed as a pilot study of a larger project aimed at supporting SMEs to make this transition to become and remain professional, sustainable and profitable small businesses.

In this project, I work with students from the Master programme MScBA SB&E and I am cooperating with various organisations including the Management Kompas Groep b.v., Bentacera, MKB/VNO-NCW, KvK.

Previous projects specifically aimed at professionalization and management quality in SMEs have been carried out with graduates of the MScBA SB&E, among others in collaboration with Gwynt, a consultancy firm for (family) companies.