Common use of Thesis Outline Clause in Contracts

Thesis Outline. The thesis is broken down into seven chapters. Chapter one introduces the study and outlines its background, setting the stage for what follows. Specifically, it addresses the research problem and questions, states the overall thesis aim and specific objectives. Chapter two presents key literature on franchising and the relationship between franchisors and franchisees in the hotel industry. It moves from the general conceptualization of franchising to specific issues of how to create and maintain good relationships between franchisors and franchisees in the hotel industry. It considers definitions of hotel franchising and how to develop a working definition to comply with the aim of the thesis. It critically reviews relevant literature on the advantages and disadvantages of hotel franchising. It identifies the major franchisors in the hotel industry. The development of a special relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee is explored with agency theory, resource scarcity theory, social capital theory and psychological contract, each of which is discussed in the context of franchising. It highlights the different aspects of the lifecycle of hotel franchising. It discusses services provided by the franchisor ranging from selecting partners in the hotel franchise relationship to on-going franchise support. A suggested conceptual framework is presented. This thesis emphasizes that hotel franchising literature is extremely limited. As a result, this section will try to apply existing literature to the hotel industry. Chapter three outlines the epistemological and theoretical perspectives of the research and provides a justification for choosing the research design and methodology. The chapter then describes the phases of the methodology employed in this research which adopts a multiple case study approach. This methodology includes two research methods in order to meet the research objectives; semi-structured interviews with hotel franchisors-franchisees and document analysis. Chapter four analyses the transcribed interviews. This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the results from interviews conducted with hotel franchisor and their franchisees in relation to the relationship themes facing hotel franchise relationships. These themes include: application phase, pre- opening phase, opening phase and on-going franchise support. It presents the perspectives of the franchisor and franchisees towards the aforementioned issues. The chapter concludes with a model which incorporates these findings with the conceptual framework presented at the end of the literature review. Chapter five similarly investigates issues related to the psychological contract for hotel franchise relationships. This chapter highlights the hotel franchise psychological contract which led to the success of hotel franchise relationship. It introduces a modified model for the success of the hotel franchise relationship. Some themes are presented: psychological contract and franchisors, psychological contract and franchisees, measures for psychological contract in franchise relationships. The chapter concludes with a model which incorporates these findings with the model presented at the end of chapter four. Chapter six evaluates and discusses hotel franchise relationships across all the cases studied. It investigates tangible and intangible issues relating to hotel franchise relationships. It develops a cross-case analysis which results in the development of a model relating to the success of hotel franchise relationships. Finally, it presents a model which can be used to understand and explain the success factors of hotel franchise relationships. 1.1 summarizes the thesis layout in relation to the four research objectives. Figure 1.1 The thesis layout