Decades saw the fast growth and high success of franchising in global market but the very early
stage of franchising in Vietnam market. Previous researches about franchising have considerably
contributed to better understanding of relationships between franchisor and franchise. However, the
franchisor-franchise relationship has yet to be fully explored, knowledge of the factors that produce a high
quality relationship between franchisor and franchise are critical to the advancement of knowledge in the
retail industry. Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory is offered of an effective theoretical model of
antecedents that can predict the effectiveness the franchisor-franchise relationship. The model proposed
has been tested with 500 franchises operating in the retail (fashion, food and beverage) in the Vietnamese
franchised distribution system. The results of this study generally support the hypothesized model and
strongly support for the idea that the quality of the relationship will lead to higher level of franchise’s job
satisfaction, performance business, trust and commitment. This study also confirms the importance of the
franchisor’s support and mediating role of trust and commitment to the success of franchising relationship.
Finally, this study provides franchisors with valuable information for establishing an effective
management to improve the relationship between franchisor and franchise and thus improves the rate of
success of both franchise and franchisor.
