Owners’ Dynamic Capabilities and Spousal Resources in Small Family Businesses: The Case of Taiwanese Franchisees

Abstract

The study explores the relationship between spousal resources and franchisees‘ dynamic capabilities using both in-depth interviews and questionnaires from the convenience store franchisees in Taiwan. Franchising is recognized as one of the fastest paths to success for a small business, and many owners of the franchise businesses run with their spouses. Exploratory design and quantitative and qualitative procedures are employed to understand the link between spousal resources and performance of franchises. Self administered questionnaires were used to gather relevant data. Interviews were also conducted to further elicit information to reinforce quantitative analysis. The findings indicate that spousal resources (including instrumental resources and emotional resources) and the franchisees‘ ability to respond to the market dynamics affect the performance of their business. In particular, spousal emotional resources have a stronger influence than spousal instrumental resources. In addition, it was found that the relationship between spousal resources and performance is mediated by the dynamic capability of market responsiveness. In today‘s increasing competitive market, being able to convert spousal resources into the dynamic capability of responding to the market is important for a small family business.