Crossing the Streams of Plural Governance Research: Simultaneously Considering Franchising, Dual Distribution, and Concurrent Sourcing

Abstract

Bradach and Eccles (1989) identified three distinct forms of plural governance that prevail in business practice: franchising, dual distribution, and concurrent sourcing. Despite the underlying commonality of these forms—organizing an economic activity through multiple governance modes—each form has spawned its own stream of theoretical and empirical research, with relatively little cross-stream knowledge exchange. In this paper, we argue that, given the fragmented nature of these literatures, unexplored opportunities exist for scholars to pursue new research opportunities by importing theoretical predictions, causal mechanisms, and methods from the other streams in theoretically appropriate ways. To highlight what is possible, we first take stock of the distinctive characteristics, conceptual foundations, and dominant methodologies associated with the three literatures. We then identify four key governance challenges—monitoring, cooperation, learning, and competition—that were common across the streams and use these challenges to isolate theoretical and methodological blind spots that merit further research consideration. Our research agenda addresses these blind spots, proposes specific avenues for theory development within each stream of plural governance research, and helps scholars of the franchising, dual distribution, and concurrent sourcing literatures to connect and contribute to research in the intellectual core of plural governance.