Systems of hard and soft franchises in the FMCG sector in Poland
and 
Article Category: Research Article
Published Online: Jul 13, 2022
Page range: 27 - 38
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijcm-2022-0005
Keywords
© 2022 Aneta Kuźniarska et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Background
The article presents the situation of franchises in the sector of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in Poland following the transformation of the political system and transition to a market economy. The first section of this paper presents the definitions and theoretical bases of franchises, both from the viewpoint of foreign and national literary sources. The second section describes the current status of franchises by taking account of the legislative regulations that facilitate conducting business activities of this type in Poland.
Research aims
The principal aim of this paper is to indicate the research findings based on the analysis of the content of franchising agreements for shopping chains from the FMCG sector operating in Poland.
Methodology
Research revealed the main differences in the soft systems and hard franchises. The research encompassed agreements involving 18 different trading networks operating from the FMCG sector.
Findings
Both the differences and the similarities encompass a multitude of areas that are conditioned by contractual stipulations, and the ultimate decision relating to participation in a soft or hard franchise should rely on careful analysis of all the elements indicated in the research, not only with regard to the costs or level of discounts, but also in terms of retrospective bonuses from suppliers and manufacturers indicated by the system organizer.