ÂÜÀòÉç¹ÙÍø

INTEREST CATEGORY: RETAIL AND PRICING
POSTING TYPE: Revisits

Author: Audhesh Paswan

---

35TH ANNUAL ISOF CONFERENCE JUNE 2-4, 2022 TO BE HELD AT MCMASTER UNIVERSITY, ONTARIO, CANADA

Conference co-chairs:

Manish Kacker, PhD,
DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Audhesh Paswan, PhD,
G. Brint Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

The last two years have seen a major upheaval due to COVID. It has affected the way we shop, work, interact with others, and live life. It has damaged some businesses and given rise to new ideas for other businesses. So, how have franchised businesses dealt with this upheaval? According to FRANdata (Six-Month COVID Impact on Franchising), about 32,700 franchised businesses closed by August 2020 and another 36,000 units will be at risk of closing. Another report – from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (8 Franchises That Are Succeeding During the COVID-19 Pandemic) – suggests that many firms that use the franchise model have seen success during the COVID pandemic. How will franchise firms deal with some of the long-term effects of the disruptions over the last two-years? What will franchising landscape look like in the future? What role will technology play in the franchising industry? These are just some of the questions that the franchising industry and academia are eager to find answers for.

We are excited that the 35th Annual ISoF Conference is planned to be a face-to-face event. Hopefully, it will help us reconnect with one another, after physical and social isolation for almost two years. We would like this ISOF conference to be an occasion to share, debate, and develop ideas on what franchising could be in the 21st century. Prof. Francine Lafontaine (University of Michigan – ). will receive the Rosenberg International Franchise Center/ISoF Eminent Franchising Scholar Award and will give an acceptance speech at the conference. We hope to reconnect with you in June 2022 at the Burlington campus of the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area of Ontario, Canada.

I. You can participate in the 35th Annual ISoF Conference in multiple ways. One is to make submissions in one or more of the following categories:

1. Competitive Research Papers – Traditional academic research papers/manuscripts submitted in this category should be no more than 9,000 words in Times Roman, 12-point font size, and double space. Two papers from this category will be selected for G. Brint Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, Best Paper Awards. One will be a general category ‘Best Paper Award’ and a second one will be a ‘Best PhD student Paper Award’ with a PhD student as the lead, main or solo author.

2. Competitive Teaching Cases – Papers/manuscripts submitted should be no more than 9,000 words in Times Roman, 12-point font size and double space. One case from this category will be selected to receive a Best Case award sponsored by the Yum! Global Center for Franchise Excellence at the University of Louisville.

3. Extended Abstracts – Extended abstracts of academic research for presentation at the conference should include title, key contributions to academe and practitioners (300 word-limit), extended abstract (1,000 word-limit), table or figure (optional) and a representative list of references. Authors have the option of including one table summarizing results and/or one figure (these do not count against the word limit). References also do not count against the word limit.

4. Poster Session – Participants interested in sharing their research through a poster session at the conference should provide submissions (no more than 500 words) that include title and abstract.

To assure a blind review, authors must avoid revealing their identities in the body or reference section of the paper.

Please email your submissions by the deadline to ISOF-2022@unt.edu. Please indicate the submission category clearly in the title of your email.

II. Other ways of participating would be to volunteer for reviewing papers, being a track chair or simply registering and attending the conference. Please let us know at ISOF-2022@unt.edu.

III. Registration Fees

– USD 350 – on or before March 30, 2022.
– USD 400 – after March 30, 2022.

IV. For PhD students – The Rajiv P. Dant Graduate Student Stipend covers the registration fees for doctoral students that submit and present a full-length competitive paper at the conference. Only one doctoral student per paper will be awarded the stipend.

V. Important dates:

January 15, 2022 Deadline for submissions.
February 28, 2022 Decisions on submissions.
March 30, 2022 Conference early registration deadline.
June 2-4, 2022 ISOF Conference 2022.

We look forward to receiving your submissions in time and seeing you at the conference.