I study the effect that miniaturized franchising opportunities (microfranchise) can have on necessity entrepreneurs in less developed countries. The capacity of necessity entrepreneurs to self-supply entrepreneurial inputs may be smaller than for opportunity entrepreneurs, leading to poor outcomes in independent businesses. A microfranchise provides entrepreneurial inputs such as branding, marketing, supply chain logistics, product design, best practices, and reduced demand uncertainty. Franchisor-supplied inputs may substitute for individual disadvantages, leading to greater business profit. Using a unique data set from Bangladesh, Ghana, and Guatemala, I test this hypothesis. Through control function models, I find evidence that necessity entrepreneurs under perform their peers in independent business and that the average returns to microfranchising are larger for necessity entrepreneurs. Results suggest that franchisor’s temporary provision of specific capital acts similar to a start-up capital loan, drawing important comparisons with microcredit.

我研究小型特许经营机会（微特许经营）对欠发达国家的必需品企业家的影响。必要性企业家自我提供创业投入的能力可能小于机会性企业家，从而导致独立企业的业绩不佳。微型特许经营提供品牌、营销、供应链物流、产品设计、最佳实践和减少需求不确定性等创业投入。特许人提供的投入可以替代个人的劣势，从而带来更大的商业利润。我使用来自孟加拉国、加纳和危地马拉的独特数据集检验了这一假设。通过控制函数模型，我发现证据表明，必需品企业家在独立企业中的表现低于其同行，并且必需品企业家的小额特许经营的平均回报更大。结果表明，特许人临时提供特定资本的行为类似于启动资本贷款，与小额信贷进行了重要的比较。