Chains of Command
The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy
Seiten
2026
University of Chicago Press (Verlag)
9780226828701 (ISBN)
University of Chicago Press (Verlag)
9780226828701 (ISBN)
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A surprising look at the big business of owning small businesses and what America’s franchise economy means for its workers.
Walk into a McDonald’s anywhere in the United States, and it will be identical to every other McDonald’s in the country. Yet, that particular store is almost certainly owned and operated by an “independent” franchisee. While McDonald’s presents an image of centralized uniformity to the consumer, it shows a different face to the small business owners operating its stores under its control and the workers preparing its product to its standards. How then does McDonald’s—and its big business peers—manage to be two things at once?
In this revelatory work, economist Brian Callaci shows how franchisors have altered the legal treatment of corporations in their favor through a decades-long crusade of lobbying and litigation. Their efforts subsequently unleashed a slew of legal and economic sins upon the US economy and labor force, allowing multinational corporations to control continent-spanning empires while outsourcing employment and scapegoating legal responsibilities onto small businesses. The result: the unfettered growth of some of America’s most recognizable businesses, at the aggregate expense of America’s workers.
Remarkable in both its scale and synthesis, Callaci’s story is the first chronicle of this business movement—initially resisted by US courts before experiencing a dramatic reversal of fortune after decades of campaigning by some of America’s most established entrepreneurs. An urgent and erudite history, Chains of Command reveals how the US labor market was tamed one small business at a time.
Walk into a McDonald’s anywhere in the United States, and it will be identical to every other McDonald’s in the country. Yet, that particular store is almost certainly owned and operated by an “independent” franchisee. While McDonald’s presents an image of centralized uniformity to the consumer, it shows a different face to the small business owners operating its stores under its control and the workers preparing its product to its standards. How then does McDonald’s—and its big business peers—manage to be two things at once?
In this revelatory work, economist Brian Callaci shows how franchisors have altered the legal treatment of corporations in their favor through a decades-long crusade of lobbying and litigation. Their efforts subsequently unleashed a slew of legal and economic sins upon the US economy and labor force, allowing multinational corporations to control continent-spanning empires while outsourcing employment and scapegoating legal responsibilities onto small businesses. The result: the unfettered growth of some of America’s most recognizable businesses, at the aggregate expense of America’s workers.
Remarkable in both its scale and synthesis, Callaci’s story is the first chronicle of this business movement—initially resisted by US courts before experiencing a dramatic reversal of fortune after decades of campaigning by some of America’s most established entrepreneurs. An urgent and erudite history, Chains of Command reveals how the US labor market was tamed one small business at a time.
Brian Callaci is chief economist at the Open Markets Institute and a former staffer and research consultant for labor unions. He has published widely in TheHarvard Business Review, The New Republic, Boston Review, and Democracy Journal, among others.
Preface
One: Hierarchies of Control
Two: The Invention of Franchising
Three: “You Can’t Give Them an Inch”: Mechanisms of Franchisor Control
Four: Owners, Operators: Franchising’s Tenant Entrepreneurs
Five: The End of Liability
Six: The Franchise Comes of Age
Seven: Stealing Horses, Aligning Interests
Eight: “Synonymous with Evil”: The IFA Confronts the Fight for $15
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 20.4.2026 |
|---|---|
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 140 x 216 mm |
| Gewicht | 454 g |
| Themenwelt | Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Kunstgeschichte / Kunststile |
| Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Planung / Organisation | |
| ISBN-13 | 9780226828701 / 9780226828701 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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