so, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:

1. Franchising is widely used in the casual dining and fast food industry, yet Starbucks is quite successful with a large number of company-owned stores. In 2019 Starbucks had more than 8,500 company-owned stores in the United States. How do you explain this difference? Is Starbucks bucking the trend of other food-service stores, or is something else going on?
2. Given the poor track record of M&As, what explains the continuing trend for mergers and acquisitions in many industries? What steps can a firm take to improve the chances of successful M&As