Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Sasaki, I, Kotlar, J, Ravasi, D, Vaara, E. Dealing with revered past: Historical identity statements and strategic change in Japanese family firms. Strat Mgmt J. 2020; 41: 590– 623. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3065which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smj.3065 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Accepted author manuscript, 704 KB, PDF document
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Dealing with revered past
T2 - historical identity statements and strategic change in Japanese family firms
AU - Sasaki, Innan
AU - Kotlar, Josip
AU - Ravasi, Davide
AU - Vaara, Eero
N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Sasaki, I, Kotlar, J, Ravasi, D, Vaara, E. Dealing with revered past: Historical identity statements and strategic change in Japanese family firms. Strat Mgmt J. 2020; 41: 590– 623. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3065which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smj.3065 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
PY - 2020/3/31
Y1 - 2020/3/31
N2 - Research Summary This paper examines how strategy-makers attempt to reconcile change initiatives with organizational values and principles laid out long before, still encased in strategic identity statements such as corporate mottos and philosophies. It reveals three discursive strategies that strategy-makers use to establish a sense of continuity in time of change: elaborating (transferring part of the content of the historical statement into a new one), recovering (forging a new statement based on the retrieval and re-use of historical references), and decoupling (allowing the co-existence of the historical statement and a contemporary one). By so doing, our study advances research on uses of the past, establishes important linkages between identity and strategy research, and enhances our understanding of the intergenerational transfer of values in family firms. Managerial Summary Crafting a new corporate philosophy or mission statement can help implement strategic change, but can also be experienced as a disruption in people's sense of "who we are" as an organization. This paper reveals a variety of strategies that managers can use to deal with the tension between promoting change and maintaining a sense of continuity with a distant, revered past. By doing so, it helps managers confronting these issues deal with the enabling and constraining effects of the past. While this is a more general challenge for organizations with historical legacies, it is a particularly delicate issue for family firms grappling with the need to transfer values from one generation to the next, while retaining flexibility to change and adapt over time.
AB - Research Summary This paper examines how strategy-makers attempt to reconcile change initiatives with organizational values and principles laid out long before, still encased in strategic identity statements such as corporate mottos and philosophies. It reveals three discursive strategies that strategy-makers use to establish a sense of continuity in time of change: elaborating (transferring part of the content of the historical statement into a new one), recovering (forging a new statement based on the retrieval and re-use of historical references), and decoupling (allowing the co-existence of the historical statement and a contemporary one). By so doing, our study advances research on uses of the past, establishes important linkages between identity and strategy research, and enhances our understanding of the intergenerational transfer of values in family firms. Managerial Summary Crafting a new corporate philosophy or mission statement can help implement strategic change, but can also be experienced as a disruption in people's sense of "who we are" as an organization. This paper reveals a variety of strategies that managers can use to deal with the tension between promoting change and maintaining a sense of continuity with a distant, revered past. By doing so, it helps managers confronting these issues deal with the enabling and constraining effects of the past. While this is a more general challenge for organizations with historical legacies, it is a particularly delicate issue for family firms grappling with the need to transfer values from one generation to the next, while retaining flexibility to change and adapt over time.
KW - Historical embeddedness
KW - organizational identity
KW - strategic change
KW - strategic identity statements
KW - strategy practices
U2 - 10.1002/smj.3065
DO - 10.1002/smj.3065
M3 - Journal article
VL - 41
SP - 590
EP - 623
JO - Strategic Management Journal
JF - Strategic Management Journal
SN - 0143-2095
IS - 3
ER -