The genre of corporate
history
Agne
`
s Delahaye
School of Business & Management, Queen Mary University of London,
London, UK
Charles Booth
Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
Peter Clark
School of Business & Management, Queen Mary University of London,
London, UK
Stephen Procter
Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and
Michael Rowlinson
School of Business & Management, Queen Mary University of London,
London, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This paper seeks to identify and define the genre of corporate history within the pervasive
historical discourse produced by and about organizations which tells the past of an organization
across a multiplicity of texts: published works – commissioned and critical accounts, academic tomes
and glossy coffee-table books – as well as web pages, annual reports and promotional pamphlets.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach takes the form of systematic reading of historical
narratives for 85 mainly British and US companies from the Fortune Global 500. For these companies,
a search was carried out for US printed sources in the British Library and a survey was conducted of
historical content in web pages.
Findings – From extensive reading of the historical discourse, recurrent formal features (medium,
authorship, publication, paratext and imagery) and elements of thematic content (narrative,
characters, cultural paradigms and business success), which together define the genre of corporate
history, have been identified. Such a definition provides competence in the reading of historical
narratives of organizations and raises questions regarding the role of history in organizational
identity, memory and communication. In conclusion it is argued that the interpretation of corporate
history cannot be reduced to its promotional function for organizations.
Research limitations/implications – The list of the formal features and thematic content of
corporate history detailed here is by no means exhaustive. They are not variables, but signs, which, in
various combinations, compose the narrative and signify the genre.
Practical implications – It seems likely that coffee-table books will increasingly replace academic
commissioned histories, with consultants professionalizing the discourse and formalizing the genre of
corporate history.
Originality/value – The genre of corporate history has hitherto been neglected in organization
theory, where the linguistic turn has led to a preoccupation with talk as text. The use of genre to
analyse corporate history represents a textual turn to literary organizational texts as text.
Keywords Business history, Publications, Narratives
Paper type Research paper
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0953-4814.htm
The genre of
corporate history
27
Journal of Organizational Change
Management
Vol. 22 No. 1, 2009
pp. 27-48
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0953-4814
DOI 10.1108/09534810910933898