Paths of corporate change and the metaphor of ‘sectoral roots’: The case of finnish corporations, 1973–1985

Abstract

This paper combines two interrelated intellectual interests which have recently gained more attention in European organization studies, namely an interest in historical research and an interest in a sectoral perspective on individual firms. The purpose of this paper is to develop and elaborate the general argument that the historical ‘roots’ of a corporation in a certain ‘sectoral’ context have a long lasting impact on the development of the corporation. Firstly, we define what we mean by the metaphor ‘sectoral roots’ with the help of previous literature. Then we examine its relevance in the case of Finnish corporations by presenting descriptive findings on the recent development of corporations with different industrial origins. Finally, we specify what kind of conceptual and empirical problems need to be solved before this metaphor can be transformed into a proper theoretical concept.

Keywords:

• corporation
• sector
• change
• Finland