Standing the test of time: understanding how long-living family firms make use of the past to preserve organizational identity

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we discuss the historical dynamics that sustain organizational identity in long-living family firms. We do so through the analysis of the case of fifteen family-run restaurants located in São Paulo, Brazil. We discuss different modes of history use regarding identity preservation that fundament four main history-based strategies: Perpetuating family history; conserving the firm’s identity as a family business; creating the sense of sharing a common past; and restoring traditions. These strategies seem to be specific of the organizational form investigated and contribute to advancing our understanding of rhetorical history in the context of family business.

KEYWORDS:

• History
• rhetorical history
• history-based strategy
• past
• tradition
• legacy
• heritage
• organizational identity
• family businesses
• case study

Credit authorship contribution statement

Priscila Ferri: conceptualization, investigation, data collection, data analysis, validation, writing – original draft, writing – review & editing, visualization.

Adriana Roseli Wünsch Takahashi: Supervision, conceptualization, investigation, data collection, visualization.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work in this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) [421712/2018-0].

Notes on contributors

Priscila Ferri

Priscila Ferri is a PhD researcher at Manchester Institute of Innovation research, Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, UK. Her doctoral research centers on two main topics: the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on research practices, and responsibility in AI-driven research. She has a MSc in Management from the Federal University of Parana, Brazil. For her master’s dissertation, she investigated the historical microfoundations of dynamic capabilities.

Adriana R. W. Takahashi

Adriana R. W. Takahashi is Professor of Business Management at the Federal University of Parana, Brazil. She coordinates the research group Strategy, Dynamcis and Bahavior in Organization-Processes and Practices. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Federal University of Parana and a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, with an exchange period at Lancaster University, UK. Her interests encompass business strategy and organizational analysis, strategic reconfiguring and dynamic capabilities, organizational competencies , organizational learning, and teaching and research in business management.