Imprints of an Entrepreneur and Evolution of a Business Group, 1948–2010

Erçek, Mehmet; Günçavdı, Öner

doi:10.1080/00076791.2015.1044522

Cited by 18 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…However, by drawing on ecological processes such as inertia (e.g., Hannan & Freeman, ), institutionalization (e.g., DiMaggio & Powell, ), and path dependence (e.g., Schreyögg & Sydow, ) to describe how layers of historically grounded imprints persist and constrain organizations, imprinting research has paid less attention to human agency (e.g., Baron et al, ). More recent studies, however, show that imprints can be managed (e.g., Erçek & Günçavdı, ; Ferriani et al, ; Kriauciunas & Kale, ), which raises the question of how. We draw on rhetorical history research to describe how one 80‐year‐old firm managed its repository of imprints.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kriauciunas and Kale () show that distant search and learning allowed some Lithuanian firms to modify parts of their socialist imprint and thereby satisfy demands in the new capitalist‐oriented economy. Finally, Erçek and Günçavd () show how the dominant imprints of a founder‐led firm in Turkey changed across distinctive historical periods. Although not all say so explicitly, each of these studies implies that managers are somehow involved in managing imprints by encouraging employees and other stakeholders to drop some imprints, adopt new ones, and modify others, what Marquis and Tilcsik (, p. 195) call an “adaptationist” perspective.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, however, a series of imprinting studies indicate that managers can prioritize imprints (e.g., Erçek & Günçavdı, ; Sullivan, Tang, & Marquis, ) or modify them to serve new purposes (e.g., Ferriani, Garnsey, & Lorenzoni, ; Kriauciunas & Kale, ; Marquis & Huang, ), offering “a moderate view that organizations are both inertial and adaptive” (Bamford, Dean, & McDougall, , p. 261). By reporting cases where managers matter with respect to managing imprints, these studies offer a promising departure from the view that imprinting is an “ecological force devoid of agency” (Marquis & Tilcsik, , p. 222).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Managing history: How New Zealand's Gallagher Group used rhetorical narratives to reprioritize and modify imprinted strategic guideposts

Sinha

Jaskiewicz

Gibb

et al. 2019

Strategic Management Journal

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Research Summary Imprinting theory predicts that organizations are imprinted with multiple intersecting imprints that persist. Evidence suggests, however, that imprints are sometimes reprioritized or modified, implying that they can be strategically managed. We draw upon rhetorical history research and an in‐depth historical case study of New Zealand's Gallagher Group to describe how one firm managed its imprints. Our inductive theorizing links historically imprinted strategic guideposts to decision‐making via two rearranging processes—that is, prioritizing and suspending—wherein managers use narratives to rearrange guideposts' influence and two scope modifying processes—that is, constraining and expanding—wherein managers change where guideposts apply. As a first explanation of how imprints are managed, these processes add nuance to existing theory and open new research avenues regarding additional processes and boundary conditions. Managerial Summary Imprints are elements of culture, strategy, structure, or decision‐making that emerge when the firm is founded or during times of turmoil. Imprints resist change and make organizational adaptation difficult. This study explains one way that managers manipulate imprinted decision‐making rules so that organizations can adapt. Using an in‐depth historical case study of New Zealand's Gallagher Group from 1938 to 2015, we follow four imprinted decision‐making rules that we call strategic guideposts and show how managers rhetorically revised these rules to adapt organizational decision‐making to changing environments. Managers prioritized some decision‐making rules while deemphasizing others or they changed their claims about the kinds of decisions where a decision‐rule applied. Knowing these rhetorical processes can help managers leverage their organization's history to facilitate necessary organizational change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Managing history: How New Zealand's Gallagher Group used rhetorical narratives to reprioritize and modify imprinted strategic guideposts

Sinha

Jaskiewicz

Gibb

et al. 2019

Strategic Management Journal

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“…Entrepreneurs are professionals whose career development are special and deserve in-depth investigation e.g., [9]. The decisions and actions of an entrepreneur often leaves great impact on the developmental trajectory of a new venture [10]. In such a context, knowledge is vital for the entire entrepreneurial life cycle, in that valuable knowledge facilitates entrepreneurial decisions and action, and thus may be a source of entrepreneurial competitive advantage [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Business Area Changes and Entrepreneurial Persistence in Ecology- and Food-Related Industries: Knowledge Heterogeneity and Emotion Perspectives

2018

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Entrepreneurs' changes to different business areas can be viewed as shifts in entrepreneurial knowledge domains (e.g., from restaurant to food waste processing firm as an ecological helping business). From a sample of 73 representative entrepreneurs, we present a study of the impact of such area changes on the persistence of entrepreneurship (i.e., the degree an entrepreneur remains in entrepreneurial activities). Furthermore, two mediators, managerial experience and insecurity, and two moderators, positive and negative affect, were proposed and examined to make a more comprehensive theoretical inference of the relationship between area difference and persistence. The results revealed that, counter-intuitively, area difference was significantly and positively associated with entrepreneurial persistence. The mediation effects of managerial experience and psychological insecurity were also confirmed. However, only the moderation of positive affect was effective. Based on the knowledge heterogeneity and entrepreneurial emotion perspectives, academic and practical implications for inter-temporal dynamics of entrepreneurship are discussed.

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“…Thus, organizational founders play a crucial role in determining the direction of the organization. For instance, Erçek and G€ unçavdı (2016) show how the founder of a Turkish business group left lasting imprints on the organization even after his death, in line with findings regarding founder centrality in family firms (Kelly, Athanassiou, and Crittenden 2000). Nevertheless, Nelson argues that the term founder is not self-evident as 'the role of founder is self-designated or otherdesignated ' (2003, 709).…”

Section: Frame Of Referencementioning

confidence: 62%

A founder's heritage: the development of organizational identity

Boers

Ljungkvist

2018

Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship

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The purpose of this paper is to understand how a former family firm strategically makes use of the founder's legacy to preserve its organizational identity. Following a single case study approach, it draws on rich empirical material from semi-structured interviews and extensive archival data. We show how central organizational activities are affected by a founder's heritage long after the formal exit has taken place, illustrating the central, enduring, and distinctive elements of organizational identity a founder has. Regardless of ownership forms, the family company founder's legacy is used to legitimize new owners and maintain the organization's identity. However, centripetal moves complicate the preservation of the organizational identity, whereas a high focus on value leveraging in another ownership form opens up for centrifugal approaches which strengthen the entrepreneurial dimension of organizational identity.

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Imprints of an Entrepreneur and Evolution of a Business Group, 1948–2010

Cited by 18 publications

References 28 publications

Managing history: How New Zealand's Gallagher Group used rhetorical narratives to reprioritize and modify imprinted strategic guideposts

Managing history: How New Zealand's Gallagher Group used rhetorical narratives to reprioritize and modify imprinted strategic guideposts

Business Area Changes and Entrepreneurial Persistence in Ecology- and Food-Related Industries: Knowledge Heterogeneity and Emotion Perspectives

A founder's heritage: the development of organizational identity

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