IMCA Research seminar - Michael Rowlinson - University of Exeter

Corporate Heritage and Marketing: History and Archives

Abstract

There is increasing interest in corporate heritage from a marketing perspective (e.g., Urde, Greyser, & Balmer, 2007). However, it is unclear how this interest relates to history and archival research. I first considered the potential conflict between corporate heritage and representations of history after visiting Cadbury World in 2001 (Rowlinson, 2002). Cadbury World is a highly successful branded visitor attraction attached to the historic Cadbury chocolate factory at Bournville, a suburb of the city of Birmingham in the UK. I reflected on the relation between Cadbury World and the longstanding scepticism towards heritage from British historians (e.g., Lowenthal, 1985). My concern is that the scepticism towards heritage from historians has been largely overlooked in marketing, and historical research in archives has been inhibited rather than encouraged, much as it has been in organization studies with the increasing interest in organizational memory (Decker, Hassard, & Rowlinson, 2021).

Bio:

Michael Rowlinson is Emeritus Professor of Management & Organizational History at the University of Exeter Business School, UK. He has published widely on the relationship between history and organization theory in journals such as the Academy of Management Review, British Journal of Management, Human Relations, Organization, and Organization Studies. A paper from his current research on the history of internal organizational communication in the UK has appeared in Business History. He co-founded the journal Management & Organizational History in 2006 and co-edited a Special Topic Forum of the Academy of Management Review on ‘History and Organization Theory’ (2016). He is a co-author on A New History of Management (Cambridge UP 2017).

References:

Decker, S., Hassard, J., & Rowlinson, M. 2021. Rethinking history and memory in organization studies: The case for historiographical reflexivity. Human Relations, 74(8): 1123-1155.

Lowenthal, D. 1985. The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rowlinson, M. 2002. Public History Review Essay: Cadbury World. Labour History Review, 67(1): 101-119.

Urde, M., Greyser, S. A., & Balmer, J. M. T. 2007. Corporate brands with a heritage. Journal of Brand Management, 15(1): 4-19.