Abstract

This historical case study of the multinational agribusiness Monsanto explores the challenges organizations face when attempting to translate a problematic past into strategic gain. We draw on Resource-Based Theory (RBT) to explain how the relative ability to own and control history as an intangible resource enables or constrains effective managerial deployments of history. Our analysis explores three modes of using the past strategically: learning from the past, selectively interpreting the past, and disowning the past – the latter of which we demonstrate is distinct from existing conceptualizations of ‘forgetting’, ‘rubbishing’, or ‘distancing’ the past. Our analysis builds on RBT to explain why some modes of deploying history are more effective than others at enabling a strategic use of the past. The ambiguous nature of owning and controlling history, we contend, conditions the extent to which each mode of deploying history can or cannot produce strategic gains.

摘要

这个跨国农业综合企业孟山都的历史案例研究探讨了组织在试图将有问题的过去转化为战略收益时面临的挑战。我们利用基于资源的理论 (RBT) 来解释拥有和控制作为无形资源的历史的相对能力如何促成或限制历史的有效管理部署。我们的分析探讨了战略性地利用过去的三种模式：从过去中学习、选择性地解释过去和否认过去——我们展示的后者与现有的“忘记”、“垃圾”或“疏远”过去的概念不同。我们的分析建立在 RBT 的基础上，以解释为什么某些部署历史的模式比其他模式更有效地实现对过去的战略性利用。我们认为，拥有和控制历史的模糊性决定了每种历史部署模式能够或不能产生战略收益的程度。