Rhetorical history and strategic marketing: the example of Starbucks

Purpose This study aims to illustrate how firms engage in rhetorical history, i.e. “the process by which managers skillfully impose meaning on a firm’s past as a persuasive and agentic process” (Suddaby et al., 2010). The case study shows that the connection of past events to specific and schematic narratives allows external events to be appropriated and used by Starbucks as assets to achieve its organizational goals (e.g. legitimacy). Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a close reading and coding of 1,852 “stories” (2,470 pages) published by Starbucks between 2003 and 2020. Findings The authors first show that Starbucks’ language relies heavily on terms referring to temporality. The authors then highlight the organization’s efforts to assert its history, to emphasize its heritage and to inscribe itself in local and national histories. With this case study, the authors contribute to the ongoing debate on history as an organizational resource. The study shows how brands that are not necessarily “historical” can mobilize rhetorical history in their strategic marketing. Research limitations/implications This case study illustrates four heritage implementation strategies: narrating, visualizing, performing and embodying. Further research could contribute to the discussion of rhetorical history production practices, in particular how heritage elements are validated, articulated, related and adopted by organizations (Burghausen and Balmer, 2014). Originality/value The research shows that the main mechanism for constituting social memory assets does not lie in the accumulation of narratives, but in the coupling of narratives at different levels, and in the inclusion of several stakeholders within the narratives. The research also highlights that the affirmation of the historicity of the firm is a prerequisite for the constitution of social memory assets. The research shows that there are a wide variety of ways to convey historical narratives, in particular the essential role leadership plays in the rhetorical process of historicization. The research also shows that the issues of identity and legitimacy are more closely linked than previous research has suggested. In a way, rhetorical history serves strategic management as much as marketing. The porosity between the different audiences allows for a strong alignment between stakeholders, thus consolidating a competitive advantage that lies at the heart of Starbucks’ success, and which notably contributes to reinforcing its core value proposition (i.e. access to a “welcoming, safe and inclusive” third place) and its relational business model. Finally, the case shows that the mobilization of social memory assets does not necessarily lead to the use of nostalgic associations. In this case, for Starbucks, it is not a matter of cultivating memories of the “good old days” but of drawing inspiration from the past, of maintaining traditions to remain culturally relevant and of relying on these assets to project itself into the future.

Innovative development of the regions of Kazakhstan in the post COVID period on the example of Nur-Sultan

The purpose of this article is to reveal the perspectives of development of the region in the post COVID period, demonstrating the existing trends and the potential of advanced industries. The hypothesis is that Nur-Sultan has the opportunity to move to a qualitatively new level of socio-economic development through the implementation of the innovative potential of the city. The relevance of this issue is emphasized by the recovery of society and the world economy from the shocks of the pandemic, one of the tasks of this period is not to miss the opportunity to instill useful changes in society in its daily life and to increase the effectiveness. The ending year for all residents of Kazakhstan has become a time of severe trials. Due to the extraordinary situation, the attention was directed primarily at the capital, but everyone was looking for a way out. Many regions of the republic have demonstrated the ability to take a blow and seek internal reserves. The coronavirus has forced a full-scale reassessment of values. Basically, the pandemic just once again reminded of the long-known and somewhere banal things: food security, medical sovereignty, organizational resource, law and order. But things are banal because they have been tested from generation to generation. World Bank experts call 2020 and 2021 the most difficult years for the economy of Kazakhstan over the past two decades. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic were more devastating to the economy than the crises of 2008 and 2015.

The Meaning of Work Life Enrichment and its impact on Turnover Intention

A family business is a type of entrepreneurship and an important feature of economic development and transformation that provides jobs and riches to family members and those involved in the business. As a result, the founders and successors will make every effort to ensure the family business's long-term viability. This study aims to examine work-life enrichment and employee turnover intentions. The method utilized was systematic review, which entailed searching the literature using a Google Scholar database. From 2011 to 2021, a literature search was done—findings from a study on work-life enrichment. There were 19 publications with quantitative research and three articles with qualitative research. Several studies have been conducted have shown that when the work environment is good, the organization pays more attention to the family, so that employees show a high level of work-life enrichment. A rich work life indicates that employees have a high degree of trust in their organization. Trust works as a managerial or organizational resource that drives the intention to leave the organization.

Praise and recognition from supervisors buffers employee psychological strain: A two-sample investigation with tourism workers

BACKGROUND: Focusing on employees with psychological strain, this research draws on Frederickson’s ‘undoing hypothesis’ to examine praise and recognition from one’s supervisor as an organizational resource. OBJECTIVE: A model is tested in which psychological strain is a mediator in the positive relationship between role demands and employees’ intentions to take sick leave and seek medical advice, and positions supervisor praise and recognition as a buffer of psychological strain on such intentions. METHODS: The model was tested using two Australian samples in the tourism sector, consisting of motel workers (n = 104) and museum workers (n = 168). RESULTS: For museum workers, but not motel workers, there was a positive indirect effect of each role demand on sick leave intentions through psychological strain that weakened as a function of supervisor praise and recognition. The proposed moderated mediated model was supported for both samples in regards to intentions to seek medical advice. CONCLUSIONS: This research contributes new evidence regarding the antecedents of employees’ intentions to take sick leave and seek medical advice for work stress-related problems. It also contributes to the limited evidence regarding supervisor praise and recognition as a protective factor for employees exhibiting the symptoms of psychological strain.

Strengths and limitations of humor in educational organization staff's coping with work stress

Introduction.Humor as an element of the organizational system is relatively little studied in psychology, although humor is an important organizational resource, the skillful use of which can be helpful for organization managers in coping with work stress and promoting staff's psychological well-being.Aim: to find out the productivity of educational organization staff's humor styles and to determine the conditions for optimizing humor management in educational organizations. Methods.The author's questionnaire «Stress in Educators' Work and Communication», assessement questionnaires: «Methods of Assessment of Levels and Types of Sense of Humor»(I.S. Dombrovska,), «Self-assessment of Stress Resistance», «Coping Behavior in Stressful Situations»(E. Heim), «Test of Viability»(Muddy), content analysis of visual humorous content of educational sites and Facebook groups. Spearman's correlation analysis was used for statistical data processing.Results.The author has found a moderate relationship between the educational organization staff's humor style and stress copying, which allows defining a humor style focused on others as productive. The educational organization staff's self-humor with a hint of self-deprecation and staffʼs ability to passively perceive humor, did not associate with staffʼs stress coping. It has been found that educational organization staff uses mostly unproductive humor styles to overcome stress.Conclusion. The obtained findings offer a good possibility of training managers for conscious use of humorous interactions to reduce staff's work stress, given different effectiveness of different humor styles.

Temporal typifications as an organizational resource: Experiential knowledge and patient processing at the emergency department

The connection between time and power has been studied extensively. A common strategy through which street-level bureaucrats exert power and dominance over their clients consists of imposing protracted waiting and maintaining uncertainty regarding the outcomes of waiting. In this study, I argue that another facet of power in organizations is related to the temporal typification of cases. By exploring the triage work in two emergency departments (EDs), I show that nurses and clerks identify patterns in the temporal distribution of visits and attach clinical and moral meanings to them. The temporal typifications are sense-making devices through which triage workers orient to patients. They form a stock of tacit experiential knowledge that delineates specific expectations about the legitimacy of cases and the worth of patients. These expectations impact the unfolding and structure of triage admission interviews and contribute to the prioritization of cases. The study brings into conversation the sociological literature on time and power with the study of the moral evaluation of patients to examine temporal typifications as an organizational resource in healthcare settings. It contributes to a better understanding of triage workers’ experiential knowledge and the practical accomplishment of moral evaluation in EDs.

Conceptual principles of development of non-Olympic sports (on the example of sumo)

The article is devoted to substantiation of conceptual bases of development of non-Olympic sport (on an example of sumo). In the process of generalization of theoretical data, the trend of growing popularity of non-Olympic sports, in particular sumo, has been determined. This is confirmed by its inclusion in the program of the World Games and World Martial Arts Games. Ukrainian sumo wrestlers show high results in the international sports arena, among the latest achievements of the highest level - 3 bronze medals at the World Games in 2017. The developed concept of sumo development solves the following tasks: involvement of broad sections of the population of different ages in sumo, increasing the number of athletes in this sport, increasing their sports training and skills, optimizing the material and technical base of sumo. The developed concept is based on the generally accepted principles of systems theory, as well as the principles of monitoring organization. The practical implementation of the directions of the concept is carried out with the help of the following blocks to ensure the implementation of the concept: the basics of implementation (definition of goals, objectives of the concept and organizational and methodological principles of sumo development); directions of ensuring the implementation of the concept (organizational, resource, educational, methodological, scientific and information); monitoring the implementation of the concept; assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of the concept (due to the dynamics of available resources). The federation is considered to be the subject of sumo development. The results obtained during the study will be the basis for further strategic planning for the development of non-Olympic sports and the development of appropriate programs and plans.

The Factorial-Reflexive Approach to Diagnosing the Executors’ and Contractors’ Attitude to Achieving the Objectives by Energy Supplying Companies

The article aims to enhance understanding of how relations, behavior and attitude of the executives and contractors to achieving the objectives by energy supplying companies affect the efficiency of the latter’s overall development. There is offered a factor-reflexive approach to diagnosing the executives’ and contractors’ attitude to realizing the tasks of developing the energy supplying companies. This approach includes models to identify and analyze the factors that influenced the change in contractors’ behavior based on the combination of expert techniques, correlation and regression analysis and evaluation of the personnel response to organizational, resource and staffing projects development, through accumulating sufficient statistical information based on the enterprise’s features, relations and environment. This approach to diagnosing executives’ and contractors’ response to the implementation of tasks and the resulting changes takes into account the subjective component of their response. Practical implementation of this approach in monitoring the conformity of the development tasks has proven the ability to identify problems from the viewpoint of the task executives.