In Their Own Words: A Call for Increased Use of Organizational Narratives in Family Business Research

Abstract

The role words and narratives play in understanding rich relationships critical to family business cannot be overstated. This truth was highlighted by a recent landmark case resulting in the awarding of $572 million dollars to the state of Oklahoma based on opioid marketing in a case against a firm Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter often disparagingly referred to as “a family company.” Unfortunately, however, the Attorney General was mistakenly referencing SC Johnson and their famous tagline rather than Johnson & Johnson— the corporation involved in the case. In response to this misstep CEO and chairman of SC Johnson H. Fisk Johnson threatened litigation until the Attorney General promised to refrain from this incorrect name association in the future (Kopecki, 2019). In addition to the attention to careless use of words surrounding his well-known family firm, H. Fisk Johnson provided an illuminating family business narrative when he released a full-page ad explicitly outlining the issues associated with cavalier use of their name. In part, he notes,