Exploring corporate heritage through digital narrative. A cross-cultural thematic analysis of Henokiens’ websites
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s128.2025.11Keywords:
corporate heritage, corporate brand identity, long-lived firms, communication, cross-cultural analysisAbstract
Purpose of the paper: This study explores the communication of corporate heritage of long-lived firms. It inductively determines the key elements that bicentennial companies typically use to convey corporate heritage through their websites. It also investigates whether and how the culture of the country influences the communication of corporate heritage.
Methodology: The study proposes a thematic analysis of the textual content of the websites of bicentennial family companies of Henokiens to identify the main themes associated with the communication of their corporate heritage.
Findings: The findings reveal the presence of three aggregate dimensions of digital narratives of corporate heritage: entrepreneurial mindset, historicity, and inner values. the importance of these dimensions and some interesting results confirm the effect of cultural values on corporate communication.
Research limitations: Although this study offers valuable insights into the communications of long-lived family companies, its focus on the specific subset of bicentennial Henokiens companies may limit its generalizability. Furthermore, the analysis is based on the content of company’s websites, which limits the scope of the research into their narratives and communications effectiveness.
Practical implications: Our study significantly contributes to understanding the elements on which companies base their corporate heritage communication. Investigating the influence of culture values on how individuals interpret heritage and on the important they give to its components can make companies aware of the need to adapt their communication and help them develop an effective communication strategy across countries.
Originality of the paper: This paper contributes to the corporate heritage literature by bringing new elements that describe the identity of long-lived companies through the heritage narrative. It identifies the key elements of digital narratives and provides an opportunity to investigate how well the designed identity reflects their culture identity.
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