From “snapshots” to “moving pictures”: Tracing processes using narrative sequence analysis in the evolution of an e-business

A central focus of IMP research is the process of development and evolution of firms, relations and networks. Narrative Sequence methods, first developed in sociology but not widely known or used in marketing, offer a means of more systematically examining and explaining such processes of change over time. We use these methods to guide our analysis of a particular case study of the evolution of ebusiness in a major Australian financial institution. Narrative sequence methods stem from a desire to move from an analysis of causation in terms interaction among disembodied proximate variables to a focus on the interaction of “events ” taking place over time, in which actors act and interact; to go from ‘snap-shots ’ highlighting simple correlation between variables, to ‘moving pictures ’ in which the timing and order of unfolding events is of central interest. First we review some of the main types of factors shaping the evolution of ebusiness in a firm. Next, we describe the nature of narrative sequence methods before providing an overview of the focal case. We then describe and illustrate some of the ways the case can be analysed using narrative sequence methods and discuss the issues and problems involved