Family matters! How storytelling can be used in the management communication in family-owned companies

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how a strong corporate brand identity can be created through organisational storytelling as a management communication tool. We have chosen to investigate family-owned companies as an empirical case due to the distinctive identity of this form of organisation, hence, the presence of a family in the business context. More specifically, we have investigated the Swedish ice cream producer SIA Glass AB, owned by the Stenström family and situated in Slöinge, Halland. SIA Glass is a subsidiary company in the corporate group Bertegruppen AB, the oldest family business in Sweden, founded in 1569. A qualitative and abductive case study design where phenomenological interviews and a document study were carried out. The study further took an interpretivistic and social constructionist approach. Since our aim was to explore organisational storytelling, we used a narrative analysis where we divided our empirical data into different narrative themes. The development of this framework started within the research field of corporate brand identity. Theories about internal marketing and organisational culture were subsequently added in order to strengthen the statements about forming a strong internal brand. Finally, storytelling theories were added as a way of demonstrating for the reader how storytelling can be used as a management communication tool in order to fill the knowledge gap identified. The family-owned ice cream company SIA Glass was used. An empirical background is presented in order to comprehend the unique context of SIA Glass and its history. Furthermore, the raw data was collected through phenomenological interviews with six organisational members as well as through three books about SIA Glass and the family business history. Results showed us that there is a great potential for family-owned companies to use organisational storytelling as a management communication tool in order to create a strong corporate brand identity. Family-owned companies should give significantly more emphasis to organisational stories that are derived from the family business origin, history and unique traditions. Our result is demonstrated in the model that is called A Storytelling and Internal branding Model in a Family Business Context