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Business History For Peer Review Only New Identities from R emnants of the Past: An Examination of the History of Beer Brewing in Ontario and the Recent Emergence of Craft Breweries Journal: Business History Manuscript ID: FBSH-2014-0084.R3 Manuscript Type: Original Article Keywords: Beer Brewing, institutional remnants, Collective Identity, Ontario, Canada URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fbsh Page 1 of 52 Business History 1 2 3 Abstract 4 5 6 We present an exploratory analysis of historical narratives and data covering 200 years of beer 7 8 brewing in the Canadian province of Ontario. These data are used to illuminate the process of 9 10 11 collective identity emergence in established organizational fields. We argue that established 12 13 fields are typically littered with identity remnants from ancestral organizations and related 14 For Peer Review Only 15 institutional configurations that can facilitate the successful emergence of new collective 16 17 18 identities. In our analysis we first show how multiple identity elements fell by the wayside as the 19 20 beer brewing field matured and settled on a corporate path. We go on to detail how some of these 21 22 identity elements were subsequently recovered during the recent decades which marked the 23 24 25 successful emergence and proliferation of craft beer brewing. Our study has implications for 26 27 research on collective identity and organizational legacy, and we stress the importance of taking 28 29 a historical lens for understanding present day phenomena. 30 31 32 33 34 Key Words: Beer brewing, identity remnants, collective identity, industry evolution, Ontario, 35 36 37 Canada 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fbsh Business History Page 2 of 52 1 2 3 What does it mean to be a commercial brewery? Is it about the spirit of entrepreneurship 4 5 6 or a quest for global expansion? Does it mean to practice the age-old art and mystery of beer 7 8 brewing? Is it about the utilization of modern science and technology to harness the power of a 9 10 micro-organism or, perhaps it is a concern with providing merriment and entertainment for the 11 12 imbibing public? If you are a brewer today, you might answer yes to all those possibilities and if 13 14 you were able Forto ask a brewer Peer dating back Review into history, you might Only hear quite a few more. The 15 16 roles beer breweries have played over time and the identities they have acquired and 17 18 promulgated in conjunction with those roles are arguably as varied as the styles of beer that are 19 20 brewed the world over. 21 22 23 Questions of meaning and identity have been prominent in organizational studies for the 24 1 25 past three decades in the search for answers about the symbolic and cultural value of business. 26 27 The meaning of what an organization is matters not only to entice identification from its 28 29 members, for whom it can provide direction, maintain cohesion, and instil a sense of 30 31 organizational belonging. 2 Meaning is also relevant to outside stakeholders because identity can 32 33 reduce uncertainty and facilitate interactions with the organization. 3 34 35 More recently, questions have been asked about the role and importance of collective 36 37 38 identities – identities that characterize types of organizations rather than individual organizations 39 40 – and how a collective identity of one or more organizational types in an organizational field or 41 42 industry affects the strategic goals and actions of those organizations. 4 Collective identities are 43 44 45 important symbolic and cultural factors that influence whether an organization is seen as 46 47 legitimate by its stakeholders 5 and thus impact the collective performance and survival of 48 49 6 50 organizational types. 51 52 Despite the importance of collective identities to organizational survival and legitimacy, 53 54 we know relatively little about how collective identities emerge. 7 Moreover, we are still learning 55 56 57 about how new organizations in established fields construct new collective identities and from 58 2 59 60 URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fbsh Page 3 of 52 Business History 1 2 3 where organizations obtain the symbolic and cultural resources to do so. 8 A recent stream of 4 5 9 6 research, inspired by institutional and ecological theories of organization , suggests that a potent 7 8 form of such resources may be found in the past. Specifically, this research has detailed how 9 10 11 present day organizational dynamics continue to be influenced by ancestral organizations and 12 10 13 associated institutional configurations even after they have disappeared. 14 For Peer Review Only 15 One central observation is that, in an ecological fashion, vanished organizations and 16 17 18 associated institutional configurations leave behind institutional remnants that may provide vital 19 20 resources for subsequent generations of organizations. These remnants have been shown to be a 21 22 contributing factor in a number of organizational fields such as the Canadian forest industry, 11 23 24 12 13 14 25 liquor retailing in Alberta, the US stock market, US cooperatives, and Chinese Corporate 26 27 Social Responsibility.15 We use insights from this emerging genre of work to show how a new 28 29 collective identity in an established organizational beer brewing field may have been built on the 30 31 32 ashes of ancestral institutions. 33 34 Thus, our general research question is: how do organizations in established industries 35 36 37 develop a collective identity? To this end, we present a study of the history of beer brewing in 38 39 the Canadian province of Ontario by paying specific attention to the recent emergence of craft 40 41 beer brewing. We argue that the craft brewing renaissance in Ontario is related to the creation of 42 43 44 a new collective identity by local brewing entrepreneurs who recovered important identity 45 46 remnants from the industry's past. We analyze existing historical narratives of the evolution of 47 48 beer brewing in Ontario and map the shifts in the collective identity of beer breweries over time. 49 50 51 We categorize our time line into five periods and examine identity elements that mutated, were 52 53 discarded, or became adopted in each period. We then focus on the emergence of craft beer 54 55 brewing in Ontario and assess to what extent and in which manner the newly formed collective 56 57 58 3 59 60 URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fbsh Business History Page 4 of 52 1 2 3 identity of craft breweries builds on identity elements that were previously left behind. We assert 4 5 6 that the new collective identity of craft brewing was constructed on a revival of the ancestral 7 8 meanings of beer brewing as community activity and as craft through the return of small-batch 9 10 11 brewing technology, the resurrection of old product styles, and the reinvention of the tavern as an 12 13 important part of the distribution chain. 14 For Peer Review Only 15 This paper proceeds as follows. First, we provide a brief discussion of the theoretical 16 17 18 constructs that we draw upon in the paper, focusing specifically on collective identities and 19 20 institutional remnants. Next, we present a selective reading of the social history of beer brewing 21 22 in Ontario from which we construct a historical narrative covering five sequential time periods. 23 24 25 We ultimately show how the new craft brewing identity recycled and reinvented identity 26 27 elements that were discarded during previous time periods. We conclude the paper by advocating 28 29 for more research on the influences of the past in the emergence of new collective identities in 30 31 32 established fields. 33 34 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 35 36 In the following sections we introduce and review the concept of collective 37 38 organizational identity and discuss the some of the limitations of the current theory. Next, our 39 40 41 discussion turns to those elements of the past that have been left behind in an organizational 42 43 field. These we call “remnants of the past” and we explore how these elements can be used to 44 45 develop collective identities. We conclude with an overview of our data and the process by 46 47 which we examined the historical narratives of our study within the context of our conceptual 48 49 framework. 50 51 Collective Organizational Identity 52 53 Organizational identity is most commonly defined as a set of claims about the central, 54 55 56 distinctive, and enduring attributes that characterize an organization and thereby position it in a 57 58 4 59 60 URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fbsh Page 5 of 52 Business History 1 2 3 social category. 16 As a phenomenon related to organizational culture,17 identity claims focus on 4 5 6 what or who an organization is by identifying its institutional classification, relational 7 8 association, or behavioral commitment. 18 For example, a brewery could be identified through its 9 10 11 strategic form as a “brewpub” or in association with a specific community as “the local brewer”. 12 13 In the organizational literature, this view is most closely aligned with a sociological perspective 14 For Peer Review Only 15 known as institutional identity. 19 According to this view, identity is claimed in reference to 16 17 18 cultural resources that are embedded in the external environment as socially constructed 19 20 knowledge about types of organizations and their typical identity attributes, such as core values, 21 22 practices, and products.