“Kicked by the Same Kangaroo”? Metaphor's Effects in Tragic Tales Of

“Kicked by the same kangaroo”? Metaphor’s effects in tragic tales of acquisition Cindy Liu Victoria University of Wellington Sally Riad* Victoria University of Wellington P O Box 600 Tel. +64 4 463 5079 Fax. +64 4 463 5253 [email protected] z *Present ing author “Kicked by the same kangaroo”? Metaphor’s effects in tragic tales of acquisition Abstract In this paper we identify salient metaphors in tragic acquisition tales with the purpose of reflecting on their effects, on what they do . The paper is premised on interrelated theoretical strands: narrative, tragedy and metaphor; these form the foundation for content analysis of New Zealand and Australian media representations of three acquisitions. Across the three tales, ‘war’ is the most entrenched business metaphor. When viewed with the second most dominant metaphor, biology (evolution and life cycle), we have language replete with notions of social Darwinism wherein struggle is essential to survival – blended with nationalist sentiments . In closing, the call is for us to envision a “pacific century” wherein we explore ‘new’ language and alternative ways of framing business life. 1 Introduction The Warehouse is getting kicked by the same kangaroo that has sent other New Zealand firms to their sick beds (Chapple, 2003 ). This statement appeared in an article titled “True Blues hit the ‘Red Shed’” in The New Zealand Herald . The “kangaroo” , a n animal symbolic of Australia , relentlessly “kicked” The Warehouse, the largest and one of the most popular retailers in New Zealand. The article reproduces a precarious notion, not uncommon in the media , that New Zealand firms generally “have a sad history of unravelling ac ross the Tasman” (Chapple, 2003 ). This paper examines media representations of th ree New Zealand acquisitions in Australia; one thing these acquisitions have in common is a tragic tale of a well -regarded, almost iconic, New Zealand firm, whose acquisition of an Australian firm does not end with ‘happily -ever -after’. In the paper, we fo cus on identifying the salient metaphors deployed in such media accounts, and exploring the effects they hold in tragic acquisition tales. In doing so, we take also into account the role of such metaphors within the long -standing historic and economic rela tionship between New Zealand and Australia. Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are change phenomena that are increasingly relevant to organizations and everyday life, particularly as organizations seek to establish and maintain competitiveness in an increasi ngly globalized economy (Fitzgibbon & Seeger, 2002). Why failed acquisitions? Whereas the high probability of failure is one of the most common statements reproduced i n the literature on acquisition, t here is a paucity of studies that examine failed acquis itions more broadly, and their representation specifically. Moreover, the reproduction of stories of failure can shape a nation ’s business identity ; i n the case of New Zealand, this can be compounded by its close relationship to Australia – wherein account s of failur e are not mere representations of business problems, but may also involve nationalistic sentiments. Hence, understanding of the dynamics of framing failure matters just as much as understanding the dynamics of representing success. This is where we turn to the media, a central player in today’s business world. Specifically, in shaping perceptions of organizations’ activities and performance, it affects investors’ decision -making and hence share price (Chatterjee et al. , 1992) . More broadly, the m edia creates realities through its broad reader base, and can also serve to stir up the public with nationalistic sentiments in cross -border acquisitions ( Tienari et al. , 2003 ; Vaara et al. , 2003 ). Here we get to metaphor. In tragic narratives of acquisiti on, metaphor contributes to the cohesion of the text, the tightness and consistency of the argumentation, and the construction of a particular view of reality (Koller, 2003); in this paper, we emphasise the last of these effects through an analysis of thre e acquisition cases: T he Warehouse ’s acquisition of Clint ’s Crazy Bargains and Silly Solly ’s, Telecom’ s takeover of AAPT to Air New Zealand’ s purchase of Ansett . 2 Narrative, Tragedy and Metaphor in Organizational Change In examining acquisitions as a form of organizational change, this paper is premised on three interrelated theoretical strands; we discuss each in turn. On narrative… We live immersed in narrative, some of which we create ourselves in our conversations and in the texts we author (Gabriel, 20 04). However, its relevance once easily went unnoticed because of its ubiquity. Over the past twenty years, interest in narrative has rapidly risen in organization studies, predominantly on the premise that individuals often make sense of the world and the ir place with in it through narrative fo rm (e.g. Bruner, 1990; Feldman et al. , 2004). Weick (1995) notes that many organization theorists have shifted their attention to the analysis of such interaction processes through which organizations are constituted , maintained or change over time. The word “narrative” derives from the Latin “ narre ”, which means “to make known”. What distinguishes narrative from other forms of communicating information, such as a flight timetable , is that it presents information as a connected sequence of events (Lacey, 2000). To Bruner, there are five characteristics to a narrative: it is an account of events occurring over time , it poses a retrospective interpretation of sequential events from a certain point of view , it focus on hum an action , it is an ongoing part of identity construction processes , and it is co -authored by the audience or readers . We organize our experience and our memory of what has happened mainly in the form of narrative, including stories, excuses, myths, reason s for doing and not doing (Gergen, 2001) . We engage in narrative in order to understand our own lives as well as the lives of other people (Polkinghorne, 1988). And specific to the topic at hand, the broadcast and print media also efficiently engage with n arrative, having achieved a logical contrivance : that of “fishing for the story even as they proclaim themselves to be tracking down the fact” (Gabriel, 2004: 2). Organizational research into change has been increasingly shaped by t he ‘linguistic turn’ th at has spread across the social sciences, leading to a focus on ‘stories’, ‘narratives’, ‘myths’, ‘legend’, ‘fantasies’, ‘fables’, ‘tales’ and ‘sagas’ ( Alvesson & Karreman, 2000 ; Brown, 2005; Czariawska, 1998). The focus of research is on language and its role in constructing, rather than simply mirroring reality (Alvesson & Karreman, 2000) through an emphasis on how stories, embedded in what is called ‘narrative knowledge’, come to provide guidance or ‘recipes’ for action (Czarniawska -Joerges, 1995; Gabrie l, 2002 ). Specifically, Czarniawska (1997) claims that narrating is organizing, a process of social construction that is interactionally both relevant and constraining. On tragedy… In his highly influential Poetics , Aristotle introduced the earliest formal definition of tragedy, and all subsequent discussions of tragic form have been influenced by his concepts ( Bernays, 2004; 3 Downey, 1999; Kelly, 1993 ). To Aristot le, tragedy is an imitation of action concerning the fall of a person whose character is good ( though not pre -eminently just or virtuous), whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity but by some error or frailty, with incidents arousing pity and fear, and thereby accomplish the catharsis of these emotions (Kelly, 1993). In organizatio nal texts, tragedies are narratives of fatal loss – along the lines of Aristotle’s “change of fortune from good to bad” – that are linked to a quest ( Kelly , 199 3). In discussing narrative forms in organizational interpretation Jeffcut (1994: 231) defines t he ‘tragic’ form thus: “obstacles triumph, opponents gain their revenge, and any reconciliation or reintegration occurs in a sacrificial mode or in another world”. Taking this to an analytical level, Gergen (1999; 2001) classifies some rudimentary forms of narrative that include the progressive and regressive narrative. The progressive narrative poses optimistic accounts of life, in which the endpoint is positive (a success, victory, etc.). Conversely, the regressive narrative depicts a continued downward s lide of events, in which the endpoint is negative (a failure, loss, etc.). These narratives also imply “directionality” (p. 254), the former foreseeing further increments and the latter further decrements. The tragic narrative usually tells the story of a downfall from a high position; so, i n general , it features a regressive narrative following from a previous progressive narrative . Seen through the Aristotelian lens, a basic narrative of an unsuccessful acquisition goes along the following lines. A compan y with a vision of growth acquires another company, claiming this would enable more profit . However, after a troubled period of time, it confronts failure in meeting the goals set prior to the deal. The critical decision becomes whether to continue the str uggle or give up . As illustrated in Brown and Humphreys ’ (2003) study, the ‘heroic’ is not the only story that can be told in organizations. A n acquisition can be constructed as a tragedy if the members of the organization, the researchers or the media rep resent and interpret the events in tragic terms. Yet, whereas

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