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As organizations increasingly view information as one of their most valuable assets, which supports the creation and distribution of their products and services, information security will be an integral part of the design and operation of organizational business processes. Yet, risks associated with cyber attacks are on the rise. Organizations that are subjected to attacks can suffer significant reputational damage as well as loss of information and knowledge. As a consequence, effective leadership is cited as a critical factor for ensuring corporate level attention for information security. However, there is a lack of empirical understanding as to the roles strategic leaders play in shaping and supporting the cyber security strategy. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature by focusing on how senior leaders support the cyber security strategy. The authors conducted a series of exploratory interviews with leaders in the positions of Chief Information Officer, Chief Security Information Officer, and Chief Technology Officer. The findings revealed that leaders are engaged in both transitional, where the focus is on improving governance and integration, and transformational support, which involves fostering a new cultural mindset for cyber resiliency and the development of an ecosystem approach to security thinking. Managerial relevance statement Our findings provide interesting insights for managers particularly those in the role of Chief Information Officers (CIOs), Chief Security Information Officers (CSIOs), and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs). We propose a Cyber Security Strategy Framework (CSSF) which can be used by these information/technology managers to design an effective organizational strategy to develop cyber resilience in their organization. Our framework suggests that managers should focus on transitional and transformational support. The transitional support focuses on improving governance and integration whereas transformational support focuses on the emphasis of fostering a new cultural mindset for cyber resiliency and the development of an ecosystem approach to security thinking. Our findings provide good evidence showing how leaders can support more effective cyber security initiatives.

Peter Hitchcock has described the subject of this paper as ‘the story of the twentieth century’. Lev Termen (commonly anglicized as Leon Theremin) was a musician, inventor, entrepreneur and espionage agent who developed the Theremin, an early electronic musical instrument that is played without physical contact by the musician, and the first radio-controlled electronic bugging device, among many other electronic instruments and technologies. Despite this inventive fecundity, however, none of his inventions were marketed successfully, at least in a conventional sense. This paper is an unconventional dual biography of Termen and the Theremin, in which I juxtapose a linear, inventor-centred account of the technologies, exemplified by my sources,with a narrative focusing on some of their multiple meanings, uses and developments;and on the multiple, fractional, yet connected identities of their inventor. The paper concludes with a discussion of the substantive and methodological implications of this‘fractional biography of failure’, drawing on some aspects of the work of Walter Benjamin.

Scenarios and counterfactuals are two types of modal narrative. Modal narratives concern themselves with contingency and determinism: with questions of possibility and necessity. While scenarios are future-oriented, focused on what might yet be, counterfactuals are narratives of what might have been. Despite this fundamental temporal difference, consideration of the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of modal narratives as a genre enables us to elucidate some critical issues concerning scenarios as a foresight methodology. In particular, the scenario literature has tended to avoid extended discussion of its implicit assumptions concerning causation, necessity, possibility and contingency. By confronting the modal nature of foresight methodologies more explicitly, the futures community may begin to lay more secure philosophical foundations for their deployment.

PurposeThis paper seeks to identify and define the genre of corporate history within the pervasive historical discourse produced by and about organizations which tells the past of an organization across a multiplicity of texts: published works – commissioned and critical accounts, academic tomes and glossy coffee‐table books – as well as web pages, annual reports and promotional pamphlets.Design/methodology/approachThe approach takes the form of systematic reading of historical narratives for 85 mainly British and US companies from the Fortune Global 500. For these companies, a search was carried out for US printed sources in the British Library and a survey was conducted of historical content in web pages.FindingsFrom extensive reading of the historical discourse, recurrent formal features (medium, authorship, publication, paratext and imagery) and elements of thematic content (narrative, characters, cultural paradigms and business success), which together define the genre of corporate history, have been identified. Such a definition provides competence in the reading of historical narratives of organizations and raises questions regarding the role of history in organizational identity, memory and communication. In conclusion it is argued that the interpretation of corporate history cannot be reduced to its promotional function for organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThe list of the formal features and thematic content of corporate history detailed here is by no means exhaustive. They are not variables, but signs, which, in various combinations, compose the narrative and signify the genre.Practical implicationsIt seems likely that coffee‐table books will increasingly replace academic commissioned histories, with consultants professionalizing the discourse and formalizing the genre of corporate history.Originality/valueThe genre of corporate history has hitherto been neglected in organization theory, where the linguistic turn has led to a preoccupation with talk as text. The use of genre to analyse corporate history represents a textual turn to literary organizational texts as text.

This article reflects on the papers published in the Symposium on 'Counterfactual History in Management and Organizations'. After describing the background to the symposium we review some important themes in the multidisciplinary domain of counterfactuals. We discuss each of the papers published in the symposium and set out our views on future directions for counterfactual history in the management and organization studies discipline.

Organizations are increasingly being called to account for their history. In particular, German and non-German companies have been called to account for their relations with the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. Organizations are not only accountable for past activity, but also for previous, often misleading, historical accounts of their behaviour. Thus we are interested in how an organization deals with historical accounts of its past, and how this reflects its culture. Therefore we draw upon concepts from organizational culture studies, and specifically Martin's three perspectives of culture as integration, differentiation, and fragmentation. We take the illustrative case of Bertelsmann, the German publishing company. Revelations of its record under the Nazis, when it published anti-semitic literature, were brought to light by Hersch Fischler in 1998, when Bertelsmann was in the process of taking over Random House. These revelations jarred with the company's image of corporate social responsibility and undermined the company legend, which alleged that it had an impeccable record, and had even been closed down for opposing the Nazis. The Bertelsmann case highlights the dilemmas involved in organizations invoking their past. Debate over the Holocaust has highlighted the dilemmas of truth and relativism in representations of history. The Bertelsmann case highlights similar dilemmas for organizational culture perspectives.

2006 marked the 200th anniversary of the bir th of the celebrated and controversial engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Many events were held across the UK and elsewhere to celebrate the bicentenary. Many of these were organized, funded or facilitated by Brunel200, an organization based in Bristol, UK, a city closely associated with Brunel and his work. Among the events organized for the bicentenary celebrations was the publication of Isambard Kingdom Brunel: A Graphic Biography (Byrne and Gurr 2006). Following a brief discussion of Brunel and his bicentenary, we publish the text of an interview with Eugene Byrne and Simon Gurr, author and illustrator of the book.

The successful management of strategic change requires an understanding of which moves are possible in specific contexts, and thus of how specific contexts variously require, forbid, or permit certain organizational or policy actions. Appreciation of such modal issues of necessity and possibility thus becomes essential in understanding organizational and technological dynamics. This paper introduces the concept of modal narratives: forms of analytically structured narrative that explore questions of necessity, possibility and contingency. After a brief review of two common types of modal narrative—counterfactuals and scenarios— the potential of a third form is suggested: the superfactual. An extended example of a superfactual is provided in the Project Hindsight case, and the implications for strategic action are discussed.

We outline the prospects for Management & Organizational History in the form of a 10-point agenda identifying issues that we envisage being addressed in the journal. 1.The 'Historic Turn' in Organization Theory - calls for a more historical orientation in management and organization theory. 2. Historical Methods and Styles of Writing - alternative methods and diverse styles of writing appropriate for studying organizations historically. 3.The Philosophy of History and Historical Theorists - the relevance for management and organization theory of philosophers of history such as Michel Foucault and Hayden White. 4. Corporate Culture and Social Memory - the historical dimension of culture and memory in organizations. 5. Organizational History - the emergence of a distinctive field of research. 6. Business History and Theory - the engagement between business history and organization theory. 7. Business Ethics in History - the meaning and ethics of past business behaviour. 8. Metanarratives of Corporate Capitalism - historiographical debate concerning the rise of capitalism and the modern corporation. 9. Management History and Management Education - the link between the history of management thought and the teaching of management and organization theory. 10. Public History - the relation between business schools and the increasing public interest in history.

Does history matter in strategy? The lack of attention given to historical perspectives in the mainstream literature suggests that it does not. Recently, however, authors have argued that historical forces do affect the strategic management of organizations, and have highlighted their importance through the concept of “path dependence”. I review the literature on path dependence and argue that a conception of the complexities of historical understanding is required in a dynamic understanding of organizations. To highlight these complexities, I review an important theme in twentieth century historiography: the possibilities and problems presented by counterfactual analysis. Despite some serious objections to counterfactual thinking, this method may yield benefits for both managers and theorists. I conclude that to do justice to the importance of history in organizations, we must follow Collingwood in engaging, not with the question “Shall I be a historian or not?”, but rather with the question, “How good a historian shall I be?”.

The case method is a definitive and foundational technology in business education. It was first developed as a vocational training tool equipping students for future employment. In this conception, the organisation was seen as a machine, and managers as the engineers who would maintain it through planned interventions. The case method allowed aspiring managers to practise intervention skills in a safe environment. Since the origins of the case method in US business schools before the First World War, conceptions of organisations have moved on. They are no longer seen as machine-like, but as complex, ambiguous, and protean. The 'wicked' problems that potential managers will face in an uncertain world require the development of critical thinking and sensemaking abilities. While the traditional approach to the case continues, its use as a vehicle to explore and manage complexity and ambiguity is emerging, although this is facing resistance from some students and staff.

The paper is concerned with alliances and learning. It provides an overview of recent contributions to the emergent literatures on knowledge management and organizational learning, identifies similarities and differences between the two, and highlights the implications of these for academics and practitioners. The paper explores the significance of networks, alliances and inter‐organizational relationships for organizations and considers the nature and importance of learning in and through such relationships. A modified version of Coghlan’s (1997) model of organizational learning as a dynamic interlevel process is then presented to reflect these developments.

Spectral measurements of biologically relevant radiation at McMurdo Station, Antarctica reveal ultraviolet (UV) irradiance levels at 305 nm in October exceeding by a factor between 3 and 6 “normal” values expected for undepleted ozone levels. This enhancement is directly related to the ozone depletion. The column abundance of stratospheric ozone derived from these measurements was as low as 145 Dobson Units (DU) in October, 1990. This is more than a factor of 2 lower than the value at solstice, and 100 DU less than in October, 1988. The dose rate for damage to the DNA molecule based on Setlow's action spectrum and UV radiation measured at noon is well above normal levels most of the time between October 1 and December 5 and is as much as three times the normal value for a few days at the end of October.

Spectral measurements of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation taken at McMurdo Station, Antarctica are used to determine biologically effective UV dose, ozone column content, and effective cloud optical depth. The seasonal variation in these parameters from September 15, 1988 through April 15, 1989 is presented and discussed. Although no days from September 15 through October experienced UV dose exceeding that occurring at summer solstice, the temporal variation in the level of UV radiation is markedly asymmetric with respect to summer solstice. A general enhancement by about 20% in biologically effective UV dose in October, 1988 compared to March, 1989 is clearly evident. The main cause of this asymmetry appears to be the coincident deficiency in ozone abundance appears to be the coincident deficiency in ozone abundance by about 8% in spring compared to fall. The percent increase in UV dose per percent decrease in ozone abundance is about 2.5 in agreement with theoretical predictions. The total ozone amount is generally depleted (to about 250 DU) during October 1988, but there are large day-to-day fluctuations. Presumably these fluctuations are caused primarily by the motion of the polar vortex. After summer solstice UV radiation levels and ozone amounts exhibit much less pronounced day-to-daymore » fluctuations. No spring/fall asymmetry in cloudiness, as it affects the surface ultraviolet radiation budget, is discernible from the measurements if the surface albedo is assumed to vary symmetrically around solstice.« less