Consideration of Organizational Identity Formation Through a Longitudinal Approach to Strategy

Abstract

In the field of organization identity, few papers have looked at its formation. In order to do so, this paper links the how, the what and the why of identity formation. Taking a longitudinal approach to the continuous execution of strategy, this study focuses on the interrelationship between organizational strategy and identity in describing the formation of organizational identity. To this end, it presents the case study of Kinsei Seishi Co., Ltd., a pioneer of dry-laid non-woven fabrics in the domestic non-woven fabric industry that established a competitive advantage in the niche market by pursuing development of Japan’s first high-performance and high-value-added non-woven fabric.

This study examines the formation of the company’s organizational identity from the viewpoint of the interrelationship between strategy and identity by investigating the success of its PET bottle recycled non-woven fabric and synthetic fiber dry-laid non-woven fabric businesses, which happened at different points in their history. The results indicate that the “pursuit of niche-topping strategy through active development of high-value-added products” by successive leaders was a deep process in the formation of the company’s organizational identity. This reveals the influence of this (the how) on the formation of the company’s organizational identity (the what) for the sake of gaining a sustainable competitive advantage in non-woven niche markets (the why).