This paper aims to present an overview of the book, “Mechanisms of Organizational Decline: Traps Caused by the Uses of History.” This book aims to clarify how and why a successful organization declines and addresses Kanebo’s decline as a case study. The book has three challenges under a single theme: theoretical contribution, case study as business history research, and methodological discussion. The book comprises 11 chapters, from the introduction to the last chapter and a supplemental chapter. Chapter 1, which follows the introduction, critically examines existing theoretical studies, and Chapter 2 discusses methods. Chapters 3 to 9 analyze and describe the case with historical explanations. The final chapter redescribes the case using abstract concepts and theories to find theoretical findings and concludes with implications.
This article presents an overview of the book in five major parts. The first part presents the purpose of the book. In particular, this part points out the problems with existing theoretical studies on organizational decline. It discusses what analytical perspectives still need to be improved, which has led to the problems. The second part explains the methodology adopted in the book. The book adopts historical explanations in the case analysis and is premised on critical realism as an ontological and epistemological assumption to balance historical explanations and theorizing. The third part explains the expected significance of the case study as business history research. The fourth part presents the conclusions of the book. There, we present the re-description of the case, the theoretical findings, and the generative mechanisms underlying the organizational decline. The fifth part describes the implications of the book. After presenting the book overview, we conclude with the book’s limitations and avenues for future research.
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