How “storytelling” establishes and spreads corporate culture: A comparison of two coal companies in China and the United States

Abstract

Organizational culture is playing a more and more important role in corporate competition. This paper attempts to combine “storytelling” with the construction and dissemination of corporate organizational culture. The aim is to provide an effective perspective and method for how companies can establish and spread culture by applying narrative theory in storytelling. The paper draws on Barthes’ structuralism and constructs a narrative theory framework for building an organizational culture based on functional, operational, and narrative levels, focusing on how to “select” and “tell” stories. Using case analysis as a research method, the paper analysis two representative energy companies, China Shenhua Corporation, and U.S. Peabody Energy Corporation, to confirm the applicability of the theoretical framework and identifies differences in their storytelling approaches to building corporate culture. First, in terms of story themes, China Shenhua Corporation emphasizes more on employees and output, while Peabody focuses more on innovation and social responsibility. Second, in terms of story content, China Shenhua focuses more on leadership and executives, while Peabody focuses more on general employees. Third, in terms of story structure, both companies present their stories in chronological order.