Restoring social legitimacy: discursive strategies used by a pharmaceutical industry leader

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to understand discursive strategies used by organizations to restore their fading legitimacy. This longitudinal case study is built around two events representing a threat to the legitimacy of the pharmaceutical industry. This study describes some subtle techniques employed to restore legitimacy during those difficult periods.Design/methodology/approachThis research analyzes the president's letter of the annual report using semiotic tools designed to catch the essence and goals of the narrative sections. This case study covers 20 of Pfizer most recent annual reports (1988‐2007).FindingsThe paper suggests that some narrative sections are built to protect legitimacy on two fronts. Most of the time, the discourse maintains legitimacy in front of the salient stakeholder by presenting the firm's main “object of desire” as the enhancement of shareholder's value. In a period of crisis, the narratives are built to restore legitimacy in the eyes of the general public. To do so, they substitute a screen object (related to the theme of the crisis) as the goal of the companies' action.Research limitations/implicationsThe annual report appears as a selling document, discussing “political issues” rather than economic rendition of accounts. However, it is impossible to expose the controversies here, and it is not the purpose of the paper.Originality/valueThe paper brings together multiple elements of narrative sections to show how pharmaceutical firms built their discourse to restore legitimacy by adapting their defensive texts to specific screen objects as a response to a crisis.