PDS 2: E-Ship Narratives -
History Perspective

“Out-Compete, Out-Innovate, and Out-Hustle Everyone Else”: Entrepreneurial Institutional Logics and the Reconfiguration of  Post-Vietnam Defense Management​

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This paper traces the transformation of dominant institutional logics within U.S. defense management from managerialism to entrepreneurialism between the 1970s and 2020s. While scholars have long documented the diffusion of business practices into the military, this study shows that more recent changes are not simply extensions of managerialism but represent the emergence and eventual dominance of a distinct entrepreneurial logic. Drawing on historical sources, policy documents, and doctrinal texts, the analysis maps how entrepreneurialist ideas such as innovation, disruption, creativity and fail fast mentality —were gradually institutionalised in military practice. The study argues that entrepreneurialism displaced, rather than merely layered upon, earlier paradigms rooted in bureaucratic control and rational planning. This reconfiguration redefined core military ideals around adaptability, innovation, and decentralised initiative. The findings contribute to business history by framing the military as a site of ideological contestation, and advance institutional theory by illustrating how institutional logics are contested, hybridised, and ultimately transformed in a slow, evolutionary process.

Bounded Emancipation and the Making of the Tupperware Lady​​

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This paper examines why entrepreneurialism resonates with people, even in contexts where autonomy is limited. It brings together two strands of entrepreneurship research: entrepreneurialism and emancipation to explore how practices that feel empowering can also reproduce constraint. Using archival material from the Brownie Wise Papers, it analyzes the Tupperware Home Party system in 1950s United States. The findings show that dealers were encouraged to adopt entrepreneurial identities that framed ambition as a domestic virtue. The paper introduces the concept of bounded emancipation to explain how entrepreneurialism takes hold through constrained but meaningful experiences of autonomy

Be Careful What You Wish For: How Means Displacement Drove the UK Open Access Movement to Backfire (1994-2021)​

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Social movements often seek the support of powerful stakeholders to help challenge incumbents. While recent scholarship has begun to explore the unintended consequences of such efforts, it has yet to fully account for how the realization of social movement goals may inadvertently backfire and strengthen incumbent interests. To address this gap, we conduct a longitudinal, qualitative study of the Open Access Movement in the UK academic publishing field. This movement successfully mobilized key regulatory actors—including government agencies and research funders—to challenge the dominance of commercial academic publishers. Initially perceived as a threat by the commercial publishers, we show how the publishers were able to turn a threat into an opportunity by realizing the movement’s goalsbut through very different means that espoused by the movement. We contribute to social movement theory by identifying means displacement—that is a change in the means through which the movement’s goal is achieved—as a central process through which the incumbents strengthen their interests.We also extend the theory of regulator mobilization by pointing to how this provide an opportunity for incumbents to powerfully co-opt social movement demands. Lastly, we point to how the market opportunities created by social movements can be reaped by incumbents rather than entrants that are oppositional to the status quo.

The Myth of the Origin — How Historical Entrepreneurial Narratives Retrospectively Shape the Identity of Made in Italy Fashion Entrepreneurs in Time​

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This paper examines how entrepreneurial narratives in the Italian fashion industry contribute to the construction of the myth of the origins of the entrepreneur. Using ethnographic history, it analyzes the autobiographical accounts of Luciano Benetton, Renzo Rosso, and Veronica Fusco, showing how past events are reinterpreted to shape their entrepreneurial identities, brand identity, and legitimize success in time. These ex-post narratives emphasize selected traits that align with current strategic goals rather than reflect historical reality. The study highlights how entrepreneurial identities are constructed and justified with generational rhetoric while leveraged as brand heritage marketing tools — contributing to our understanding of entrepreneurship as a socially and historically situated process.

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