History as social memory assets: The example of Tim Hortons

Abstract Strategic management research has demonstrated that firm-specific resources can confer a distinct competitive advantage. This research, however, tends to assume that the resources are fixed and immutable and that they operate inside the organization. We offer a competing view in which resources are socially constructed and operate primarily on external stakeholders. Drawing from emerging research in social memory studies, we argue that historical narratives are an emerging means of socially constructing firm-specific social memory assets that can be used to create competitive advantage. We illustrate our argument through an analysis of how Tim Hortons, a now iconic Canadian company, uses historical and tradition-based narratives to construct its brand identity. Key words: historytraditionsocial memory assetsschematic narrativesspecific narrativescollective memoryorganizational memory studies