---

This book challenges the widely-held belief that popular narratives about business are invariably critical. It develops a more nuanced analytic model of private sector narrative and applies it to 63 recent narrative texts (movies, histories, biographies) produced in the US dealing with three major industries: information technology, automobile manufacturing, and financial trading. It identifies recurring patterns to compare sectors and to analyze their implications. Negotiating Business Narratives appeals to academics and practitioners interested in business and society, strategic management, and contemporary literature and films about business.

---

1. Conceptual Framework and Methodology

1.1 1.1 Theoretical Context

1.2 1.2 Antecedents and Conceptual Structure

1.3 1.3 Fables and Texts

2. Insanely Great: The Dominant IT Fable

3. Cults of Personality: Fables of the Automobile Industry

4. "A Good Dose of Outrage": Financial Trading Fables

5. Conclusion: Narrative Templates and Social Negotiations

---

"My read of this short text (78 pages) is that the authors have most certainly been successful on the first front and have taken the field another valuable step toward the second. ... this book has much to recommend. Analyzing popular culture narratives, this research effectively describes the narratives of three business industries. It does this quite well." (Michael D. Jones, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, December, 10, 2018)

---

Sandford Borins is Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Beth Herst is a researcher and writer based in Toronto, Canada.

---