This document summarizes research conducted on the family business conflict at Market Basket, a supermarket chain. The researcher conducted a netnography of online sources about Market Basket to understand narratives around the conflict. They also performed a grounded theory analysis of 206 pages of board meeting minutes from 2003-2012. Key findings include the identification of two primary narratives (between the Devaney and Boston Globe timelines), tensions between presenting an optimistic versus critical view of the company, and themes around how family members presented themselves at meetings (e.g. as optimists and bullies vs. crusaders). The researcher discusses how issues of social identity, organizational identity and image, and managing multiple identities relate to the conflict.

1. GUY SACK, M.A., MANAGEMENT FELLOW
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
QUESTROM SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Image and Identity in High-Profile
Family Business Conflicts:
Market Basket

2. Overview
 Stage 1: Netnography
 Stage 2: Grounded Theory Analysis of Boston Globe
Boardroom reports

3. Netnography
Netnography:
Netnography is the branch of ethnography that analyses
the free behaviour of individuals on the Internet that uses
online marketing research techniques to provide useful
insights. The word “netnography” comes from
“Inter[net]” and “ethnography” and was a process and term
coined by Dr. Robert V. Kozinets.
(Wikipedia, 2014)

4. Netnography
 “faster, simpler, and less expensive than
ethnography, and more naturalistic and
unobtrusive than focus groups or interviews”
(Kozinets, 2010).
 Ethnography as method
 Ethnography as representation (Van Maanen, 1995)

5. Netnography
Sources:
 Wikipedia
 Devaney Website
 “Official” Website
 Employee Website
 Boston Globe
 Articles
 Board Room conversations*

6. Netnography: Initial Findings
 Locations all over the country but a concentration in
Massachusetts and New Hampshire
 Boston Globe is the major newspaper in the primary
region of operation
 Google searches for letters to shareholders turned up
mostly letters from outsiders to shareholders to try
to tell them what to do.

7. Primary Narratives
 Feud began in 1990
 Devaney timeline (Devaney website 3 years old)
 Boston Globe Timeline
 Board room conversations
 New Website vs. employee website
 Analytical quagmire

8. Grounded Theory
 Grounded theory
 Open Coding
 Axial Coding
 Generation of themes (Glaser & Strauss, 1967;
Strauss & Corbin, 1990; LaRossa, 2005)
 Minutes from 5 board meetings from 2003 through
2012, totaling 206 pages

9. Grounded Theory
 “What, are you going to run this like a third grade
class?”
 “Excuse me. Did you say ‘Don’t interrupt?’ Then
don’t interrupt me. Okay? I see right through this.
You guys have your little games you play every single
meeting.”
 “And between what we got accomplished this year
and what we have coming next year and the hard
work ethic and the momentum we have with our
people, we feel very confident that 20 percent is a
nice number.”

10. Discussion
 Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1985;
Ashforth & Mael 1989)
 Organizational identity and image (Dutton &
Dukerich, 1991)
 Managing multiple identities (Pratt & Foreman,
2000)

11. Conclusions
 The family member who is there (Aurthur S usually
absent)
 Long-term (reinvestment, not just bonuses)***
 Maverick (acting without board approval)*
 Pottymouth/namecaller (“little lady”, “bullshit”)
 Optimist and Bully vs. Crusader
 Who was present?
 Image vs. Identity
 Workers vs. Board members

12. References
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management
Review, 14(1), 20-39.
The Boston Globe. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2014, from http://www.bostonglobe.com/ business/
specials/market-basket.
Dutton, J. E., & Dukerich, J. M. (1991). Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in
organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal, 34(3), 517-554.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research.
Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography: Doing ethnographic research online Sage Publications.

13. References (Cont’d)
LaRossa, R. (2005). Grounded theory methods and qualitative family research. Journal of Marriage and
Family, 67(4), 837-857.
Market Basket - Family Owned & Operated in SETX & SWLA. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2014, from
http://www.marketbasketfoods.com.
Market Basket Supermarkets of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. (2012, June 7). Retrieved
December 13, 2014, from http://www.mydemoulas.net.
Netnography. (2014, October 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:50, December 13,
2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Netnography&oldid=629020833
Pratt, M. G., & Foreman, P. O. (2000). Classifying managerial responses to multiple organizational
identities. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 18-42.

14. References (Cont’d)
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. M. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and
techniques. Washington, DC: Sage Publications, Inc.
Turner, J. C. (1985). Social categorization and the self-concept: A social cognitive theory of group
behavior. Advances in Group Processes, 2, 77-122.
Van Maanen, J. (1995). Representation in ethnography. Thousand Oaks, Ca.
We Are Market Basket. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2014, from http://wearemarketbasket.com.

15. THANK YOU!