Svenska företag i deckarromaner 1943-2001

Abstract

Fiction offers many interesting insights to students of management. In the first place, many novels contain elements of historical ethnographies, portraying the ways of life – and organizing – that vanished in the past. Second, the contemporary novel is a part of a contemporary discourse, and therefore one of the media that reflects and shapes the general image of economic enterprise and its management. Detective novels are especially interesting as they are characterized by special care in describing practices in a trustworthy detail (rather than a psychological veracity). This essay analyzes the changes in description of Swedish companies in Swedish detective novels. It begins with the first famous Swedish detective story writer, Stieg Trenter and his works, and continues until the present time. It ends with a plea for a close scrutiny of ties between popular culture and management