Toward a Theory of Using History Authentically: Historicizing in the Carlsberg Group

Drawing on interviews, archival material, and observation, this article investigates how and why, on two different occasions, actors at the Carlsberg Group headquartered in Denmark were inspired to use a particular historical artifact, the Latin phrase Semper Ardens, carved above a doorway. Used first as the inspiration for naming a new line of handcrafted beers, ten years later it became the motto featured in the company’s identity statement....