Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how managers of Polish local radio stations construct their organizations in terms of archetypes of rivalry as a response to perceived changes in the environment.

Design/methodology/approach – First the central notions are explained, such as market, competition, archetype, and then the findings from a prolonged empirical study are presented.

Findings – Environmental change is seen as the plot on the managers' narratives, whereas the chosen archetypes of rivalry – as characters in those stories – are supposed to handle the changes.

Originality/value – The paper explores some aspects of the narrative construction of environmental change.