Many change initiatives in companies – related to, for example, automation, digitalisation, or new packaging solutions – are not isolated projects. They affect, and are affected by, other change initiatives through interdependent resources across companies. In her doctoral thesis, Sandra Brüel Grönberg shows why well-intended improvements often create unexpected challenges elsewhere, and how organisations can better understand and manage interconnected change initiatives from a business network perspective.
What challenges do you focus on in your research?
“The research focuses on challenges related to analysing change when several change initiatives are going on in parallel and are interconnected – both for researchers and for practitioners. When companies introduce new technologies or aim to improve existing ways of working, these change initiatives may ”collide” within established resource structures and with other ongoing change initiatives involving interdependent resources. These connections are difficult to trace, explain and manage – especially across firm boundaries.”
How do you address the problem?
“The thesis studies change initiatives from a network perspective rather than focusing on a single company. It is based on case studies in retail distribution, following how resources such as packaging, automation, and logistics are connected across organisational boundaries. This shows how change initiatives become connected to one another. It also makes it possible to understand where friction arises and why some changes are easier to carry out than others in practice.”
What are the main findings?
“A key finding is how change initiatives are connected through shared resources across business relationships. The research shows that change initiatives cannot be understood as isolated successes or failures – they are connected and play out differently in different parts of the network, depending on how resources are organised and used, and on how actors are positioned in the business network.”
What do you hope your research will lead to?
“The research aims to help researchers, policymakers and companies to better understand how and why change initiatives are connected and often involve many actors. By paying attention to how change initiatives are connected, organisations can collaborate more realistically and reduce unintended consequences across organisational boundaries. For research and practice alike, this research supports understanding of how connected change initiatives can be analysed and managed in complex open systems.”
Read the thesis: Connected change initiatives in business networks: A case of packaging in retail distribution
Public defence: 17 February 2026 at 13:15
Supervisor
- Professor, Supply and Operations Management, Technology Management and Economics