Connected change initiatives in business networks: A case of packaging in retail distribution

Doctoral thesis, 2026

Organisations across industries face increasing pressures to reduce their environmental impact and improve operational efficiency while adopting new technologies and responding to regulatory change. Since resources - such as products, packaging, and logistics facilities - are interdependently shared across organisations, change initiatives by one business actor can affect what others can and will do. Identifying and analysing these connections is therefore essential for ensuring that change initiatives are efficient, effective, and sustainable.

This doctoral dissertation explores connected change initiatives in business networks - how they can be conceptualised, analysed, and managed when firms attempt to change resources.

Theoretically, the thesis is grounded in the Industrial Network Approach and the Actors–Resources–Activities (ARA) model, taking its starting point in changes of key resources and their ramifications, in terms of connected change initiatives in business networks. In doing so, the thesis conceptualises connectedness among change initiatives as interdependencies among resource interfaces within the activated resource structure, and shows how these interdependencies can be observed across different network settings.

Empirically, the thesis examines efforts to develop packaging in retail distribution, where the development of packaging involves considering product protection, transport efficiency, material use, and customer expectations. These efforts are also connected to developments of automation solutions, logistics facilities and packaging materials across firm boundaries.
Methodologically, the research began as a single case study and evolved into a casing process: starting from a focal change initiative and expanding the case boundary as further connected changes were uncovered, thereby enabling analysis of multiple, interrelated change initiatives across organisations.

The findings show how: (i) connected change initiatives influence one another through the activated resource structure; (ii) the notion of network settings provides an analytical tool through which feasibility (what can be done) and friction (what creates resistance to change) can be identified and explained; and (iii) mobilisation of resources across business relationships is a managerial mechanism for aligning and reconfiguring critical resource interfaces.

The thesis contributes theoretically by conceptualising connected change initiatives in relation to resource interfaces, activated resource structures, and network settings; methodologically by introducing a casing approach to uncover and analyse such connected changes; and practically by offering guidance for managers seeking to coordinate change initiatives across firm boundaries through the mobilisation of resources and counterparts.