Business Not As Usual. Strategic procurement for societal development.
Short description
Public procurement is becoming increasingly important in relation to societal challenges such as the climate transition, digitalization, total defense development, and security of supply. The research project Business Not As Usual studies this development with the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) as its empirical focus, examining what it means for governance, organization, and the use of knowledge.
The project takes as its point of departure the ongoing shift from viewing procurement primarily as an administrative task to seeing it as part of organizations’ strategic work and broader societal value creation. Previous research on strategic procurement shows that such a shift involves multiple organizational levels, engages new internal and external stakeholders, and requires navigating different – and sometimes competing – knowledge frameworks, goals, and values.
Drawing on research on strategic procurement and theories of value creation and public value, the project examines the opportunities, tensions, and organizational conditions that shape this development. Particular attention is paid to how different goals and values interact or compete, and what strategic procurement entails in terms of organizational learning and capacity for transformation.
The project adopts an interdisciplinary and systems-based approach, understanding public business as part of a broader ecosystem of governance, planning, and market relations. Through interviews, document studies, and observations within Trafikverket, the project examines, among other things, the relationship between public business and innovation, preparedness, resilience, and long-term public value.
The project contributes research-based knowledge on the changing role of public business and the organizational conditions for strategic procurement. Its broader ambition is to contribute to an understanding of what this development means for the public sector and for the relationship between public organizations, markets, and society.