My PhD study, ‘Strategic Responses to Predicted Events - The case of the banning of CFCs', was a comparative study of the differences in the responses of industrial organisations to the ‘same' environmental change. My approach was to blend the strategic management and industrial marketing and purchasing literatures in providing a theoretical framework. Afterwards, I was a Lecturer in Industrial Marketing in the Department of Marketing at Lancaster University in the UK. Here I developed my existing interests in network change. Further, I became interested in the role of contracts in business relationships whilst conducting a study involving Marks and Spencer disengaging from various supplier relationships.
In August 2001 I moved to BI. Subsequently, I have been involved in 3 main projects, all of which were in the area of resource development, before obtaining a formal position as an Associate Professor in September 2004.
Research areas
I am broadly interested in the area of inter-organisational relationships. I have published papers in the areas of network change and dynamics, the role of contracts in business relationships, relationship dissolution, and resource development. My current research projects and interests are within the areas of user networks, strategy as practice/strategizing, and inter-organisational routines.
Teaching areas
My current responsibilities for teaching can be summarised as follows:
Industrial Networks (MSc course within the Supply Chains and Networks programme).
Managing in Networks (part of the Supply Chain Management programme, taught to professional managers).
Strategy Organisation (MSc course with the Strategy programme).
Strategic Leadership (Third year sivil økonomi course).
Supervision of master students' theses.
There is a lack of empirical research about network governance mechanisms in the inter-organisational relationship (IOR) literature. In this paper, we provide new insight by analysing how platform actors influence governance mechanisms in business networks using a comparative case study of two platforms in a B2B2C setting. The focus is on the dynamics of the governance mechanism mix over time, highlighting how important contextual factors impact the combination of formal, informal and virtual mechanisms. Three groups of contextual factors are central to the governance mechanism mix: (i) macro-level factors (e.g. market structure), (ii) network-level factors (e.g. platform scope) and (iii) inter-organisational relationship-level factors (e.g. prior history of cooperation). Our findings highlight the impact of, and the interdependencies between, the three different contextual factors on the evolution of network governance mechanisms over time when a platform is involved as a network actor.
Harrison, Debbie (2024)
The dynamics of ongoing market maintenance through centralized market work
Market studies : mapping, theorizing and impacting market action, , s. 81-95.
Tunisini, Annalisa; Harrison, Debbie & Bocconcelli, Roberta (2023)
Handling resource deficiencies through resource interaction in business networks
This paper conceptualizes how to handle resource deficiencies due to disruption and turbulence in supply chains from an Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) perspective. A conceptual framework explores how three resource deficiencies, resource scarcity, resource quality, and lack of availability, impacts upon, and is mitigated via, resource interaction. There is a need for reconfiguring resources to cope with both temporary and permanent disruptions in handling resource deficiencies in complex, turbulent contexts. The three deficiencies can occur within a business network both separately and in combination. The paper outlines a dynamic capabilities perspective on resource deficiencies in business networks by linking resource interaction and capabilities. The reality of resource deficiencies requires a sense of urgency; they are disruptive and most likely unplanned. This challenges mainstream IMP understanding about the dynamics of resource development.
Baraldi, Enrico; Harrison, Debbie, Kask, Johan & Ratajczak-Mrozek, Milena (2023)
A network perspective on resource interaction: Past, present and future
Value co-creation is a core focus area in both B2B marketing and strategy research, necessitating resource utilization within and across organizational boundaries. In the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) group, scholars have focused on the interactions among resources as one important way to analyze central questions about resources in business relationships and networks. This has produced a breadth of investigations and concepts that are locally defined and utilized. This may hamper further theoretical development and inhibit analytical precision. The purpose of this paper is to develop a more general shared understanding of resource interaction by identifying and explicating the key concepts used, and to assess its status as an approach. The paper synthesizes 20 years of research to identify key concepts and the relationships across concepts. This provides both a platform for further conceptual and empirical research within IMP and potential for cross-fertilization with parallel B2B areas.
Harrison, Debbie; Munksgaard, Kristin B. & Prenkert, Frans (2022)
Coordinating Activity Interdependencies in the Contemporary Economy: The Principle of Distributed Control
This study addresses the lack of knowledge about inter-organizational activity coordination in the contemporary economy. Existing understanding of economic coordination within inter-organizational research is based on the three modes of organization, market, and cooperative relationship. We extend the framework of Richardson that analyses specialization and complementarity within the industrial division of labour in terms of these three coordination modes. We propose a novel mode of coordinating economic activity, namely multi-actor arrangements, which is based on the coordination of very dissimilar yet complementary activities, grounded in the principle of distributed control. This fourth mode is necessary to explain contemporary phenomena such as the circular economy and blockchain because these involve interdependencies that were previously framed as too different or unrelated to coordinate. The extension is important because it changes our understanding of mixed-mode coordination. Our proposed fourth mode enables the conceptualization of how activity interdependencies are coordinated within inter-organizational relationships and networks undergoing transformation.
Flygansvær, Bente Merete; Bygballe, Lena Elisabeth & Harrison, Debbie (2021)
Bærekraft er et ord som favner bredt. Faglitteraturen kaller det den tredelte bunnlinjen, der bærekraft skal gi positive gevinster på samfunns-, bedrifts- og individnivå. For bedrifter innebærer det at man skal realisere gevinster for bedriften selv, men også for miljøet og samfunnet. Denne kompleksiteten gjør det krevende å konkretisere og gjennomføre nye løsninger, og resultatet blir at bærekraft er noe det er lett å snakke om, men vanskelig å gjøre.
I denne artikkelen tar vi utgangspunkt i et samarbeid mellom tre aktører om en ny løsning for bærekraftig massehåndtering[1] til og fra bygg- og anleggsprosjekter (BA) i Oslo. Gjennom å mobilisere sine respektive ressurser har aktørene utviklet en løsning som involverer gjenvinning av slike masser og mindre CO2-utslipp knyttet til transport av disse. Men aktørene har støtt på utfordringer i økosystemet rundt, og løsningen er enda ikke realisert. Vi diskuterer dette eksempelet i lys av et industrielt nettverksperspektiv og argumenterer for at mobilisering av ressurser på det vi kan kalle bedriftsnivå, ikke er tilstrekkelig for å realisere bærekraftige løsninger – det må også skje i det omliggende økosystemet. Mobilisering på bedriftsnivå kan imidlertid skape ny dynamikk og gi utviklingsmuligheter som på lengre sikt kan bidra til å realisere slike bærekraftige løsninger.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a state-of-the-art comparison of the conceptualization of resources in ‘Resource Interaction’ (IMP) and ‘Resource Integration’ (SDL). Both are engaged with understanding how value is (co)-created, but with different emphases. Existing comparisons are limited and out of date. We trace how each has evolved over time by analyzing key developments. The focus of SDL has shifted from operant resources towards resource integration, and from a dyadic view towards ecosystem contexts. Within IMP, research takes a network perspective in investigating the nature of resource interaction in a variety of empirical contexts. An analysis of similarities and differences highlights key assumptions, the classification of resources, and the role for the actor. The comparison offers a thorough understanding of Resource Interaction and Resource Integration. The paper concludes by proposing suggestions for further research for Resource Interaction.
Harrison, Debbie; Hoholm, Thomas, Prenkert, Frans & Olsen, Per Ingvar (2018)
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of boundary objects in interaction processes within business networks. From a single case study in the grocery retail industry, we find that such objects are used within interaction processes for collaboration, but are also used extensively for handling conflict, facilitating economic negotiations, and power execution. As such, network-level boundary objects do not require broad consensus by all the involved actors, but instead narrow consensus in a particular interaction process.
Aarikka-Stenroos, Leena; Jaakkola, Elina, Harrison, Debbie & Mäkitalo-Keinonen, Tiina (2017)
How to manage innovation processes in extensive networks: A longitudinal study
The purpose of this article is to elaborate conceptually on the user–market relationship. Existing research reports a limited user–market relationship, which simultaneously exaggerates and underplays user influence on markets. Assuming a constructivist market studies (CMS) perspective, we argue that the scope of the user–market relationship is broader than developing offers and uses. We conceptualize market shaping as five interrelated subprocesses in which users may be involved as agents: qualifying goods, fashioning modes of exchange, configuring actors, establishing market norms and generating market representations. The extent of user influence in these subprocesses is likely to vary both within a specific market and across markets. By identifying conditions conducive to user involvement in each subprocess, we lay the foundation for empirical research into how users shape markets.
Dahle, Håkon; Aghanim, Nabila, Guennou, L., Hudelot, P., Kneissl, R., Pointecouteau, E., Beelen, Anita, Bayliss, M, Douspis, M., Nesvadba, N., Hempel, A., Gronke, Max Balthasar, Burenin, R., Dole, H., Harrison, Debbie, Mazzotta, P. & Sunyaev, R (2016)
Discovery of an exceptionally bright giant arc at z = 2.369, gravitationally lensed by the Planck cluster PSZ1 G311.65 - 18.48
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of networked power in a concentrated business network. Power is a long standing theme in inter-organizational research, yet there is a paucity of studies about how power emerges and is constructed over time at the network level. The paper adopts process, systems and network theory to interpret a rich single case study from the food industry. Three power mechanisms are identified, gatekeeping, decoupling and resource allocation, which form the basis of a model of networked power dynamics. Empirically tracing the dynamics of networked power highlights the economic contents of interactions. The paper extends current understandings of power as ‘conflict and coercion’ to include influencing, leveraging and strategic maneuvering in the actual performance of networked power.
Geiger, Susi; Harrison, Debbie, Kjellberg, Hans & Mallard, Alexandre (2014)
Concerned Markets: Economic Ordering for Multiple Values
Edward Elgar Publishing
Geiger, Susi; Harrison, Debbie, Kjellberg, Hans & Mallard, Alexandre (2014)
In this paper we contend that there is little idiographic empirical research that considers the issue of deliberate networking action in full-faced network contexts. We address the issue through the use of strategic initiatives as a form of deliberate networking action. IMP research argues the ability of an organisation to manage in a network context that involves the pull of the network and the action of the individual organisation (Håkansson & Ford 2002; Möller & Halinen 1999; Möller & Svahn 2003; Ritter, Wilkinson & Johnston, 2004; Zolkiewski 2007). Yet the paradox logic reminds us that a firm still needs to act, to try and control and influence, to suggest ideas and initiatives, to set limits and to seek opportunities. Strategic initiatives allow for conscious strategising at the same time as ongoing adaptations in activities and resources occur. Based on two complementary case studies we suggest five approaches for deliberate strategising in full-faced network contexts. These are i) strategising based on network pictures in the absence of direct interaction, ii) strategising in the presence of a network audience, iii) strategising among deliberate equals, iv) strategising among imaginative equals, and v) strategising as open and absorptive bystander. The five approaches can be used separately or in combination.
Harrison, Debbie & Finch, John (2009)
New Product Development When You Have To: Frames and Temporary Collaboration in Industrial Nets
The IMP Journal, 3(3) , s. 35-52.
Finch, John & Harrison, Debbie (2009)
How a new resource emerged in a network setting and how the emergence of new resource bound a network together
Use of science and technology in business, , s. 121-138.
Harrison, Debbie & Prenkert, Frans (2009)
Network strategising trajectories within a planned strategy process
Resource interaction in inter-organizational networks: Introduction to the special issue
Journal of Business Research [Kronikk]
Harrison, Debbie & Sjøvaag, Marit (2023)
Levelling the CO2 business network playing field: The role of international CBAM regulation
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Bygballe, Lena Elisabeth; Flygansvær, Bente Merete & Harrison, Debbie (2021)
RESOURCE INTERACTION AS THE MISSING LENS IN COLLECTIVE ACTION FOR GRAND CHALLENGES
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Bygballe, Lena Elisabeth; Flygansvær, Bente Merete, Harrison, Debbie & Soldal, Olav B. (2021)
Hvordan få til sirkulær massehåndtering for bygg- og anleggsprosjekter i Oslo-området?
[Report Research]. Handelshøyskolen BI
Dette forprosjektet har hatt som formål å identifisere interessante aspekter og problemstillinger knyttet til spørsmålet: Hvordan kan man få til sirkulær massehåndtering til og fra bygg- og anleggsprosjekter i Oslo-området? For å svare på spørsmålet, har vi ved Handelshøyskolen BI gjennomført en casestudie av et konsept for massehåndtering på Grønlia i Oslo havn i regi Skanska Industrial Solutions (SIS) i samarbeid med Oslo Havn KF og AF Decom. Konseptet er fortsatt ikke realisert, og ligger til politisk klagebehandling etter avslag i plan- og bygningsetaten i Oslo kommune, men caset representerer et interessant eksempel på hva som skal til for å utvikle og implementere sirkulære løsninger for massehåndtering.
I tillegg til Grønlia-konseptet, er det flere andre pågående initiativer som er satt i gang i løpet av de siste årene med tanke på å håndtere utfordringen med masser i Oslo-området. Dette vitner om at problemstillingen har blitt satt på agendaen, både på politisk- og næringsnivå samt blant ulike interessegrupper. Grønlia-caset må dermed sees på som en del av et større økosystem for massehåndtering i Oslo og omegn.
