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Rörelse i upphandlingsfabriken

Falklöf Malmer, Minna LU and Gille, Nils LU (2026) STVK04 20252
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Public procurement is growing consistently in the public sector, both in spending and in organization. Interconnected to this expansion exists an optimism that public procurement can steer the market and societal development as a policy instrument. An attempt to develop public procurement in Sweden has been the policy public business (offentliga affärer) in which the focus shifts from legality and administration to also include business. But how are these ideas translated into municipal practices? Drawing on actor-network theory and Callon's (1984) definition of translation, the study explores how different actors, technologies and knowledge are assembled to constitute public business as a policy in a Swedish municipality. Based on... (More)
Public procurement is growing consistently in the public sector, both in spending and in organization. Interconnected to this expansion exists an optimism that public procurement can steer the market and societal development as a policy instrument. An attempt to develop public procurement in Sweden has been the policy public business (offentliga affärer) in which the focus shifts from legality and administration to also include business. But how are these ideas translated into municipal practices? Drawing on actor-network theory and Callon's (1984) definition of translation, the study explores how different actors, technologies and knowledge are assembled to constitute public business as a policy in a Swedish municipality. Based on interviews and participant observation, the studies identify two initiators who criticize the municipal work for lacking a businesslike approach. The initiators created a network of actors in the municipality around the identified problem by: changing the procurement role, hiring new roles and creating new technologies. The findings of the study challenge previous studies on how policy travels in general, as well as how policies within public procurement travels. In addition, the study adds a practice-oriented description of the work of public procurers in a Swedish municipality. (Less)
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author
Falklöf Malmer, Minna LU and Gille, Nils LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK04 20252
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Offentlig upphandling, offentliga affärer, policyspridning upphandlingsprofessionella, översättning, actor-network theory
language
Swedish
id
9216682
date added to LUP
2026-01-26 11:47:00
date last changed
2026-01-26 11:47:00
@misc{9216682,
  abstract     = {{Public procurement is growing consistently in the public sector, both in spending and in organization. Interconnected to this expansion exists an optimism that public procurement can steer the market and societal development as a policy instrument. An attempt to develop public procurement in Sweden has been the policy public business (offentliga affärer) in which the focus shifts from legality and administration to also include business. But how are these ideas translated into municipal practices? Drawing on actor-network theory and Callon's (1984) definition of translation, the study explores how different actors, technologies and knowledge are assembled to constitute public business as a policy in a Swedish municipality. Based on interviews and participant observation, the studies identify two initiators who criticize the municipal work for lacking a businesslike approach. The initiators created a network of actors in the municipality around the identified problem by: changing the procurement role, hiring new roles and creating new technologies. The findings of the study challenge previous studies on how policy travels in general, as well as how policies within public procurement travels. In addition, the study adds a practice-oriented description of the work of public procurers in a Swedish municipality.}},
  author       = {{Falklöf Malmer, Minna and Gille, Nils}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Rörelse i upphandlingsfabriken}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}