When Rust Never Sleeps: Marketization as Continuous Organizational Change

This chapter offers a portrait of the implementation of contracting out as a dynamic and continuous organizational change process driven by relational embeddedness, organizational learning, fluctuating circumstances and shifting strategic objectives. The offered portrait adds to the marketization literature by complementing the understanding of the implementation of contracting out as a rational and episodic organizational change driven by cost-focused strategies where operational capacities are externalized. The portrait is corroborated in a retrospective case study of changes in contracting practices across two decades and four contract renewals in Holstebro Municipality – the first municipality in Denmark to completely externalize its operational capacities within park and road services. The case study illuminates how the contracting model changes over time from a standard model toward a collaborative model and details the particular drives of change.