Organisational change can take on many guises. Most changes are planned and orchestrated by company management such as a plant expansion, an updated material requirements planning (MRP) system or a new incentive programme.

However, some of the most impactful changes are nearly impossible to predict. Tectonic shifts such as Brexit leave lasting changes that play out over a long time. Changes can also result from a public health crisis (such as Heparin contamination and counterfeit Avastin).

Adapting an operation to meet new regulatory requirements can be extremely demanding and costly, as with the work underway to implement serialisation and the European Medicines Verification Organisation repositories.