His cooperation with Håkan Håkansson originates from when they did research in the Swedish automotive industry, particularly looking at "automotive component supply strategies."Grant, Bruce, and Lars-Erik Gadde. Automotive component supply strategies. Chalmers University of Technology, Institute for Management of Innovation and Technology, 1984. He also wrote a paper with Philippe A. Naert on marketing research in Europe.Mattsson, Lars-Gunnar, and Philippe A. Naert. "Research in marketing in Europe: Some reflections on its setting, accomplishments and challenges." International Journal of Research in Marketing 2.1 (1985): 3-25. Soon after he joined the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group, and much of his research and publications has been under their wings. In the 1990s he also published some works on case study research in cooperation with Anna Dubois of the Chalmers University of Technology.
