Design and implementation in major investments — A project network approach

Hellgren, Bo; Stjernberg, Torbjörn

doi:10.1016/0956-5221(95)00020-v

Cited by 124 publications

(115 citation statements)

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“…This has also paved the way for a larger interest in the pathdependency of projects (Manning & Sydow 2011;Hellström et al 2013) and generally the call for a historical perspective on projects (Scranton 2014;Söderlund & Lenfle 2013). To some extent these attempts underline Hellgren and Stjernberg's (1995) seminal idea of a closer scrutiny of design is critical to understand how projects are implemented.…”

Section: Ten Years Aftermentioning

confidence: 99%

Project studies and engaged scholarship

Geraldi

Söderlund

2016

IJMPB

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Purpose: A decade has passed since the 'Rethinking Project Management' Network called for a paradigm shift in project research, and proposed five research directions. This paper reflects on the past decade and purports to rejuvenate these research directions. Approach:We conceptualise and study 'project studies'. We approach our research as a social process embedded in research communities, and contemporary Zeitgeist. In this regard, the 'Rethinking Project Management' Network acts as a case of researchers and practitioners who took an active role in shaping the research direction of our community. Findings:Based on Sandberg's interpretive approach to the fit between work and works (in this case research-researcher) and Habermas' three types of human interests: technical, practical and emancipatory, we develop a conceptual framework circumscribing three types of project research, which are used to craft future research directions, in the lines proposed by . Implications:We conclude by proposing a sixth direction on the practice of theorising, and call for engaged and ambidextrous scholars, who's 'job' goes beyond the writing of articles and research applications, and includes shaping discourses of project research, nurturing new project scholars, contributing to project practice and carefully considering the legacy of projects and project studies in society.Originality: This essay positions research as a social process, and the role of researchers as actors shaping research.

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Section: Ten Years Aftermentioning

confidence: 99%

Project studies and engaged scholarship

Geraldi

Söderlund

2016

IJMPB

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“…Project networks can therefore be seen as an instrument of achieving specific, pre-defined targets. At a casual glance, it may appear that this common target acts as the temporary underlying force which glues the project network actors together and that it is the raison d´être of the project network [8]. Nevertheless, the individual actors involved in the temporary project network might have rationales and motivations for their participation other than completing specific short-term tasks.…”

Section: Risk Management In Project Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though interrelationships are an important new area of interest, there has been very little discussion on the functioning and dynamics of project networks outside the field of project marketing [24]. Hellgren and Stjernberg [8] suggest that studies of collaborative arrangements and networks usually concern long-term inter-organizational arrangements, such as acquisitions and joint ventures. Project networks consist of relationships between actors or organizations intended to establish robust capabilities to perform the necessary tasks to achieve the set targets of the project [8].…”

Section: Risk Management In Project Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hellgren and Stjernberg [8] suggest that studies of collaborative arrangements and networks usually concern long-term inter-organizational arrangements, such as acquisitions and joint ventures. Project networks consist of relationships between actors or organizations intended to establish robust capabilities to perform the necessary tasks to achieve the set targets of the project [8]. Consequently, project networks are intentionally developed networks-they are formed in order to create capital assets for the buyer over a certain period of time [25].…”

Section: Risk Management In Project Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Risk Management in Project Networks: An Information Processing View

Pekkinen¹,

Aaltonen²

2015

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Increasingly, projects are executed by networks of organizations. The networked form of organization has many important implications for project risk management. Information processing theories introduce mechanisms for processing information inside organizations as well as among organizations to reduce the uncertainty and equivocality inherently present in international projects. This study aims to examine the risk management practices involved at a project network level through an empirical analysis of one complex large project network executed in a challenging institutional environment. With regard to network level risk management, the paper identifies eight formal information processing mechanisms for implementing risk management: (1) established rules and criteria for the selection of subcontractors at a global level, (2) specification of responsibilities in the contract, (3) formal risk sheet, (4) progress follow-up tool, (5) database for project information, (6) customer reporting system, (7) updated project plan after the project is delayed, and (8) country study team. Personal relationships between parties, personal commitment, experienced individuals, and face-to-face meetings are identified as informal information processing mechanisms used as measures of project risk management to reduce equivocality. We also elaborate the fitness of the mechanisms used for the contextual situations of the project network settings.

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“…In project-based settings, this repetition increases the levels of trust between firms, familiarises firms with each others' operating routines, and decreases transactional and market uncertainty (Jones & Lichtenstein, 2008) . These attributes of project networks allow firms to assemble in new combinations over time and deliver complex inter-organisational outcomes (Hellgren & Stjernberg, 1995).…”

Section: Gap #3: Role Of Enduring Inter-organisational Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel product innovation in project-based firms: explaining innovation where interdependent firms deliver complex system-level outcomes

Ford¹

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Project-based firms (PBFs) are an increasingly important firm type in today's projectdriven world. Over the next two decades, PBFs will transform nearly $60 trillion into complex product systems (CoPS) that comprise the communication, energy, and transportation infrastructure of our modern global economy. In the process, they will participate in a collective technological development process that is iterative, intensely interorganisational, and dominated by their participation in large industry projects. In this environment, PBFs will deliver components, subsystems, and CoPS, some being novel products that are new to the world. These are called CoPS-related novel products.However, the current understanding of how PBFs introduce CoPS-related novel products is lacking. In general, the existing innovation literature does not provide an adequate inter-organisational perspective, which is necessary to explain the development of new The CoPS innovation literature itself remains too focused on the role of large system integrators, and not on the broader network of firms that support innovation. This leaves unscrutinised rest of the 'project-based productive network' of firms delivering products (components, technologies, and subsystems) into the higher-level CoPS. Taken together, the current literature inadequately addresses many factors that are important to novel product innovation in PBFs. Therefore, the central research question this thesis aims to answer is: What factors facilitate PBFs' ability to introduce novel product innovations in environments where interdependent firms deliver complex system-level outcomes?Three specific challenges are imperative to understanding novel product introduction in PBFs. The first relates to the project-based nature of organising, which means that PBFs have contingent opportunities for novel product innovation, depending upon the circumstances of the projects they conduct. This is called the contingent opportunities problem. The second challenge is that PBFs have to ensure that their innovations are compatible with our technologies in their environment. This is called the technological interdependencies problem. The third challenge is that PBFs have enduring interorganisational commitments that extend across the projects they conduct. This is called the enduring relationships problem.ii Novel product innovation in project-based firms Three research studies were designed and conducted to address the three specific challenges. The research is based on survey data collected from PBFs in the Australian upstream oil and gas industry. Study 1 investigates capabilities that PBFs use to overcome the contingent opportunities problems. This study finds that firms use an adaptive problemsolving capability to recognise opportunities within projects, and are reliant on networking capabilities to bring about novel product innovations. Study 2 investigates how PBFs use both inbound and outbound non-pecuniary open innovation practices to resolve technological interdependencies. This stud...

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Design and implementation in major investments — A project network approach

Cited by 124 publications

References 14 publications

Project studies and engaged scholarship

Project studies and engaged scholarship

Risk Management in Project Networks: An Information Processing View

Novel product innovation in project-based firms: explaining innovation where interdependent firms deliver complex system-level outcomes

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