Dr. Jaakko Kujala is professor of project and quality management at the University of Oulu, Finland, and adjunct professor at the Aalto University. His current research interests include contextual variables in project business, business models of project-based firms, and project stakeholder management. He has published over 100 reviewed research papers, books or book chapters for example in International Journal of Project Management, Scandinavian Journal of Management and Industrial Marketing Management. Dr. Karlos Artto is a professor of project business at the Aalto University, Finland and the leader of the Project Business research group (PB). His current research interests include project business, business models of global project-based firms, governance of large and networked projects, project strategy and risk management, and new paradigms in project risk management. He has published more than 100 academic papers, book chapters and books on project business and management of project-based firms.
Research highlights:-We address integration of the sales and operations interface in global project-based firms.-We elaborate the information processing model for this integration in the context of global project based firm.-We provide empirical illustrations for this integration by presenting data from three case projects.-We conclude that integration of these functions in the firm's organization is managed differently depending on the project phase.-We conclude that the differing use of integration mechanisms across project phases is associated with contextual variables.
AbstractIn this paper we study the cross-functional integration of project sales and project operationstwo crucial functions when conducting business in global project-based firms. In particular we address contextual factors that are associated with integration needs among project sales and operations functions across project phases and report on how integration is managed across phases in three global projects with different contextual conditions. Using Galbraith's (1973) and Tushman & Nadler's (1978) model of the organization as an information processing system as our theoretical lens, we develop a set of propositions drawn from the general arguments of the theory and illustrated by these observations. The proposed theory underlying these propositions begins to explain how the contextual variables drive the use of different cross-functional integration mechanisms for sales and operations across project phases in global project-based firms.Subsequent research focusing on these and other key functions that require integration in different project phases can begin to validate and further elaborate this contingent framework for crossfunctional integration in global project-based firms.