Interdependency management of projects: survey comparison between Estonia and Finland

Purpose – Typically, organizations tumble with project management, and failure rates are high. Usually, one key factor in establishing a manageable and successful project portfolio is to take into account interdependencies between different projects (resources, technology and market). With an increasing amount of international cross‐border project activity, it is vital to know how different countries manage interdependencies, and how management practices differ between countries.Design/methodology/approach – This research bases its empirical findings on a large‐scale questionnaire completed during 2007‐2008 in Estonia and Finland. Altogether, 288 responses were gained, and roughly two‐thirds of the answers originated from Finland and one‐thirds from Estonia. Respondents were industrial and service companies.Findings – The results of the survey indicate similarities and some significant differences between Estonian and Finnish responses. Some country size and context‐dependent hypotheses were not supported...

[1]  Claes Wohlin,et al.  Applying sampling to improve software inspections , 2004, J. Syst. Softw..

[2]  Nazmun Nahar,et al.  Interactions between contingency, organizational IT factors, and ERP success , 2009, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[3]  L. Eby.  Book Review: Survey Research Methods, 3rd ed., by Floyd J. Fowler Jr. (2002). Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage. , 2003 .

[4]  M. Engwall.  No project is an island: linking projects to history and context , 2003 .

[5]  Alan Olinsky,et al.  The comparative efficacy of imputation methods for missing data in structural equation modeling , 2003, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[6]  Norman P. Archer,et al.  Project portfolio selection techniques: a review and a suggested integrated approach , 1996 .

[7]  Magnus Hellström,et al.  Business concepts based on modularity : a clinical inquiry into the business of delivering projects , 2006 .

[8]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[9]  K. K. Sinha,et al.  Toward a theory of project interdependencies in high tech R & D environments , 2002 .

[10]  J. Tienari,et al.  Penetrating the Academic Publishing Machine: A Rough Guide , 2006 .

[11]  Radhika Santhanam,et al.  A DECISION MODEL FOR INTERDEPENDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM PROJECT SELECTION , 1996 .

[12]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  Winning at new products : accelerating the process from idea to launch , 2001 .

[13]  R. Eamets,et al.  The development of employee financial participation in Estonia , 2008 .

[14]  Håkan Håkansson,et al.  Industrial technological development : a network approach , 1987 .

[15]  R. Sanchez,et al.  A systems view of the firm in competence-based competition , 1996 .

[16]  Melissa A. Schilling.  Understanding the Alliance Data , 2008 .

[17]  Steven D. Eppinger,et al.  The Misalignment of Product Architecture and Organizational Structure in Complex Product Development , 2004, Manag. Sci..

[18]  Anders Söderholm,et al.  Projects and programmes: Strategies for creating value in the face of uncertainty: Papers presented at EURAM 2007 , 2008 .

[19]  Markku V. J. Maula.  Corporate venture capital and the value-added for technology-based new firms , 2001 .

[20]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  Portfolio Management in New Product Development: Lessons from the Leaders-I , 1997 .

[21]  H. Gemünden,et al.  Foundations of program management: A bibliometric view , 2009 .

[22]  Karlos Artto,et al.  Project Portfolio Management: Strategic Management through Projects , 2001 .

[23]  R. Alas,et al.  Attitudes toward society, organisations, and work in the electronics industry in Finno‐Ugrian countries , 2007 .

[24]  Tiit Elenurm,et al.  Applying cross‐cultural student teams for supporting international networking of Estonian enterprises , 2008 .

[25]  Yael Grushka-Cockayne,et al.  The impact of project portfolio management on information technology projects , 2005 .

[26]  Karlos Artto,et al.  Problems in managing internal development projects in multi-project environments , 2003 .

[27]  K. Artto,et al.  Strategic Business Management through Multiple Projects , 2007 .

[28]  D. Whetten.  What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution , 1989 .

[29]  Shan Rajegopal,et al.  Project Portfolio Management: Leading the Corporate Vision , 2007 .

[30]  V. Ojanen,et al.  Problems and promotion of R&D project selection in Finnish high-tech manufacturing companies , 1999, PICMET '99: Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology. Proceedings Vol-1: Book of Summaries (IEEE Cat. No.99CH36310).

[31]  Gilbert A. Churchill,et al.  Marketing Research: Methodological Foundations , 1976 .

[32]  Indranil R. Bardhan,et al.  Prioritizing a Portfolio of Information Technology Investment Projects , 2004, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[33]  Thomas L. Saaty,et al.  Decision Making for Leaders: The Analytical Hierarchy Process for Decisions in a Complex World , 1982 .

[34]  Christian Stummer,et al.  Research and development project selection and resource allocation: a review of quantitative modelling approaches , 1999 .

[35]  Rebekka Vedina,et al.  A national identity perspective on collectivistic attitudes and perception of organisational culture , 2008 .

[36]  Tor J. Larsen,et al.  A cross-cultural analysis of the end-user computing satisfaction instrument: A multi-group invariance analysis , 2008, Inf. Manag..

[37]  Floyd J. Fowler,et al.  Survey Research Methods , 1984 .

[38]  R. Max Wideman,et al.  Project Portfolio Management: A Practical Guide to Selecting Projects, Managing Portfolios, and Maximizing Benefits , 2005 .

[39]  S. Newell,et al.  Interdependencies in Complex Project Ecologies: The Case of Biomedical Innovation , 2008 .

[40]  Charalambos Spathis,et al.  Enterprise systems implementation and accounting benefits , 2006, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[41]  J. Pfeffer,et al.  The External Control of Organizations. , 1978 .

[42]  Werner H. Hoffmann,et al.  How to Manage a Portfolio of Alliances , 2005 .

[43]  Ahti Salo,et al.  Robust portfolio modeling with incomplete cost information and project interdependencies , 2008, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[44]  Michael A. Cusumano,et al.  Managing multiple interdependencies in large scale software development projects , 1997 .

[45]  Xosé H. Vázquez,et al.  When your contract manufacturer becomes your competitor. , 2006, Harvard business review.

[46]  Julie F. Pallant,et al.  SPSS Survival Manual , 2020 .

[47]  David K. Hildebrand,et al.  Statistical thinking for managers , 1998 .

[48]  M. Huettinger,et al.  Cultural dimensions in business life: Hofstede's indices for Latvia and Lithuania , 2008 .

[49]  T. Allen.  Managing the flow of technology , 1977 .

[50]  James D. Thompson.  Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative Theory , 1967 .