2002 Student Paper Award Winner: Project Management Maturity Models: The Silver Bullets of Competitive Advantage?

Project management maturity models are important assessment tools for the profession. Maturity models identify organizational strengths and weaknesses as well as provide benchmarking information. They capture explicit, codified practice (know-what), but do not include the intangible assets of project management (know-how). Some have made the claim that project management maturity models (MMs) can lead to a competitive advantage for firms. This paper uses four resource-based frameworks to assess whether or not maturity models lead to a sustained competitive advantage. In the context of the strategy domain, the authors conclude that MMs can result in a temporary competitive advantage but not a sustained competitive advantage. Clearly, a sustained competitive advantage is rooted in a combination of know-what and know-how.

[1]  Henry Mintzberg.  Musings on management. Ten ideas designed to rile everyone who cares about management. , 1996, Harvard business review.

[2]  Robert E. Hoskisson,et al.  BOARD OF DIRECTOR INVOLVEMENT IN RESTRUCTURING: THE EFFECTS OF BOARD VERSUS MANAGERIAL CONTROLS , 1993 .

[3]  J. E. Butler,et al.  Tautology in the resource-based view and the implications of externally determined resource value: f , 2001 .

[4]  William L. Fuerst,et al.  Information technology and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based analysis , 1995 .

[5]  Peter J. Lane,et al.  Strategizing Throughout the Organization: Managing Role Conflict in Strategic Renewal , 2000 .

[6]  G. Hendrikse.  Fundamental Issues in Strategy , 1995 .

[7]  Nicolai J. Foss,et al.  Resources, Firms, and Strategies: A Reader in the Resource-Based Perspective , 1997 .

[8]  Hiroyuki Itami.  Mobilizing invisible assets , 1987 .

[9]  Steven W. Floyd,et al.  Middle Management’s Strategic Influence and Organizational Performance , 1997 .

[10]  J. Barney.  Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage , 1996 .

[11]  R. Reed,et al.  Causal Ambiguity, Barriers to Imitation, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage , 1990 .

[12]  J. Barney,et al.  On becoming a strategic partner: The role of human resources in gaining competitive advantage , 1998 .

[13]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[14]  J. Barney.  Types of Competition and the Theory of Strategy: Toward an Integrative Framework , 1986 .

[15]  David J. Collis,et al.  Research Note: How Valuable are Organizational Capabilities? , 1994 .

[16]  Karlos Artto,et al.  Criteria for project performance in business context , 2000 .

[17]  R. Rumelt.  Towards a Strategic Theory of the Firm , 1984 .

[18]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[19]  W. Duncan.  A GUIDE TO THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KNOWLEDGE , 1996 .

[20]  J. Barney,et al.  Competitive Organizational Behavior: Toward an Organizationally‐Based Theory of Competitive Advantage , 1994 .

[21]  M. M. Hart,et al.  From initial idea to unique advantage: the entrepreneurial challenge of constructing a resource base , 2001, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[22]  P. M. Ginter,et al.  Competitive advantage and internal organizational assessment , 1998 .

[23]  S. Floyd,et al.  Managing strategic consensus: the foundation of effective implementation , 1992 .

[24]  Alec Dorling,et al.  SPICE: Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination , 1993, Software Quality Journal.

[25]  Y. Kwak,et al.  Assessing Project Management Maturity , 2000 .

[26]  Margaret A. Peteraf.  The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view , 1993 .

[27]  Walid Belassi,et al.  A new framework for determining critical success/failure factors in projects , 1996 .

[28]  S. Floyd,et al.  Middle management involvement in strategy and its association with strategic type: A research note , 1992 .

[29]  J. Jonker,et al.  Organizations as responsible contributors to society: Linking quality, sustainability and accountability , 2000 .

[30]  I. Nonaka.  A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[31]  J. R. Moore,et al.  The theory of the growth of the firm twenty-five years after , 1960 .

[32]  S. Floyd,et al.  Dinosaurs or dynamos? Recognizing middle management's strategic role , 1994 .

[33]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The Core Competence of the Corporation , 1990 .

[34]  J. Barney.  Asset stocks and sustained competitive advantage: a comment , 1989 .

[35]  M. Porter.  Towards a dynamic theory of strategy , 1991 .

[36]  P. Schoemaker,et al.  Strategic assets and organizational rent , 1993 .

[37]  Didier Urli,et al.  Project Management in North America, Stability of the Concepts , 2000 .