Projects as Business Constituents and Guiding Motives

edited by

Rolf A. Lundin, Umeå University, Sweden

and

Francis Hartman, University of Calgary, Canada

The editors, authors and researchers are convinced that projects are of significant importance at virtually every level of society even though companies are the focus of this book. Projects are not merely conspicuous components of businesses, they in fact signal what the businesses are all about. As you will see from some of the contributions to this book, these signals come in different forms. They have different effects. Thus the various contributions to this book also mirror a kind of uncertainty as to what this phenomenon that is called project is all about.

Contents

Ch 1: Pervasiveness of projects in business (by Rolf A. Lundin & Francis Hartman)

SECTION I: PROJECTS AND BUSINESS SENSE-MAKING
Ch 2: Projects for shareholder value: The influence of projects at different financial ratios (by J. Rodney Turner)
Ch 3: Making sense of project management (by Janice Lynn Thomas)
Ch 4: Coupling, interdependence and control in global projects (by Paul C. van Fenema & Kuldeep Kumar)
Ch 5: Temporary organizing: Characteristics and control forms (by Jonas Söderlund)

SECTION II: BUSINESS ISSUES AND PROJECTS
Ch 6: Managing project portfolios (by Barbro Anell)
Ch 7: Projects and proposals in business services (by Tim Wilson & Marcia Seidle)
Ch 8: Project success and customer satisfaction: Toward a formalized linkage mechanism (by Jeffrey K. Pinto, Pekka Rouhiainen & Jeffrey W. Trailer)
Ch 9: The management of projects as a generic business process (by Graham M. Winch)

SECTION III: PROJECTS FOR INNOVATION AND CHANGE
Ch 10: Reflections on the changing nature of projects (by John Wittaker)
Ch 11: Supply-based strategies: The case of the French building contractors (by Sihem Ben Mahmoud-Jouini)
Ch 12: Research role in defining customer needs on innovative projects (by Florence Charue-Duboc)
Ch 13: Interaction in the political market square: Organising marketing of events (by Maria Larson)

SECTION IV: PEOPLE'S PROJECT
Ch 14: Leadership fears and frustrations in project (by Kam Jugdev, Francis Hartman & Janice Thomas)
Ch 15: Improving cross-cultural projects through better communication (by John B. Kidd & Paul C. Robins)
Ch 16: On the familiarity of strangers (by Magnus Gustafsson)
Ch 17: Empirical evidence of people as determinants of project success (by Thomas Lechler)

Ch 20: Business in the future and the nature of projects: Research issues (by Francis Hartman & Rolf A. Lundin)

Bibliographical and ordering info

Lundin, R. A. & Hartman, F. (eds.) (2000) Projects as business constituents and guiding motives. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 0792378342.

The book can be ordered from the publisher in USA. Mail: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Order Dept, PO Box 358, Accord Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358, USA. Phone: (781) 871-6600, Fax: (781) 871-6528, E-mail: kluwer@world.std.com