The Business of Projects: Managing Innovation in Complex Products and Systems

The Business of Projects broke ground when it was first published in 2005, by showing how leading businesses create and implement projects to drive strategy and innovation. Projects are used to coordinate activities with customers and suppliers and ensure that organisations become more dynamic and adaptable. The book extends the resource-based view of the firm to focus on the business lessons learned from the design and production of high-value complex products and systems (CoPS), which have always been project-based. As well as frameworks and management tools, it provides case studies of high-technology industries - such as telecommunications, flight simulation and medical devices - to show how projects are used to achieve strategic objectives, perform systems integration, organise productive activities, manage software, achieve organisational learning and deliver solutions for customers. This book is essential reading for project professionals, academics, students, engineers, managers and policy makers seeking a strategic, innovative perspective on projects.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction; 2. The dynamics of innovation in complex projects and systems; 3. Business strategy and project capability; 4. Systems integration and competitive advantage; 5. The project-based organisation; 6. Managing software-intensive projects; 7. Learning in the project business; 8. Integrated solutions for customers; 9. Lessons for the project business.

Review :
Review of the hardback: 'This book has a very important message in proposing that, for many firms, project competence is a major precondition for competitive advantage. Building on a multitude of solid empirical studies within the COPS research programme, Davies and Hobday demonstrate convincingly the vital role of projects as a means of stimulating flexibility and effecting innovation. They present a comprehensive framework that accounts for the wider significance of projects for innovation and business strategy. For students within business and technology, as well as for managers, this book is a must read!' Lars Lindkvist Professor of Business Administration, Linköping University, Sweden Review of the hardback: ' … a major scholarly contribution to a rethinking of the role of projects in the management literature … moves beyond the orthodox view of projects as a set of operational planning and control tools and techniques, and instead demonstrates how projects are the fulcrum for organization-wide learning, innovation and business development.' Robert DeFillippi Suffolk University Business School, Boston Review of the hardback: 'The popularity of projects as a means for achieving competitive advantage in public and private organizations has become a well-recognized phenomenon, leading to a surge of interest in theory development and the practice of project management techniques. What has been missing, to date, is a work that places projects directly at the center of modern business practices, explaining clearly and concisely why projects are an effective means for achieving myriad organizational goals. This book addresses a critical and, until now, missing component in our understanding of the role of projects in successful business enterprises. Well-researched, provocative, and highly practical, The Business of Projects, is a welcome, and extremely timely addition to the project management literature.' Jeffrey K. Pinto Andrew Morrow and Elizabeth Lee Black Chair in Management of Technology, Sam and Irene Black School of Business Review of the hardback: 'Since the pioneering work of Joan Woodward and Alfred Chandler in the 1960s, researchers have tried to understand the relationships between strategy, organisation and technology. Davies and Hobday show how today's complex new technologies and organizational structures have made this task even more complicated. Their answer to many of the strategic challenges posed by the new environment is the project business. This book provides a major contribution to our understanding of industrial organisation in the early 21st century.' Mark Dodgson Director, Technology and Innovation Management Centre, University of Queensland Review of the hardback: 'This book has a very important message in proposing that, for many firms, project competence is a major precondition for competitive advantage. Building on a multitude of solid empirical studies … , Davies and Hobday demonstrate convincingly the vital role of projects as a means of stimulating flexibility and effecting innovation. They present a comprehensive framework that accounts for the wider significance of projects for innovation and business strategy. For students within business and technology, as well as for managers, this book is a must read!' Lars Lindkvist Professor of Business Administration, Linköping University, Sweden Review of the hardback: '… this book is 'highly original' … The authors … go furher by analysing the role of projects, and the actions of managers within them, from two viewpoints: that of complex products and systems as a particular class of undertaking and their role in stimulating and effecting innovations … The book is structured to take researchers, students and managers through the field step by step … This is a well organised and clearly written book on a subject of growing importance. It provides an excellent introduction for students, researchers and project managers.' Development Policy Review Review of the hardback: 'For the reader who wants to understand this important category of projects and the innovation and learning problems associated with project business, I truly recommend the book. I especially believe that the theoretical framework presented in the book is a welcome contribution to both the literature on management in general and to the knowledge of project management/organization/business in particular.' Jonas Söderlund School of Managment, Linköping University