Linking Project Management to Business Strategy

Organizations often focus on short-term results, such as immediate financial goals. However, projects are expected to achieve results that link back to an organization’s overall business strategy. This apparent discrepancy led researchers to ask: What does it mean to link project management strategy to business strategy?

In Linking Project Management to Business Strategy, researchers were guided by the hypothesis: If projects are successful in aligning their efforts with the business strategy, they will better contribute to the long-term goals of the organization.Linking Project Management to Business Strategy is divided into three sections:

• Conceptual Foundation provides definitions for terms in found in later sections and creates the conceptual and theoretical framework for examining the issue of strategic alignment

• Empirical Verification examines the previously developed frameworks in order to test the original hypothesis

• Beyond the Framework analyzes 18 successful projects and identifies the 11 common factors found in all of them

Strategic alignment is a two-way process. Overall business strategy informs project planning and in turn, project success impacts enterprise success. Strategic alignment of a project takes into account strategic focus, operational efficiency and team leadership. The extent to which a project is focused on each dimension determines the level of “strategic maturity” for a given project. Research has shown that higher levels of strategic maturity are associated with higher levels of project success.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Strategic Project Leadership^® Toward a Strategic Project Management Approach
III. A Theoretical Framework for Aligning Project Management with Business Strategy
IV. Project Strategy--The Missing Link
V. Project Spirit: The Building Blocks of Inspiration
VI. Project Success--A Multidimensional Strategic Concept
VII. A Two Way Influence Between Business Strategy and Project Management
VIII. Why Different Projects Need Different Strategies
IX. Critical Success Factors for R&D Projects and the Role of Strategic Alignment
X. Managing Project Risk: An Enterprise Alignment Perspective
XI. The Power of Strategic Focus
XII. Does Strategic Alignment Contribute to Business Success
XIII. What Makes Great Strategic Projects