Best practice project portfolio management

Citation

Hunt, R. and Killen, C. (2006), "Best practice project portfolio management", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 23 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijqrm.2006.04023aaa.002

Best practice project portfolio management

The survival of organisations competing in today's rapidly changing environment is reliant on a continual stream of successful new products and services, and on an ability to continually make substantial changes in corporate structures, processes and strategic relationships. Projects are the major vehicle used to implement these organisational changes and to develop new products and services. Much research and practice has been devoted to ensuring that projects are done right: in scope, on time and within budget to reliably produce quality outputs. However, these projects all compete for limited resources, have different levels of risk and return, and contribute in different ways to the achievement of organisational goals. Ensuring that organisations are doing the right projects is the aim of project portfolio management (PPM). PPM is a strategically directed, dynamic decision making process for the allocation of resources to projects. PPM processes involve the continual evaluation, prioritisation and selection of the best projects to achieve corporate strategic goals. Current portfolio management research is directed at improving understanding and providing management with indicators of what practices work best in specific situations.

This special issue of IJQRM is devoted to papers that demonstrate practical application of PPM. Contributions are expected to deal with, but are not limited to, the following issues:

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  PPM applied to physical products, services, software, systems, corporate change or strategy development and realisation.

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  PPM applied in public and private sector organisations.

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  Critical factors for successful PPM adoption.

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  Performance measurement and management of PPM.

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  Empirically based research on PPM impact on sustainable performance.

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  Case examples of successful PPM.

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  Human resource and cultural issues for PPM.

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  PPM applications in fast moving environments.

Manuscripts should be 3,000-5,000 words in length, single-spaced and in A4 Word format. The special issue will consist of a number of invited papers from eminent experts in PPM together with competitive papers, which will be subject to a double-blind review. Should the number of accepted papers exceed the requirements for the special edition, the excess will be published in subsequent editions. Papers should have a separate title page giving the names and full addresses of the authors. Manuscripts, following the IJQRM author guidelines accessible via www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/ijqrm/notes.htm, should be sent as e-mail attachments to the guest editors by 1 March 2006. E-mail cmit@work.gsm.mq.edu.au

Guest Editors for the special issue:

Associate Professor Robert HuntDirector, Centre for Management Innovation and TechnologyMacquarie Graduate School of ManagementMacquarie UniversityNew South Wales 2109Australia

Ms Catherine KillenProgram Head - InnovationManagement, Policy and Practice GroupFaculty of EngineeringUniversity of Technology, SydneyPO Box 123 Broadway 2007Australia