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This paper analyzes project and portfolio management within a major research library, while it was undergoing a complete physical renovation and reinvention of programs and services. This is a complex, almost 100-million-dollar undertaking that implemented a project management (PM) methodology known as portfolio management. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the implementation and management of this process and provide a brief overview on project and portfolio management as a discipline. Additionally, it provides strengths and weaknesses as well as recommendations when implementing PM.

The analysis uses a qualitative research methodology case study with a theoretical foundation of inductive grounded theory. The case study is based primarily on seven interviews of project managers who are involved with the project. It also uses document analysis to assist in triangulating the findings and provide a contextual overview of a complex process. A number of themes emerged into overall categories and findings.

The key takeaways were the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the process. The strengths were improved communication and transparency, improved organization and documentation and formal decision-making process and resource allocation. The weaknesses were the hammer and the nail problem, the tools and paperwork, rigidity and the lack of agility within the process. This study also describes the process in detail and gives recommendations for improving the methods implemented in similar circumstances.

This paper analyzes strategic management concepts from an empirical grounded theory approach and real-world perspective with key recommendations.

Success in the information systems (IS) project domain is elusive despite extensive research on the topic. Governance is seen as the greatest contributor to project success. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and report on the current perceptions and implementation of information technology (IT) governance within IS portfolio management to develop a sub-framework to guide practitioners. This sub-framework forms part of a grand IS project, programme and portfolio governance framework of which this study forms a contributing part.

The researchers followed a mixed-methods approach through utilising Q-methodology and inverted factor analysis.

The results provided a sub-framework recommending specific IT governance practices to be applied to IS portfolios. The recommendations are categorised as activities to be maintained, enhanced and/or implemented.

The research only had participants from South African organisations and as such cannot be reliably extrapolated to other regions.

The resultant sub-framework provides stakeholders and practitioners involved in IS portfolios an opportunity to examine their own approaches and be confronted with possibilities in their portfolio management activities. Further research to be conducted includes creating a grand framework to address the linkages between portfolio, programme and project management as it relates to IT governance on various strategic levels.

The paper identifies the need for a portfolio approach to the management of real estate assets, and sets out its key components as a ‘macro’ level process. Portfolio management is positioned within an overall model of the corporate real estate function, from which a definition is developed. The main generic components of real estate portfolio management are described, and the most significant findings from a survey of current practices among a group of corporate organisations are presented. The paper concludes that in overall terms a more robust approach to the portfolio management of real estate assets is required to maximise the portfolio’s functional and financial value to the business.

The Corporate Real Estate Portfolio Alliance performed extensive research into corporate real estate portfolio management and developed a number of new practices and analytical methods. A number of papers in this issue of the Journal of Corporate Real Estate resulted from the research. This paper provides an overview of the corporate real estate organisations and researchers involved, the research methodology and its findings.

This study aims to contribute to the field of customer portfolio management by proposing a novel approach rooted in dialectic critical realism (DCR). DCR, as an ontological theory, enables a fundamental reimagining of customer portfolio management as a dialectic process. The conceptualized dialectic portfolio management is motivated by the concept of “absence”, akin to Hegelian “antithesis”, which highlights limitations, problems and tensions in portfolio management. In essence, “absence” serves as a diagnostic tool that directs portfolio actions towards resolving problems by pursuing a more comprehensive “totality”, similar to the Hegelian notion of “synthesis”.

This conceptual paper theorizes DCR in business marketing and customer portfolio management.

DCR conceptualizes customer portfolios as relational structures characterized by omissions and tensions. These issues are addressed through a dialectic synthesis aimed at achieving a more comprehensive “totality”. Consequently, DCR guides portfolio management to continually re-think the connections and distinctions that define a portfolio within its network context. This dialectic process is facilitated by a novel vocabulary that enhances the understanding of network and portfolio relations, incorporating concepts such as “intrapermeations”, “existential constitutions”, “intra-connections” and “intensive” and “extensive” portfolio practices.

This study aims to foster a fresh and process-oriented perspective on portfolio management, drawing inspiration from the growing demand for enriched dialectic theorizing within the realm of business marketing. The adoption of a dialectic process orientation based on DCR revolutionizes the comprehension of portfolio management by fundamentally reimagining the underlying ontological assumptions that underpin the existing body of literature on customer portfolios. Moreover, DCR asserts that ethical considerations are inextricably linked to human experiences and associated practices, emphasizing ethics as an integral component of customer portfolio management.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that there is not just a single project portfolio operating within an organisation, but instead there are multiple portfolios.

This paper follows a case study methodology, utilising secondary sources in the form of publically available reports.

The authors offer a definition of whole of enterprise portfolio management and suggest that this conceptual tool will allow an organisation to control programs and portfolios, particularly, where organizations adapt to emergent situations.

This paper is supported through a single case study using secondary data only. Whilst this provides an illustrated example to support a theoretical model, further empirical research is required to determine its applicability in other sectors and organisational contexts.

This paper provides a whole of enterprise portfolio model in the utilities sector and can be applied to many organisations. It also provides a basis for further research.

This paper provides a new perspective on portfolio management, suggesting that the organisation consists of many portfolios that need to be managed in an integrative manner, rather than just the project portfolio be examined and managed in isolation.

This paper provides a clear and simple means of evaluating and managing a portfolio of information technology projects. The ultimate goal being a major reduction in the failure rate for such projects. The phrase “alignment of business and technology goals” (or some variation thereof) is widely used. But, how do you go about “aligning” such intangibles? And, what does “alignment” mean when it comes to information technology projects? Most companies struggle with these questions. The real problem is that they are dealing with the issues on an individual project basis when they should be evaluating all projects as a portfolio. For example, financial investors diversify. There is not a single investment that provides complete risk and reward diversification. Likewise, attempting to manage individual projects to meet corporate goals is futile. Manage the project portfolio instead. Many companies have used Project Portfolio Management successfully. While their results vary, there have been clear, definable gains from using one or more of the approaches discussed in this article. Failure rates for information technology projects are much too high. The survival of information technology as a strategic corporate service depends on better management of IT project portfolios. Too much is written about theories of management or concepts for dealing with failure. This paper is different. It is focused on practical ideas and metrics that any corporation can put to immediate use.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are often very complex management endeavors. Analyzes the IT component of M&A for two financial institutions. Students are tasked with assisting Mike Farrell, the CIO of New Millennium Financial (NMF), a new company created through the merger of FinStar Financial and D&L Bank, in determining the optimal combined IT portfolio. To accomplish this task the strategic business objectives of the firm must be clearly understood and the IT projects in the pipelines of both institutions analyzed. Students must make an IT portfolio management decision and answer the question: What is the optimal IT strategy and project portfolio for NMF?

To apply a framework to manage a company's IT portfolio, i.e., understand the company's strategic context, develop business objectives that align with its strategy, assess IT investments, and develop a portfolio of IT projects that support the objectives. The framework is iterative, i.e., IT investments are assessed on a regular basis based on their performance and risk/return tradeoffs. Also to introduce a leading Web-based tool, ProSight, that helps managers organize IT portfolios.

The idea of using stochastic control methods for theoretical studies of portfolio management has long been standard, with maximum expected utility criteria commonly being used. But in recent years a new kind of criterion, the risk sensitive criterion, has emerged from the control theory literature and been applied to portfolio management. This paper studies various economic properties of this criterion for portfolio management, thereby providing justification for its theoretical and practical use. In particular, it is shown that the risk sensitive criterion amounts to maximizing a portfolio's risk adjusted growth rate. In other words, it is essentially the same as what is commonly done in practice: find the best trade‐off between a portfolio's average return and its average volatility.