...Close the Gap Between Projects and Strategy by Lauren Keller Johnson If your company is like most, it’s tackling more and more projects that consume expanding levels of precious resources but fail to generate commensurate business results. In Connecting the Dots: Aligning Projects with Objectives in Unpredictable Times (Harvard Business School Press, 2003), Cathleen Benko and F. Warren McFarlan maintain that U.S. companies spend roughly $2.3 trillion on projects—defined as efforts that have a discrete beginning, end, and deliverable— every year. And yet the vast majority of companies don’t have a strategy for managing their projects in a way that captures their full value and effectively maps them to the needs of the organization. The consequence? “Close to $1 trillion in underperforming investments in the United States alone over the last five years,” the authors note. What explains this phenomenon? Companies are launching an increasingly wider range of project types as well as a far higher number of projects than in previous decades, according to Benko. And so now the pressure is on. Companies must rein in and give focus to their ever more disparate arrays of projects, Benko and McFarlan maintain, by managing them in portfolios that both recognize the relationships among distinct projects and align them to the corporate strategy. Some companies are already finding success in doing so. The need for alignment The proliferation of projects in companies has been both driven...
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...Project management as an important branch of management science, has been widely used in construction, information technology, finance, software development, aerospace, government agencies, and many other industries. Project management is a highly integrated application of economic and technical work, is an important enterprise management thinking. Today's society, as an economic management and other related majors, the mastery of project management ideas, methods, the basic principle is particularly important. Objectives To explain why project management is crucial in today's world. To define a project and differentiate projects from routine operations To establish the importance of projects in implementing organization strategy To introduce the concept of a project maturity model that traces the evolution of project management systems. To establish managing projects is an act of balancing the technical and socio / cultural sides of the project To make students aware of the Project Management Institute that is made up of over 75,000 project management professionals. Programme goals and responsibilities of senior management leading large international programmes such as Crossrail, should be clarified to ensure decisions reached meet the objectives and are in the best interest of the Programme. There should be a clearly written scope and appropriate contract. Technical specifications and functional requirements need to be clearly defined early in the project or they...
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...and Management Project Management Paper University of Phoenix MGT/437: Project Management Project Management Paper November 4, 2012 Project Management Paper Introduction Many would say that the United States is a great place to live. This country gives people choices and many crave the independence of owning their own business. However, owning a business is not as easy as it sounds, it takes hard work and strategic planning. To manage a business you have to have a sound direction in what expertise you would like to tackle. Project management can play an integral role in implementing these plans and attaining these goals. This system is “one of the integral parts of the contemporary management system due to its ability to make sure that the goals set in the beginning of a project correspond exactly to the goals that were achieved later on. It goes without saying that the primarily aim of any project is a certain definite result. Since a project can be applied to various spheres of activity of a company, it automatically gets a wide range of usage (Reynolds, 2009).” The primary purpose of this document is to achieve an enhanced perceptive of project management and to provide information on key elements that is the core of most officially run projects. This document will answer three general questions necessary in the construction of project management. These questions are: What is project management? What are the basic phases of the project lifecycle and their...
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...Construction Projects: Establishing a Procurement Strategy Introduction The construction industry is one of the major contributors to the gross domestic product of many economies, and as a result, it is important that the environment of the industry is kept as healthy as possible. Previous research studies based on the construction industry (NWPC, 1990; Latham, 1994) have emphasised the key improvement areas, and one of these areas is the selection and use of a suitable procurement strategy in any construction project. The construction process has been seen as involving “all those activities, be they technical, managerial or strategic which make up the realisation phase of a project where the physical facility actually appears, and on completion, the facility is in a useable state, which is an important part of the whole project endeavour and actually impacts the perception of the client” (Rowlinson & McDermott, 1999: pp. 27). But then the concept of success is generally an ambiguous one in a construction project because of the varying perceptions of the project participants, since they will all have their own view of success (Chan, Scott & Lam, 2002). Therefore, several issues need to be considered in order to ensure the success of the outcome of a construction project. However, current research (Chinyio, Olomololaiye & Corbett, 1998) confirms that construction clients have been dissatisfied with the performance of construction consultants and contractors on most...
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...SIERRA READYMIX (PVT.) LTD. MARKETING STRATEGY FOR THE NEW DESIGN & PROJECT MANAGEMENT WING 1.0 Introduction Sierra Readymix (Pvt.) Ltd. (SRL) is a subsidiary company of Sierra Construction group of companies aimed at providing specialized ready mix concrete (RMC) to the Sierra group & to Sri Lankan Colombo-Gampaha-Kaluthara based projects in construction sector. SRL performed well and sustained an exponential growth since inception in 2005 becoming a dominant player in ready mix concrete industry. With 15 competitors springing up in western province, scarcity of materials such as ¾” metal, river sand & constant material price increments due to high demand by Colombo port expansion project & Southern Highway outer circular project, bottom line of the company began to get affected. As to overcome the anticipated materials price shock & competitive low margined market SRL is expecting to diversify into area of construction design development & project management where soft skills would be much stressed upon. 2.0 SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 2.1 Diversification is required due to : • Price competition due to 15 competitors with much low overheads. • Price hikes of essential raw materials ¾” metal, river sand due to large scale projects such as Colombo port expansion project & Southern Highway outer circular project. • Shrinking bottom line due to above stated reasons. • Company’s product – RMC supply can only cover a limited geographical area in Colombo-Kaluthara-Gampaha districts...
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...risk response can help prevent a project failing or at least reduce the negative impacts of risks that affect it. Discuss the risk response strategies that could be used for this project Risk response is the process of developing strategic options, and determining actions, to enhance opportunities and reduce threats to the project’s objectives. A project team member is assigned to take responsibility for each risk response. This process ensures that each risk requiring a response has an owner monitoring the responses, although the owner may delegate implementation of a response to someone else. There are several risk response strategies that can be discussed however; each of the strategies requires specific actions to be developed to implement the strategy and the idea of assigning a team member is to increase accountability and making sure nothing falls off unattended. The project identified risks that are a threat to the project and only procurement providing opportunities too. The strategies applied for threats in many of the cases vary from those applied for opportunities. For threats the strategies that employed are avoid, mitigate, and transfer while for opportunities, exploit, share and enhance are used and acceptance which is used when it is not possible to respond to the risk. 7.1 Avoid. Risk can be avoided by removing the cause of the risk or executing the project in a different way while still aiming to achieve project objectives. Not all risks can be...
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...STEP I I want to gain marketing insights and learn about new marketing strategies from a data-driven company. I think marketing and strategy is an integral part of any business today, so it takes everything from the scratch to execution, without a marketing strategy, a product can never be a success. Also during my undergrad studies, I came across a course known as entrepreneurship management, which generated a spark in me to learn more about marketing management and strategy. Although having a limited internship experience in data driven marketing, it would be a great opportunity for me to learn something about strategies for different customer segments and analysis of various markets through the marketing courses in my MBA curriculum and apply it to real life situations. STEP II My dream industry would be a company which is dealing in data driven marketing strategies in the sectors of health care consulting and energy auditing. To be precise, I want a job in a data driven marketing industry. STEP III: The job titles for which I would be eligible after I graduate from IIT Stuart school of Business as an MBA in Marketing and Business Analytics would be-: * Marketing/ Marketing Research Analyst * Business Development Executive * Marketing sales Representative * Marketing Account Executive * Business Analyst All these job titles match up my field of interest i.e. marketing. Also When I visited networking events, specifically the ‘Microsoft mixer’...
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...apply best practices in information technology management and governance to make, defend, and justify an IT decision IT Strategic Plan for Rusty Rims Distribution Company For the previous assignment, you developed Part 1 of an IT Strategic Plan for RR. For this assignment, you will incorporate any needed changes resulting from the feedback you received on your Part 1 assignment and you will add Part 2. Part 2 will include an IT project that you are proposing that RR undertake. This new project will be included in the IT Portfolio section of Part 2, and will be further described in a future assignment, the “IT Decision Paper.” The entire ITSP will be submitted as a single document for this assignment. Assignment First, you should make any changes to your Part 1 assignment, as indicated in the feedback you received. Then, you will develop Part 2 of the ITSP for Rusty Rims, using the outline below, and add it to Part 1. A single, complete ITSP, with both Parts 1 and 2 will be submitted for this assignment. Note that Part 2 includes a project you are proposing that RR undertakes. In addition to the course materials, at least...
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...Marketing Management and Planning Module 7 HENDERSON BAS Prepared by: Group D Robert Walker Ladan Jalali Liang Chen Harinder Kaur Balaji July 23, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents 2 Problem Statement 3 Situation Analysis 3 Background 3 Objectives and Goals 3 Current Situation 3 Henerson Bas Process 3 SWOT Analysis 4 Market Analysis 5 Segment Analysis 5 Competition Analysis 6 Financial Analysis 6 Case Keys 7 Key success factors 7 Key uncertainties 7 Alternative 7 Alternative Analysis 9 Recommendations 9 Action Plan 10 Contigency Plan 10 Problem Statement: Louisa Morgan needs to Set a price and service level for advertising campaign for Halpernia Industry regard to maintain client relationship and satisfaction. The management at Henderson Bas needs to set up a pricing model to effectively balance company's profitability against customer satisfaction Situation Analysis Background Henderson Bas was founded by Dawna Henderson in 1996 and started as an interactive agency in downtown Toronto. The company developed from a one person operation to a midsized 65 person corporation. The company provided wide range of online services like web design, online advertising, e-mail marketing, database marketing and Technology services. They worked with many large companies including Coca-Cola, eBay, Molson and Nike. Henderson Bas was recognized as a leader in the interactive advertising industry. Objectives...
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...Management and Leadership: Strategy and Organizational Design Slide # | Scene/Interaction | Narration | Slide 1 | | | Slide 2 | | Sara: Hello.Today is the last day of your management training and I am very excited for you and the rest of the team.Before you complete your training, I would like for us to discuss the importance of implementing social projects into your company’s strategy and organizational design.Please gather Madison, Ethan, and Ben into the conference room so we can begin our final discussion. | Slide 3 | | Sara: Good Morning, team!Today is the last day of your training. You have all done very well. We will end our training with a discussion on strategy and organizational design and how important these elements are to leaders and managers of all corporations.Before we begin, Madison, can you provide us with a definition of strategy? | Slide 4 | | Madison: Sure. I believe that strategy is the process of positioning the organization in the competitive environment and implementing actions to compete successfully. This can include who the company plans on serving, what it will provide to others, and the types of contributions the firm intends to make to the larger society. Without a strategy, it is basically impossible for a corporation to have a long term plan or method to achieve their objectives and goals. A strategy also helps managers and employees focus on achieving the significant elements contained in the strategy. For example, here at...
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...To : HR Director From : HR Manager Date : 19.06.2012 Subject : Human resource management strategy plan 1.1 The word strategy means a long term planning or aim to achieve the specific purpose. Human resource management is based in the efficent use of employees. The main purpose of human resource management is to use of skills and abilities of employee in such a way to achieve the desired result of operational objectives that are utmost aim of organisation. Strategic human resource management is an approach that defines how the organisation goals will be achieved through people by mean of HR strategies and integerated HR policies and practices. SHRM may also be defined as, "strategic HRM focuses on actions that differniate the firm from its competitors" ( Purcell, 1999). Hill and jones take a similar view they define strategy as " an action a company takes to attian superior performance". the SHRM means the decision of a business organisation about what to do and what not to do when learning, training developing and organizing human resource. for example samsung recent decision to make a samsung note featuring all the function very similar to computer and ipad.was a strategic decision according to current need of consumer. SHRM focus on peformance of whole organisation instead of individual performance. 1.2 One of the most essential part of organisation is its employees and is obligatory...
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...Hensley Real Estate and Appraisal Services Annual Strategy Plan Jo Student BUS/470 March 18, 2012 Dr. David A. Smith STRATEGIC PLAN 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary.................................................................................... ............ 3 Company Background and Milestones............................................................................... 3 Part 1: The Business................................................................................................ 4 Company Mission............................................................................................... 4 Company Vision................................................................................................ 4 Focused Project................................................................................................. 5 Part 2: Environmental Analysis....................................................................... .......... 6 Remote Environment......................................................................................... 6 Industry Environment......................................................................................... 7 Part 3: SWOT Analysis.......................................................................................... 8 Strengths........................................................................................................ 8 Weaknesses.........................................................................
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...University of Phoenix Material Team Strategy Plan 1. Complete the following table to address the creation of teams at Riordan Manufacturing. Strategy | Strengths | Weaknesses | Financial strategies | Expect to account 60% incremental sales | marked by the end working with customers | Planning | Clear goals | Direction of failure | Business practices | Global competition | Increasing social responsibility | Selecting team members | Creating successful teams | Channels of communication | Distribute job duties | Complete tasks on time | Efficiency is lacking | 2. Identify the team formation strategy that is most suitable for Riordan Manufacturing, and provide the rationale for the decision. Your response should be at least 100 words. Shape product and solutions working as a team. Providing rationale within the company to assist employees sustain positive interpersonal relationship within the organization. . Provide resources for strategy development and implementation providing useful ways of managing complexity, such as stakeholder’s analysis’s scenario development, clarification of distinctive competencies, strategic issues identification. Teaching personal how to problem solve through management to resolve conflict. Management need to address employee’s likes and clear expectations of each individual. By communicating the incentives to the teams and orientating gender difference to build teams. Management must make the goals and objectives...
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...DISTANCE LEARNING & OVERSEAS BLENDED COHORTS 12/3/2014 TT poojitha Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Case Study 6 Market Analysis and Strategy 8 Findings 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Abstract This paper identifies and discusses real-world strategic issues in making distance learning a “Win-Win-Win” for the primary customer(s), the general public, and the engineers. The Strata Manufacturing Company and KLASS program is used as a case study. Concepts and issues are discussed generically to promote transfer of key concepts and lessons learned to other distance learning programs. Key areas discussed are strategic vision, strategies for “how to- get-there,” customer focus, market analysis, and findings of companies. Introduction What strategic management needs to be employed and what has to be considered by a company to enhance the skills of employee through distance learning? The strategic management approach for this paper includes the strategies for attaining the organization vision through formulating what is referred to as strategic vision. These concepts are discussed in general and for an efficient aerospace engineer distance learning program. The distance learning program chosen is KLASS (Knowledge and Learning in Advanced Supply Systems) which supports the learning of individuals and organizations in the automotive and aerospace industries. The distance learning and its market opportunities are addressed, as this is one of the major reasons...
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...Shidler College of Business University of Hawai´i at Mānoa Vietnam MBA Program Fall 2011 BUS 632—Business Strategy Dates of Course: Oct. 20 - 29 Professor James Richardson BusAd C501f Office Phone: 956-7270 Email: jamesr@hawaii.edu Course Outline and Objectives: BUS 632 covers strategic management as an integrating paradigm for your business knowledge. The aim is to develop an understanding of the strategic challenges facing managers in competitive markets. Globalization, foreign competition, and rapidly changing technology have sharply increased the intensity of competition in most industries. We will learn how leading firms have devised strategies, structured, and managed their organizations to achieve competitive advantage in this challenging environment. Strategic management deals with uncertainty and unstructured situations. You will learn tools and concepts for putting some structure into your analysis of strategic issues. But most strategic choices require judgment. Case studies enable us to test our judgment and learn vicariously from successful and unsuccessful managers in a variety of situations. Hence, class discussion of the cases is a central part of your learning experience. Methods: We will combine cases, lectures, individual and group papers and presentations. Pre-requisites: First semester of Core. Textbook: Jay Barney, Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage, Fourth Edition. Case Packet will be available. Assignments and Grading: 1. Participation: (15%)...
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