Examination of the Relationship between External Environmental Conditions and Construction Project Failures in Countries of Northern Africa

The construction industry is an essential and supportive pillar of national economies in Northern Africa making construction project management a dynamic arena. Construction project success is dependent on how well project managers recognize and manage project constraints versus negative risk impacts. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore and describe the impacts between external environmental conditions and construction project failures in countries of Northern Africa. Data was sourced from construction project managers that operate within this region. Data collected focuses on the interdependencies between negative risk impacts from external environmental conditions and construction project failures. An analysis of the collected data reveals emergent themes, influence drivers as well as risk management approaches. The identified emergent themes and influence drivers could assist construction project managers with managing negative risks by selecting optimal risk mitigation approaches. Successfully implementing construction projects in Northern Africa may assist firms to better allocate funds and execute strategies to strengthen these national economies

Co-evolution efficacy of project portfolio based on strategic orientation

Multi-project management has been a trend of many large organizations’ operations and a preferred organizational strategy in complex and dynamic environments. For an organization to achieve its strategy, it must integrate various projects into a project portfolio and implement coordinated management to make sure that these projects co-evolve in the direction of the overall strategy. As some elements in project portfolio (PP) cannot be quantified or determined accurately, a PP could be characterized as an uncertain and fuzzy problem where it is difficult to measure the co-evolution efficacy. To solve this difficulty, in this paper, we first propose a conceptual framework of Project Portfolio based on Strategic Orientation (PPSO) with quantitative indices and process of the co-evolution. A mathematical model based on Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis(FDEA) is built to measure the co-evolution efficacy of the PPSO, and provides a basis for optimal PPSO selection. The model is verified by a computational experiment based on actual data provided by a Chinese firm of HPM, a reputable Chinese project management consulting firm, which has also been officially certified by the International Project Management Association (IPMA). The results suggest that co-evolution efficacy is reasonably effective for selecting the optimal PPSO. To our knowledge, this study is the first time to apply the notion of co-evolution efficacy and fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis to the PP domain, which enriches the theories of project management and strategic management. Also, this study makes an important contribution to integrating a group of projects into a PP under the strategic direction and helping an organization optimize its strategic management