Lesson 2: Project Strategy, Stakeholder Management, and Selection

Introduction

As we noted in Lesson 1, projects have been referred to as the "stepping stones" of corporate strategy (Cleland, 1998). This idea implies that projects are developed in support of an organization's overall strategic vision. For example, Rubbermaid Corporation is noted for its relentless pursuit of new product development and introduction. In a very real sense, projects are the building blocks of strategies; they put an action-oriented face on the strategic edifice. Some of the examples of how projects operate as strategic building blocks include

• construction of new plants or modernization of facilities to support technical or operating initiatives such as new distribution strategies or decentralized plant operations.
• reengineering projects designed to dramatically redevelop products for greater market acceptance or business processes for greater streamlining and efficiency.
• new product lines to support changes in strategic direction or product portfolio reconfiguration.
• negotiation with supply chain members (including suppliers and distributors) to create new strategic alliances.
• reverse engineering competitors" products and services.
• enterprise IT efforts to enhance cross-organizational communication and improve efficiency in supply chain relationships.
• concurrent engineering to promote cross-functional interaction, streamline new product or service introduction, and improve departmental coordination.

Each of these examples illustrates the underlying theme that projects are the "operational reality" behind strategic vision. In other words, they serve as the building blocks that must be used, one at a time, to create the reality a strategy can only articulate.

Objectives

Think about the following lesson objectives. After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Understand the basic elements of corporate strategy and the importance of projects for realizing strategic goals.
• Recognize the various project stakeholders and their role in promoting project success.
• Begin to develop realistic strategies for managing project stakeholders.
• Understand a variety of project selection methods that are used to make screening decisions.
• Understand some of the basic strengths and weaknesses of these selection methods.