Page 15 - Global Project Management Handbook

PREFACE

In the last forty years there has been a tidal wave of interest in project management as a
management philosophy to use in dealing with the many ad hoc activities found in con-
temporary organizations. Project management is clearly an idea whose time has come.
A substantial body of theory exists in the field, reflecting the wide experience gained by
practitioners in many different industries and environments. Project management is recog-
nized as a principal strategy and process to deal with the inevitable change facing organi-
zations. The social, political, economic, technological, and competitive changes underway
in the global marketplace require that any organization wishing to survive in the face of
such change needs to understand how such change can be managed.
Business organizations in particular are facing awesome challenges in the intensely
competitive global marketplace. Quality, productivity, costs, faster commercialization of
products and services, cooperative research and development, and the dynamic changes
being wrought by the “factory of the future” all can be dealt with through the use of project
management philosophies and techniques. Add to these changes the continued erosion of
quality to products and services that have to be designed, developed, produced, and mar-
keted in global markets––the importance of a management philosophy to deal with such
universal changes becomes apparent.
Project management has truly become “boundaryless”––cutting across disciplines,
functions, organizations, and countries. The formation of “strategic alliances” to share pro-
ject risk, resources, and rewards are becoming commonplace in the management of inter-
national businesses. Today, a truly domestic market does not exist; enterprise managers the
world over must face the unforgiving global marketplace. Not only is the survival of enter-
prises at stake, the country’s national and international competitiveness is at stake as well.
In the past two decades the global economy has been transformed; vigorous new compa-
nies from countries in the Pacific Rim and elsewhere are challenging many of the tradi-
tional industries and the way of managing in these industries. The competitive pathway to
be followed in the political, economic, and technological conversion of Eastern Europe and

Russia to free market economies will be a pathway characterized by the use of project man-
agement strategies. The ability to develop and produce products and services faster, at
lower costs, with higher quality, and meeting the criteria for both local and international
markets have become key performance factors. To remain competitive in the global mar-
kets, companies must develop the ability to make incremental improvements in the tech-
nology embodied in the products and services to be offered in the markets, as well as in the
organizational processes needed to conceptualize, create, design, develop, and produce
value that provide total customer satisfaction.
Successful project-oriented companies today are using project management processes
to transfer technology from around the world and integrating those processes effectively
into their products, services, and organizational processes. Global project management pro-
vides a solid foundation of management technology to create products and services that did
not previously exist but are needed to remain competitive in the global marketplace.
In the fast evolving field of global project management, there is a critical need to pull
together a practice reference to explain the new techniques of the field, provide understanding
of the unique nature of global project management, and instill confidence in the user that
truly practical global project management philosophies and strategies are available and can

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