Purpose – The research purpose is to add insights to the project management literature by studying a global project encompassing Chinese and Western project participants, to possibly increase the understanding of how project alignment can be achieved. Method – The analytical approach for this abductive and explorative study was anchored in a six-phase thematic analysis (Clarke & Braun, 2014). A single-case study approach was used encompassing 17 interviews and 61 days of observations at a multinational manufacturing firm in China.  Results - Both Chinese and Western project managers consider project effectiveness and efficiency when evaluating project success. However, there are several key nuances that separate the two groups, as Western project managers focus on customer satisfaction through efficient methods when evaluating project performance, whereas Chinese project managers focus on internal satisfaction through effective methods. The different viewpoints although similar affect the ability of manufacturing organizations to achieve alignment within global projects. To achieve alignment within global projects manufacturing organisations need to focus on three types of alignment while accounting for the nuanced view on project success; objective alignment, role alignment and internal alignment. Theoretical implications – Our study proposes an emergent model reducing the complexity of achieving alignment in global projects. The model contains three new types of alignment (objective, role and internal) that are actionable and direct compared to previous alignment types. The alignment types aids in the unification of Chinese and Western project managers view on project success. Practical implications – We expand the understanding of the Chinese and Western view on project success and provide insight into how alignment can be achieved in global projects. Our findings suggest that project managers should first achieve objective alignment before addressing role and later internal alignment in efforts to increase project performance.