Emerging markets, development of new technologies, sustainability policies and change in customer demand are dramatically changing today’s economies. The business environment is more dynamic than ever before. One particular industry that is currently influenced by significant transformational forces is the automotive industry. These transformational forces, such as autonomy, connectivity and electrification, are driving the change towards a future state where shorter lead times and closer customer interaction will be essential in order to satisfy the needs of the changing market. To deal with external changes, organizations are increasingly focusing on agility as a way to gain new forms of competitive advantage. The benefits of agile methods at the team level has inspired the use of agile practices at a larger scale, all the way up to the portfolio level. Project portfolio management (PPM) connects the strategy of the organization with the distribution of resources across projects in the portfolio. There is little empirical evidence on the agile methods performed in PPM, thus of interest to study. Due to the high complexity at the portfolio level, it becomes increasingly difficult to scale agile methods. This thesis is based on a single-case study within the automotive industry to gain a better understanding of how a mature automotive company can manage the agile scalability to become more agile in their project portfolio management. An abductive approach was applied with gathering methods comprising interviews, documents and observations. The results of this thesis highlight the major deficiencies with the case company’s current PPM, as well as their performance in scaling agile. / Tillväxtmarknader, utveckling av ny teknik, hållbarhetspolitik samt förändring av kundkrav påverkar dagens ekonomi dramatiskt. Affärsmarknaden är mer dynamisk än någonsin tidigare. En viss industri som för närvarande påverkas av bemärkta förändringar är fordonsindustrin. Trender som autonomi, elektrifiering och uppkopplade fordon driver förändringen mot ett framtida tillstånd där kortare ledtider och närmare kundinteraktion kommer att vara nödvändiga för att tillgodose marknadsbehoven. För att hantera externa förändringar fokuserar organisationer alltmer på att arbeta agilt. Fördelarna som agila metoder har på teamnivå har inspirerat användningen av dem på en större skala, hela vägen upp till portföljnivå. Projektportföljstyrning (PPM) förenar organisationens strategi med fördelningen av resurser på projekt i portföljen. Det existerar lite empiriskt bevis på användandet av agila metoder på portföljnivå, därav intresse att studera. Den höga komplexitet som portföljnivån utgör gör det svårare att skala upp agila arbetssätt. Denna avhandling bygger på en fallstudie inom fordonsindustrin för att skapa en bättre förståelse för hur ett moget fordonsföretag hanterar den agila skalbarheten för att bli mer agila i sin portföljstyrning. En abduktiv metod användes med datainsamlingsmetoder som omfattade intervjuer, dokument och observationer. Resultatet av denna avhandling belyser bristerna med företagets nuvarande PPM, samt deras prestanda i agil skalbarhet.

This thesis has its origin in empirical evidence. Some Swedish companies claimed that despite having plenty of proposals for developing new products, they experienced problems when choosing from all those alternatives. Their problem was how to select among new ideas the ones for being developed and the ones to be rejected, how many projects to run according to their capacity, when to start a development project and when to stop one, and how to decide among ongoing projects which the most important ones were. The companies’ problem was decision making in the context of innovation.  According to literature, a deeper understanding is needed of the decision making process in innovation, taking into account its organizational and procedural complexities. The purpose of this thesis is to achieve an understanding of the decision making process in innovation.  The thesis is based on an explorative study, with interviews carried out in three companies that have new product development as a core competitive factor. The empirical study focuses on the decisions made for selection and prioritization of different innovative alternatives.  As a result of the analysis of the empirical data a conceptualization of the decision making process was developed. Furthermore, it was described the relevant problems that decision makers experience, the main characteristics of the decision making process and the role that decision making plays in innovation. The implications of these findings for designing work procedures to support decision making in innovation were discussed; and general descriptions of two practical methods suggested.  The main findings indicate that for making decisions in the context of innovation, organizations must be able to face uncertain and ambiguous situations, and achieve a collective understanding about what is to be done. To do this, different approaches for making decisions and understanding innovation are needed. However, regardless of the appropriateness of these approaches, they receive different levels of acceptance within organizations; and decision makers must deal with the different grades of organizational acceptance of the different approaches. As a consequence, an organization displays certain dynamic using different approaches for making decisions and for understanding innovation. Such dynamic influences the companies’ innovative potential and the output of the innovation process. / QC 20101111

Submitted by claudio larieira (larieira@hotmail.com) on 2014-01-08T14:14:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese sobre Gestão de Portfolio de Projetos de TI - Claudio Larieira - texto final.pdf: 3209042 bytes, checksum: abe31ab5bddfaffb5d6db4ba9ee6688e (MD5) / Rejected by Vera Lúcia Mourão (vera.mourao@fgv.br), reason: Prezado aluno, antes de postar na biblioteca digital você deve providenciar a ficha catalográfica, verifique o e-mail enviado pela Suzinei, tem as instruções sobre como fazer. Outro ponto o titulo do seu trabalho está diferente do que consta em nossos arquivos, sistema e ata, caso a banca examinadora tenha sugerido alteração ou o seu orientador, para que possamos corrigir o seu orientador deverá encaminhar uma mensagem com o novo título, caso não tenha essa sugestão deverá constar conforme segue: "Um estudo sobre os fatores organizacionais que influenciam a gestão de portfólio de projetos de TIC". abs. Vera on 2014-01-08T15:24:35Z (GMT) / Submitted by claudio larieira (larieira@hotmail.com) on 2014-01-09T15:30:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese sobre Gestão de Portfolio de Projetos de TI - Claudio Larieira - texto final.pdf: 3210468 bytes, checksum: 7b4be2fc34ce1e992285271a1849d36b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão (vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2014-01-09T15:41:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese sobre Gestão de Portfolio de Projetos de TI - Claudio Larieira - texto final.pdf: 3210468 bytes, checksum: 7b4be2fc34ce1e992285271a1849d36b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-01-09T16:19:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese sobre Gestão de Portfolio de Projetos de TI - Claudio Larieira - texto final.pdf: 3210468 bytes, checksum: 7b4be2fc34ce1e992285271a1849d36b (MD5) Previous issue date: 13-12-11 / Organizations may manage their operations more efficiently and leverage business strategies through Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), enabling them to add competitive advantages required for success and enterprise sustainability. Scholars and business leaders often dispute the value ICT brings to businesses because of high investment required for acquisition, implementation, and maintenance. Markowitz’s Portfolio Analysis dealt with financial investments. Other authors extended his proposition to project’s assessment, selection and prioritization, creating Project Portfolio Management. Subsequently, the concept was applied to ICT Project Portfolio Management was proposed. Various organizational factors can influence the execution of this process, beyond inherent technical and methodological issues. This thesis identified organizational factors that affect ICT Project Portfolio Management and analyzed their influence on the process. The research is of an applied nature, qualitative, exploratory and descriptive, and was executed in multiple case studies through analysis of three mid-sized commercial Brazilian banks. This thesis’ main contribution is reached through the creation of a conceptual structure that represents various organizational factors that influence ICT Project Portfolio Management. There are indications that organizational factors have great influence on this process, given the responses obtained in interviews with professionals of the banks analyzed. / A Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação (TIC) permite que as empresas realizem suas operações de maneira mais eficiente, alavanquem suas estratégias de negócio e tragam assim as vantagens competitivas necessárias para o sucesso e perenidade do empreendimento. É constante nos meios acadêmicos e empresariais o questionamento sobre o valor que a TIC efetivamente traz ao negócio dados os altos investimentos necessários para sua aquisição, implementação e manutenção. A partir da proposição seminal de Markowitz sobre a Análise de Portfólio (que tratou especificamente dos investimentos financeiros), outros autores estenderam este conceito para realizar a avaliação, seleção e priorização de projetos, criando o que atualmente se denomina de Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos. A Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos, por sua vez, foi posteriormente estendida para os projetos de TIC e foi proposta então a abordagem de Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos de TIC. Além das questões meramente técnicas ou metodológicas, vários fatores organizacionais estão presentes na execução deste processo e podem influenciá-lo. Este trabalho identifica os fatores organizacionais que envolvem a Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos de TIC e analisa as influências que estes fatores trazem sobre o processo citado. A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa, de caráter exploratório e descritivo e é operacionalizada através da realização de estudos de caso múltiplos em 3 (três) bancos médios comerciais brasileiros. A principal contribuição deste trabalho é a proposição de uma estrutura conceitual que representa os diversos fatores organizacionais que influenciam a Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos de TIC em uma organização. Há indícios de que os fatores organizacionais têm grande influência sobre este processo dadas as respostas obtidas nas entrevistas com os profissionais dos bancos analisados.

Volvo’s plant in Umeå has a constant need for development, where to start new activities like projects and investments are important tools, where the competition on the market is increasing. The need for investments are major compared to the resources available, both in terms of human resources and economic resources. The plant needs to prioritize trying to choose what kind of investments are the best for the plant’s future. The problem is that there is a lack of reliable priority model for investments that consider several different parameters. To solve this issue the goal is to create a useful model that can work as a tool to prioritize projects and investments in an appropriate and reliable way. The study began with a literature review to make the researcher approach the subject and gather the knowledge needed for this study. After this, qualitative semi-structured interviews were made with different managers at the plant, to acquire their expertise and knowledge regarding the selection of criteria and their preferences of how the model should work. The next step was to analyze the old model used at the plant, its strengths, and weaknesses. At the same time, constant discussions were held with the supervisor and his manager but as well with the university, mainly through seminars. When the researcher felt he was ready he started to create the new model. There were 30 criteria included in the model, mainly collected through interviews. The large number of criteria collected were sorted into Volvo’s catchwords SQDCEP (Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, Environmental, People). These were decided to function as the main criteria in the model, and all the 30 criteria were called sub-criteria. The model itself originates from a process called the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). It is an established and wellknown methodology to make prioritizations. Its main idea is to compare every single project against each other which makes the method very thoughtful, solid and probably better than other ones. The conclusion is that the model is complete and should work perfectly to be used for Volvo and other companies in the complex manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the criteria chosen for the model should also be applicable for other similar companies to Volvo, as the criteria are not unique.

Esta pesquisa investigou quatro empresas multinacionais brasileiras em busca de suas práticas na gestão do portfólio de projetos de novos produtos. Por meio de um estudo multicaso, a pesquisa abrangeu diversos aspectos dessa gestão, tais como estratégia para novos produtos e tecnologias; mecanismos de identificação de oportunidades e fontes de idéias para novos produtos; estrutura e recursos de engenharia e P&D; técnicas preferidas para análise, seleção e priorização de projetos; mecanismos de acompanhamento no desenvolvimento dos novos produtos e revisão do portfólio. Um conjunto de práticas de gestão foi identificado e comparado a quatro modelos teóricos, o que levou à conclusão que as empresas gerenciam seu portfólio de forma heterogênea. Mesmo assim, tais práticas produzem como resultado final uma importante vantagem competitiva e podem auxiliar outras empresas na busca pela excelência na gestão da inovação por meio da gestão do seu portfólio de projetos de novos produtos. Ainda que não seja possível generalizar as conclusões acerca dos casos, os resultados apontam diversas intersecções entre as práticas encontradas nas empresas e os modelos teóricos, convergindo para um conjunto comum de práticas gerenciais que podem favorecer o desempenho de outras organizações, além de contribuir com subsídios para futuras pesquisas. / This research has investigated four Brazilian multinational companies looking for their most used practices in managing their portfolio of new product projects. To accomplish this goal, a multi-case study was undertaken. Several aspects of the new products portfolio management were explored, such as product innovation strategy; R&D structure and resources; opportunities seizing mechanisms and sources for new product ideas; preferred project evaluation and selection techniques; decision makers\' preferences and profiles; new product development measures and portfolio periodic revision. Based on this investigation, a set of practices was identified and compared to four theoretical models. It was found that the companies manage their portfolio in heterogeneous ways. However, such practices contribute to the overall innovation in the companies and produce a substantial competitive advantage. Indeed, such practices can also help other companies in achieving new products portfolio management excellence. Although the conclusions that followed through can not be generalized to a management model, the results can substantially aid other companies in leveraging their portfolio management performance and also be a relevant contribution for future research.

A composição de um portfolio de projetos é realizada de acordo com um conjunto de critérios de seleção e avaliação de projetos, que permite identificar quais projetos trazem maior valor, benefícios e alinhamento com as estratégias definidas pela organização, para um determinado horizonte de tempo. O grau de exposição a riscos do portfolio de projetos é um dos critérios mais importantes a ser considerado na composição e no balanceamento do portfolio, uma vez que indica a magnitude dos desvios a que o portfolio está sujeito em relação ao atendimento de seus objetivos. Este trabalho apresenta um procedimento para a avaliação do grau de exposição a riscos do portfolio de projetos, que parte dos riscos de cada projeto, e considera seus inter-relacionamentos, bem como outros riscos inerentes ao portfolio como um todo. O procedimento abrange a identificação, análise e tratamento dos riscos do portfolio e a determinação do grau de exposição a riscos no atendimento de cada objetivo e do portfolio com um todo. Através de um estudo de caso, realizado numa empresa multinacional do setor de máquinas e equipamentos, o procedimento foi testado num portfolio composto por nove dos maiores projetos de sua maior unidade de negócio. Foi possível determinar o grau de exposição a riscos do portfolio de projetos frente aos objetivos estratégicos a que se propunha atender valores determinados de margem bruta média e faturamento para o ano fiscal corrente. O estudo de caso permitiu validar a aplicabilidade do procedimento. A identificação dos riscos em comum, das interdependências e de outros riscos abrangentes permitiu identificar causas comuns e proliferações entre os riscos dos projetos e, principalmente, racionalizar recursos no tratamento dos riscos. / When building a project portfolio, evaluation and selection criteria are used to recognize which projects bring greater value, benefits and alignment with the organization strategies defined for a given period of time. One of the most relevant criteria in project portfolio composition and balancing is the risk exposure, as it indicates the magnitude of slippages to which the organization objectives are susceptible. This work presents a procedure for the evaluation of the overall project portfolio risk exposure, considering the risks of each project, the inter-relationships among them, and also other risks inherent to the portfolio as a whole. The procedure encloses portfolio risks identification, analysis and treatment and the assessment of the risk exposure in the attendance of each objective as well as for the complete portfolio. Through a case study, carried through in a world class multinational company of the capital goods sector, the risk analysis procedure has been tested in a portfolio encompassing nine major projects from its main business unit. It has been possible to define the risk exposure related to the strategic objectives this portfolio should fulfill average gross margin and revenues for the current fiscal year. The case study has allowed validating the applicability of the proposed procedure. The identification of common risks, interdependences and other overall portfolio risks has also allowed to recognize common causes, proliferation among projects and, mainly, to rationalize resources in treating these risks.

<p>Despite the many researches made on emergent strategies and project portfolio management, one can hardly find studies on the link between them. It can easily be assumed that emergent strategies and market dynamics have considerable effect on the portfolio of projects in organizations and, supposedly, give rise to emergent projects. We defined emergent projects to be untypical or irregular projects for the organization which are at the borderline or even outside the mainstream of the current portfolio of projects. These types of projects impact the company’s strategy with the aim to increase the organizations competitiveness. This study will try to find out the possible distinct characteristics and strategic impact of emergent projects on large organizations so that these kinds of projects can be properly recognized for what they really are and managed effectively.</p><p> </p><p>We used a semi-structured interview method to collect data from six international companies in four countries. The countries are Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Taiwan. Using template analysis method, we analyzed the collected data. The analysis confirmed our assumption that there is a correlation between emergent strategies and project portfolio management. Moreover, we found out some of the characteristics and strategic impacts of emergent projects. The results of the study, therefore, shows that emergent projects are kinds of strategic projects which have bigger significance and bring a higher sense of urgency to organizations than the normal projects in their portfolio. Furthermore, the study indicated that emergent projects do not need any different project management methodology than typical projects do. Nonetheless, emergent projects are characterized by rarity, disrupting routine operations, enhancing company-customer relationship, causing resource reallocation, bringing profit, demanding higher budget, opening both internal and external new opportunities, posing risk due to shorter planning phase and limited implementation time, and capturing higher attention from top management. The major result we have found out in the research about the strategic impact of emergent projects is that they have a higher potential to bring profit and new business opportunities which in total make organizations more competitive in their respective markets.</p><p>The theoretical and managerial implications of our research have a common idea that emergent projects should be recognized and categorized as strategic projects of organizations. Further studies should be carried out on how the dynamic situations of business environments and emergent strategies affect the project portfolio of organizations. Moreover, it is worth researching on how the idea of emergent projects are dealt in the studies of strategic project management and project categorization both in the academic and practitioners world. Overall, the study has brought the linkage between emergent strategies and project portfolio management into light through the discussion on emergent projects.</p>

Managing projects in an organization, especially a project-oriented organization, is a challenging task. Project data has a large volume and is complex to manage. It is different from managing a single project, because one needs to integrate and synthesize information from multiple projects and multiple perspectives for high-level strategic business decisions, such as aligning projects with business objectives, balancing investment and expected return, and allocating resources. Current methods and tools either do not well integrate multiple aspects or are not intuitive and easy to use for managers and executives. In this dissertation project, a multidimensional and visual exploration approach was designed and evaluated to provide a unique and intuitive option to support decision making in project portfolio management. The research followed a general design science research methodology involving phases of awareness of problem, suggestion, development, evaluation and conclusion. The approach was implemented into a software system using a prototyping method and was evaluated through user interviews. The evaluation result demonstrates the utility and ease-of-use of the approach, and confirms design objectives. The research brings a new perspective and provides a new decision support tool for project portfolio management. It also contributes to the design knowledge of visual exploration systems for business portfolio management by theorizing the system.

Despite the many researches made on emergent strategies and project portfolio management, one can hardly find studies on the link between them. It can easily be assumed that emergent strategies and market dynamics have considerable effect on the portfolio of projects in organizations and, supposedly, give rise to emergent projects. We defined emergent projects to be untypical or irregular projects for the organization which are at the borderline or even outside the mainstream of the current portfolio of projects. These types of projects impact the company’s strategy with the aim to increase the organizations competitiveness. This study will try to find out the possible distinct characteristics and strategic impact of emergent projects on large organizations so that these kinds of projects can be properly recognized for what they really are and managed effectively.   We used a semi-structured interview method to collect data from six international companies in four countries. The countries are Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Taiwan. Using template analysis method, we analyzed the collected data. The analysis confirmed our assumption that there is a correlation between emergent strategies and project portfolio management. Moreover, we found out some of the characteristics and strategic impacts of emergent projects. The results of the study, therefore, shows that emergent projects are kinds of strategic projects which have bigger significance and bring a higher sense of urgency to organizations than the normal projects in their portfolio. Furthermore, the study indicated that emergent projects do not need any different project management methodology than typical projects do. Nonetheless, emergent projects are characterized by rarity, disrupting routine operations, enhancing company-customer relationship, causing resource reallocation, bringing profit, demanding higher budget, opening both internal and external new opportunities, posing risk due to shorter planning phase and limited implementation time, and capturing higher attention from top management. The major result we have found out in the research about the strategic impact of emergent projects is that they have a higher potential to bring profit and new business opportunities which in total make organizations more competitive in their respective markets. The theoretical and managerial implications of our research have a common idea that emergent projects should be recognized and categorized as strategic projects of organizations. Further studies should be carried out on how the dynamic situations of business environments and emergent strategies affect the project portfolio of organizations. Moreover, it is worth researching on how the idea of emergent projects are dealt in the studies of strategic project management and project categorization both in the academic and practitioners world. Overall, the study has brought the linkage between emergent strategies and project portfolio management into light through the discussion on emergent projects.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal o desenvolvimento e apresentação de um modelo econômico-probabilístico para seleção e priorização de projetos. O modelo proposto utiliza 38 critérios, contempla interdependências entre projetos e permite quantificar os investimentos, benefícios e incertezas associadas, fornecendo uma análise abrangente dos retornos esperados para os projetos. O trabalho realizado envolveu cinco etapas principais: (i) identificar e selecionar os principais critérios de avaliação e seleção de projetos; (ii) identificar os principais métodos utilizados na seleção e priorização de projetos; (iii) integrar os critérios selecionados com um método de seleção e priorização de projetos em um modelo capaz de avaliar o retorno econômico e o impacto das incertezas envolvidas no resultado de cada projeto; (iv) aprimorar o modelo validado para que seja capaz de identificar interdependência entre os projetos do portfólio; e (v) testar e validar parcialmente o modelo ampliado através da aplicação na realidade de empresas. A principal contribuição desta tese é a proposição de um modelo que combina métodos econômicos e probabilísticos, seguindo procedimentos relativamente simples, mas capazes de considerar incertezas e interdependências entre projetos. O modelo proposto avalia aspectos qualitativos e quantitativos e utiliza simulação de Monte Carlo e Programação Matemática. Do ponto de vista prático, a importância desta tese reside no fato de métodos econômicos serem considerados mais amigáveis aos tomadores de decisão, uma vez que o seu procedimento é transparente e o resultado financeiro é claro para todos os envolvidos. Paralelamente, o procedimento probabilístico permite qualificar a informação disponibilizada aos tomadores de decisão uma vez que é possível entender a extensão da incerteza associada aos critérios utilizados na tomada de decisão. / This study's main objective is to develop and present an economic-probabilistic model for projects selection and prioritization. The proposed model uses 38 criteria, contemplates the interdependencies among projects and allows the quantification of benefits, investments and associated uncertainties, providing a comprehensive analysis of expected returns for the projects. The work was conducted comprising five main stages: (i) identify and select the main criteria for projects selection and evaluation; (ii) identify the main methods used in projects selection and prioritization; (iii) integrating the selected criteria to a project selection and prioritization method in a model capable of evaluating the economic returns and the impact of the uncertainties involved in the outcome of each project; (iv) improve the model to be able to identify interdependencies among projects in the portfolio, and (v) test and partially validate the extended model by application to the reality of companies. The main contribution of this thesis is the proposition of a model that combines economic and probabilistic methods, following relatively simple procedures, but able to account for interdependencies and uncertainty among projects. The proposed model evaluates qualitative and quantitative aspects and uses Monte Carlo simulation and Linear Programming. From a practical standpoint, the importance of this thesis lies in the fact that economic methods are considered more friendly to decision makers, since its procedure is transparent and the bottom line is clear to all involved. Moreover, the probabilistic procedure allows to qualify the information available to decision makers since it is possible to understand the extent of uncertainty associated with the criteria used in decision making.