There are two basic types of competitive advantage: cost leadership and differentiation. This book describes how a firm can gain a cost advantage or how it can differentiate itself. It describes how the choice of competitive scope, or the range of a firm's activities, can play a powerful role in determining competitive advantage. Published in October 13th the book become immediate popular and critical acclaim in business, design books.
But competitive advantage commonly is overlooked in most written work for investment professionals. The literature often varies between abstract formal treatments and pragmatic workbooks with little in between. Project management fundamentals with broad applications In its 5th Edition , Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage takes a contemporary, decisive, and business-oriented approach to teaching and learning project management.
Preface Preface is available for download in PDF format. Relevant examples help make the material interesting to students Each chapter features one or more Project Profiles, highlighting project management in action. Some reflect significant achievements while others detail famous and not-so-famous failures. Updated - End-of-Chapter Cases illustrate project management principles.
Most are based on real situations, both contemporary and classic, and include thought-provoking discussion questions. Short one-page Research in Brief text boxes highlight the results of current research on relevant topics. Updated - Project Managers in Practice : Short profiles of real, practicing project managers, including new profiles for this edition, give students a sense of the challenges project managers routinely face.
Check out the preface for a complete list of features and what's new in this edition. New to This Edition. Relevant examples help make the material interesting to students End-of-Chapter Cases illustrate project management principles. Project Managers in Practice : Short profiles of real, practicing project managers, including new profiles for this edition, give students a sense of the challenges project managers routinely face.
Table of Contents 1. Project Plan Template. Share a link to All Resources. Why is stakeholder analysis important as a precondition of the decision whether or not to follow through with such a plan? Conduct a stakeholder analysis for a planned upgrade to a successful software product.
Who are the key stakeholders? In the case of building a nuclear plant, stakeholders may not only cause disruptions in the planning and construction, but may altogether block the project from being completed. Very powerful government, environmental, legal, and community stakeholders may intervene in the creation of the plant. Performing a stakeholder analysis could identify potential obstacles and stakeholder objections to building the plant.
By identifying these obstacles in advance, it may be possible to prevent them. If prevention is not possible, assessing them beforehand may allow management time to create an alternate plan prior to resources being invested in the current project.
Key stakeholders in a software upgrade would include suppliers, competitors, project team members, top and functional management, and clients. Suppliers of the software would be influential in success implementation and maintenance of the system. In the event of a failure, competitors would not only possibly gain new business, but may also learn from the shortcomings of the project and avoid such mistakes for themselves.
Project team members would have direct impact on the success of the upgrade and as such would also stand to reap benefits or detriments from the outcome. Top management may be evaluated on the outcome of the project and may feel significant pressure to see that the project is a success.
Ultimately, clients would stand to gain from a successful implementation in the areas of faster transactions or better service, etc.
As part of its operational shift, it is going to adopt a project management office somewhere within the organization.
Make an argument for the type of PMO it should adopt weather station, control tower, or resource pool. What are some key decision criteria that will help it determine which model makes most sense?
The company should adopt a control tower PMO. Since widespread project management is new to the organizational structure, the control tower will offer it the necessary monitoring sets standards and maintenance improvements and problem solving for a successful transition into a project organization. It will provide support for employees and will help to focus on improvement and problem solving as the company works through the stages of implementing project management.
When determining which model is best for the organization, it is important to consider the structure and size of the current organization, the role of projects within the company, resources available to the PMO, and the chain of command. The key elements that affect a supportive organizational culture are departmental interaction, employee commitment, project planning, and performance evaluation systems.
Departmental interaction can create supportive relationships between functional and project managers. It promotes information sharing and increasing likelihood of project success. Employee commitment to goals is important in keeping workers motivated. When employees feel personally committed to company goals, they will work harder and possibly longer , which leads to success. When planning out resource constraints for a project, it is important to create trust and understanding among managers and employees.
Managers are often responsible for approving use of resources from their department and also consult on time requirements for specific tasks. If managers are made an active part of the planning process, they are more willing to allocate resources and give accurate forecasts of time.
Workers also need to feel as though they will not be punished if time frames are not met as long as this is not a persistent problem , otherwise they or their managers may exaggerate the forecasted amount of time to complete a task. Finally, a performance evaluation criterion needs to encourage initiative and risk taking in a project environment.
Additionally, rewards need to be consistent with the goals of the project. A functional organization that desires to move from an adversarial culture to a supportive, interactive one needs to consider several factors. First, the company should begin by establishing a corporate-wide vision that aims at uniting and motivating workers.
For courses in strategy and strategic management. Just the. In today's economy, gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage is harder than ever. Strategic Managementcaptures. This book provides a set of tools to help executives think systematically and strategically about future risks in an eve.
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