Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage

In its Fourth Edition, Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage takes a contemporary, decisive, and business-oriented approach to teaching and learning project management. Blending current theory, contemporary case studies, and hands-on practice and research, Project Management offers students a full range of perspectives of the project management process.

To promote a comprehensive, multi-industry understanding of the text, the author addresses project management theory within the context of a variety of successful organizations, whether they be publicly held, private, or nonprofit. Comprehensive case analysis and detailed exercises give students the tools to assess projects in real-time, equipping them with razor-sharp decision-making skills. Leveraging the latest project management technology, Project Management features just the right balance of real-world examples, cutting-edge theory, and practical exercises.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Why Project Management?

Development Projects in Lagos, Nigeria

“Throwing Good Money after Bad”: The BBC’s Digital Media Initiative

Chapter 2 The Organizational Context: Strategy, Structure, and Culture

Tesla’s $5 Billion Gamble

Electronic Arts and the Power of Strong Culture in Design Teams

Chapter 3 Project Selection and Portfolio Management

Project Selection Procedures: A Cross-Industry Sampler

Chapter 4 Leadership and the Project Manager

Leading by Example for the London Olympics – Sir John Armitt

Dr. E. Sreedharan, India’s Project Management Guru

Chapter 5 Scope Management

“We look like fools.” – Oregon’s Failed Rollout of their Obamacare Website

Boeing’s Virtual Fence

California’s High-Speed Rail Project – What’s the Latest News?

The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle

Chapter 6 Project Team Building, Conflict, and Negotiation

Engineers Without Borders: Project Teams Impacting Lives

Chapter 7 Risk Management

The Building that Melted Cars

Bank of America Completely Misjudges its Customers

Collapse of Shanghai Apartment Building

The Spanish Navy pays nearly $3 billion for a Submarine that will sink like a Stone

Chapter 8 Cost Estimation and Budgeting

Sochi Olympics – What’s the Cost of National Prestige?

The Hidden Costs of Infrastructure Projects – The Case of Building Dams

Chapter 9 Project Scheduling: Networks, Duration Estimation, and Critical Path

After 20 Years and More than $50 billion, Oil is no closer to the Surface: The Caspian Kashagan Project

Chapter 10 Project Scheduling: Lagging, Crashing, and Activity Networks

Enlarging the Panama Canal

Chapter 11 Critical Chain Project Scheduling

Developing Projects through Kickstarter – Do Delivery Dates Mean Anything?

Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical’s Commitment to Critical Chain Project Scheduling

Chapter 12 Resource Management

Hong Kong Connects to the World’s Longest Natural Gas Pipeline

Chapter 13 Project Evaluation and Control

New York City’s CityTime Project

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner: Failure to Launch (with update)

Earned Value Management at Northrop Grumman

Chapter 14 Project Closeout and Termination

Duke Energy and its Cancelled Levy County Nuclear Power Plant

Aftermath of a “Feeding Frenzy” – Dubai and Cancelled Construction Projects

New Jersey Kills Hudson River Tunnel Project

The Navy Scraps Development of Its Showpiece Warship – Until the Next Bad Idea

Appendix: Tutorial for MicroSoft® Project 2013