Title: Comparing project management practices in new product development: a study in the automotive, aerospace and rail transport industry

Authors: Ana K. Müller; Andreas Wald; Arnd Görner

Addresses: Strascheg Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SIIE), EBS Business School, Germany. ' European Business School Paris, 37/39 Boulevard Murat, 75016 Paris, France. ' Strascheg Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SIIE), EBS Business School, Germany

Abstract: Project management standards and tools are prevalent measures for supporting project execution. As these standards are often industry specific, they do not facilitate cross-industry and cross-organisational collaboration. We pursue an action research approach to compare project management practices and standards in new product development and to identify potential synergies in process and project management. We choose the automotive, aerospace and rail transport industry as they have a high project orientation and their success is strongly dependent on innovation. Our findings reveal differences between the industries in terms of project management standards and methods, the maturity of project management, and the general orientation towards projects. On this basis, we identify best practices and areas for improvement in project management on inter-industry and intra-industry level.

Keywords: management practices; management standards; new production development; NPD; project management; process management; aerospace industry; automobile industry; rail transport industry; railways; automotive industry; collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPOM.2012.048226

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2012 Vol.4 No.3, pp.203 - 217

Received: 06 Nov 2010
Accepted: 25 Jan 2011
Published online: 16 Aug 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article