Risk Navigation Strategies For Major Capital Projects

Investors and managers of major projects know how often they result in cost overruns and schedule delays. Risk Navigation Strategies for Major Capital Projects builds on conventional best practice to provide a risk-based view of current practices for planning and executing large international projects. As economies of scale continue to drive projects to ever-higher levels of scope and complexity, new thinking about strategy and risk is required. Since major projects are highly exposed to external risks, the traditional view of predictability as something that can be mandated and ensured by rigorous application of conventional best practice has become a myth. Fresh thinking is required to manage projects today, and this book provides a framework for taking project management best practice to the next level. Risk Navigation Strategies for Major Capital Projects is intended for executives investing in major projects, project leaders and managers, as well as those with a teaching or research interest in project and risk management.

This engaging Research Handbook presents a fresh look at how to improve project performance for the project sponsor, client and end user using a number of empirical research studies. Focusing on project performance concepts and methods, the Handbook provides a fresh look at successful project completions, achieving project objectives, on-time or ahead of time project completion or delivering within budget.

Effective risk and opportunity management is key to the successful delivery of any major engineering and construction project. This book looks at how all those involved can manage risk and capitalise on the opportunities that uncertainty present. The authors of this book highlight that uncertainties should be managed rather than avoided. This book will look at simple projects with a small team, to megaprojects where some hundreds of people are involved, and the consequences of delays or unforeseen costs. However, while the obvious risks can be planned for, the authors argue that it is often the opportunities in these situations that can have unexploited potential. This book is about opportunity management seen from the owner’s perspective. It will be an invaluable resource for those studying Engineering both undergraduate and postgraduate and set out ways in which projects should be managed from planning to completion. This book is also a great tool for those working in project management and the construction industry. While there are many books that demonstrate effective construction management, this book is the first of its kind to emphasise that there is opportunity in uncertainty, and possibility in the unexpected.

The proper understanding and managing of project risks and uncertainties is crucial to any organization. It is of paramount importance at all phases of project development and execution to avoid poor project results from meager economics, overspending, reputation and environmental damage, and even loss of life. The Handbook of Research on Leveraging Risk and Uncertainties for Effective Project Management is a comprehensive reference source for emerging perspectives of managing risks associated with the execution and development of projects. Highlighting innovative coverage written by top industry specialists, such as complexity theory, psychological bias and risk management fallacies, probabilistic risk analysis, and various aspects of project decision making, this book is ideally designed for project and risk managers, project engineers, cost estimators, schedulers, safety and environmental protection specialists, corporate planners, financial and insurance specialists, corporate decision makers, as well as academics and lecturers working in the area of project management and students pursing PMP, PMI-RMP, ISO 31000, etc. certification.

The financial markets have undergone a significant development process, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and partly induced by major pushes for globalization and deregulation. In this context, finance has taken on an increasingly central role for companies and is now on par with production and sales, which have always been the cornerstones of business management. The effects of these structural and functional changes are not limited to the way companies operate, but also imply a change in corporate cultures; one consequence of this phenomenon is the large percentage of managers from the world of finance at the top tiers of corporate organizations. Moreover, environmental turbulence has forced companies to increasingly face negative situations characterized by economic and financial imbalances that may require far-reaching strategic changes. The purpose of this book, therefore, is to investigate the possible financial strategies that companies in distress can adopt; in this regard, it approaches financial strategies as opportunities to resolve and prevent difficult situations for the company. After having systematized the financial strategies and policies used in the governance of companies, the book analyzes both crises and turnaround processes, describing the path until the financial balance is restored. Finally, the authors analyze essential tools for the financial management of companies in trouble, focusing in particular on operational tools for managing the crisis, the recovery plan, and its monitoring.

Provides a unique overview of supply chain management (SCM) concepts, illustrating how the methodology can help enhance construction industry project success This book provides a unique appraisal of supply chain management (SCM) concepts brought together with lessons from industry and analysis gathered from extensive research on how supply chains are managed in the construction industry. The research from leading international academics has been drawn together with the experience from some of the industry's foremost SCM practitioners to provide both the experienced researcher and the industry practitioner a thorough grounding in its principles, as well as an illustration of SCM as a methodology for enhancing construction industry project success. The new edition of Successful Construction Supply Chain Management: Concepts and Case Studies incorporate chapters dealing with Building Information Modelling, sustainability, the ‘Demand Chain' in projects, the link between self-organizing networks and supply chains, decision-making, ‘Lean,’ and mega-projects. Other chapters cover risk transfer and allocation, behaviors, innovation, trust, supply chain design, alliances, and knowledge transfer. Supply Chain Management techniques have been used successfully in various industries, such as manufacturing and food processing, for decades Fully updated with new chapters dealing with key construction industry topics such as BIM, sustainability, the ‘Demand Chain' in projects, ‘Lean,’ mega-projects, and more Includes contributions from well established academics and practitioners from Network Rail, mainstream construction, and consultancy Illustrates how SCM methodologies can be used to enhance construction industry project success Successful Construction Supply Chain Management: Concepts and Case Studies is an ideal book for postgraduate students at MSc and PhD level studying the topic and for all construction management practitioners.

This handbook charts the new engineering paradigm of engineering systems. It brings together contributions from leading thinkers in the field and discusses the design, management and enabling policy of engineering systems. It contains explorations of core themes including technical and (socio-) organisational complexity, human behaviour and uncertainty. The text includes chapters on the education of future engineers, the way in which interventions can be designed, and presents a look to the future. This book follows the emergence of engineering systems, a new engineering paradigm that will help solve truly global challenges. This global approach is characterised by complex sociotechnical systems that are now co-dependent and highly integrated both functionally and technically as well as by a realisation that we all share the same: climate, natural resources, a highly integrated economical system and a responsibility for global sustainability goals. The new paradigm and approach requires the (re)designing of engineering systems that take into account the shifting dynamics of human behaviour, the influence of global stakeholders, and the need for system integration. The text is a reference point for scholars, engineers and policy leaders who are interested in broadening their current perspective on engineering systems design and in devising interventions to help shape societal futures.

The governance and evaluation of ‘megaprojects’ – that is, large-scale, complex, high-stakes infrastructure projects usually commissioned by governments and delivered through partnerships between public and private organisations – is receiving increased attention. However, megaproject evaluation has hitherto largely adopted a linear-rationalist perspective to explain the frequent failure of such projects to meet the ‘iron triangle’ of performance criteria: delivering on time, within budget, and according to specifications. This approach recommends greater control and accountability to remedy megaproject ‘pathologies’. Drawing on empirical examples mainly from the transport sector and radioactive waste disposal, this book offers new perspectives to megaproject evaluation. Comprising contributions from leading experts in project evaluation and appraisal, this collection opens up new avenues by suggesting two ways of improving megaproject evaluation: 1) approaches that go beyond the dominant linearrationalist notion of policy processes, and emphasise instead the objective of opening up appraisal processes in order to enhance learning and reflexivity; and 2) approaches that extend evaluative criteria beyond the ‘iron triangle’, to cover the various socioeconomic impacts and preconditions for project success. This volume will be of great relevance to scholars and practitioners with an interest in megaprojects, energy and climate policy, radioactive waste management, urban design, and project planning and management.