Chapter 1. Project Management Is Increasingly Becoming a Key Corporate Competency

With management models dramatically changing, project management will be forced to follow suit. Increasingly the paradigm for successful businesses is shifting to a loose confederation of business units. Examples of this model include General Electric (conglomerate), BP-Amoco (petroleum and energy), and Johnson & Johnson (pharmaceuticals and medical devices). They are successful because they continually grow revenues and profits and have achieved remarkable stock market capitalization.

These firms share common characteristics such as devolved power, strong emphasis on intellectual property, powerful brand identification, and a premium on project-driven services and products. They are also very much bottom-line focused, managing themselves in a manner that creates increased shareholder value. These companies also share another trait: they are project-focused. As they evolve as organizations, their abilities to deliver projects that advance their corporate strategies also evolve.