The Strategic Management of Large Engineering Projects: Shaping Institutions, Risks, and Governance

As the number, complexity, and scope of large engineering projects (LEPs) increaseworldwide, the huge stakes may endanger the survival of corporations and threaten the stability ofcountries that approach these projects unprepared. According to the authors, the "front-end"engineering of institutional arrangements and strategic systems is a far greater determinant of anLEP's success than are the more tangible aspects of project engineering and management.The book isbased on an international research project that analyzed sixty LEPs, among them the Boston Harborcleanup; the first phase of subway construction in Ankara, Turkey; a hydro dam on the Caroni Riverin Venezuela; and the construction of offshore oil platforms west of Flor, Norway. The authors usethe research results to develop an experience-based theoretical framework that will allow managersto understand and respond to the complexity and uncertainty inherent in all LEPs. In addition tomanagers and scholars of large-scale projects, the book will be of interest to those studying therelationship between institutions and strategy, risk management, and corporate governance ingeneral.Contributors Bjorn Andersen, Richard Brealey, Ian Cooper, Serghei Floricel, Michel Habib,Brian Hobbs, Donald R. Lessard, Pascale Michaud, Roger Miller, Xavier Olleros.

Roger Miller is Jarilowsky Professor of Technological Innovation and Competitiveness in the Department of Mathematics and Engineering at the École Polytechnique Montréal