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

Cloth hardcover, xxi + 237 pages. Foreign library markings on endpapers & prelims (1 stamp, 2 barcode labels). Book is clean and bright throughout with unmarked text and firm binding. Bright untorn dust jacket with a blank label glued to the rear flap. -- Large engineering projects (LEPs) - such as dams, power plants, and transport networks - frequently suffer from massive cost overruns and delays. This study, based on the International Management of Large Engineering Projects (IMEC) research programme, moves away from traditional project management techniques like scheduling and cost-estimation. Instead, it focuses on the strategic choices made during the 'front-end' phase, showing that the success of a megaproject depends on how its sponsors shape the institutional environment, risks, and governance structures before construction begins. The text examines sixty global projects, including the Boston Harbor cleanup, the Ankara subway construction in Turkey and offshore oil platforms in Norway, to illustrate why some succeed while others fail. It identifies that LEPs exist in 'turbulent' environments where political, economic, and social shifts can derail even the best-engineered plans. The authors explain that risk should not merely be avoided but actively managed through a "layering" model that balances direct allocation with indirect risk management through financial and governance structures. A major theme is the importance of institutional framing - building a stable network of laws, regulations, and stakeholder agreements that protect the project from external shocks. Governance is presented as a dynamic process of managing relationships between private firms and public entities, ensuring that incentives are aligned throughout the decades-long lifecycle of an enterprise. In a contemporary landscape defined by the energy transition and the rollout of massive digital and transport infrastructure, these insights remain highly practical. The shift toward public-private partnerships and the increasing complexity of global regulations make the focus on front-end shaping and institutional governance particularly relevant. The volume provides a documented, evidence-based alternative to the technical optimism that often leads to infrastructure crises. This is an essential resource for engineers, policymakers, and business leaders navigating the financial and political complexities of modern megaprojects. A quarter-century after publication, the book remains required reading on university courses in strategic project management and continues to be cited in current research on megaproject delivery.…