Alignment strategic in project-based businesses: a review of the literature

Abstract

Objective: This literature review sought to understand the theoretical-empirical connections of strategic alignment in project-based businessesMethodology: We carried out a systematic review with searches in scientific databases (Web of Science and Scopus) and application of technical snowballing with the intention of finding the most relevant works on the topic. The strings adopted were based on the keywords: project-based businesses and strategy. Filters related to the research area, the document types and the language were applied. The selected articles were analyzed following the steps: removal of duplicates, reading of titles, abstracts and quality assessment. After these steps, 20 papers were analyzed in a descriptive and exploratory way using VOSviewer, Biblioshiny and MS Excel software.Originality: The paper filled a gap concerning strategic alignment in the context of project-based business, which is an emerging concept that is little debated in the literature.Main results: The results showed a mutual influence between strategy alignment and project management. It was found that the first helps organizations to focus on correct projects, while project management helps achieves their strategic objectives. Four research focuses related to the strategic alignment in the PBB were also published in the literature: project management and organizational strategy; interaction between actors in the formation of strategies; program, portfolio and governance management; project management office and organizational design.Contributions: The contribution consists of presenting a set of propositions that systematize the findings of the papers and elucidate ways for the formation of a research agenda.