Opportunity management in large projects: a case study of an infrastructure alliance project

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to explore how to identify and manage opportunities successfully in a large multi-organizational infrastructure project. Large projects struggle with exploiting and capturing opportunities because of the lack of practices that support active and continuous opportunity management over the project lifecycle in inter-organizational project networks.Design/methodology/approachThis study provides empirical evidence of a successful opportunity management process based on an investigation of an infrastructure alliance project. The adopted research approach is an inductive case study.FindingsBy analyzing an infrastructure alliance project, this paper identifies key activities of opportunity management and furthermore, discusses the enablers of active and continuous opportunity management.Practical implicationsThis study supports practitioners by providing knowledge about the possibilities and activities that could be deployed during the project lifecycle to improve opportunity management process and about the enablers – factors that facilitate alliance partners’ capabilities to manage opportunities.Originality/valueThere is limited empirical research on the practices of opportunity management that support continuous, active opportunity management in inter-organizational project contexts, although multidisciplinary project networks have possibilities for taking advantage of opportunities that emerge over the project lifecycle.