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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Corvellec, Hervé (Gothenburg Research Institute); Macheridis, Nikos (Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Management, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | The starting point of this paper asserts that managers who elicit and select projects have a moral responsibility. Correspondingly, its purpose is to provide a means for project selectors to appreciate this responsibility so that it can be put into practice. A model of the moral responsibility involved in project selection is presented. This model combines a) an explication of responsibility into attributability—what choices the project manager can ultimately be praised or blamed for, and accountability—the necessity of being prepared to answer for one’s choices; with b) an explication of the project selection process into an initialisation phase, an appraisal phase, and a decision phase. Various moral philosophers are called upon to make explicit the moral issues that are at stake for each of these two dimensions of responsibility at each stage of the project selection process. Concluding remarks point to the need for project selectors to contextualise their use of the model. |
| Keywords: | Project selection; Ethics; Responsibility |
| Date: | 2008–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:gungri:2008_002&r=ppm |
| By: | Takalo , Tuomas (Bank of Finland Research); Tanayama , Tanja (Helsinki Center of Economic Research (HECER)) |
| Abstract: | We study the interaction between private and public funding of innovative projects in the presence of adverse-selection based financing constraints. Government programmes allocating direct subsidies are based on ex-ante screening of the subsidy applications. This selection scheme may yield valuable information to market-based financiers. We find that under certain conditions, public R&D subsidies can reduce the financing constraints of technology-based entrepreneurial firms. Firstly, the subsidy itself reduces the capital costs related to innovation projects by reducing the amount of market-based capital required. Secondly, the observation that an entrepreneur has received a subsidy for an innovation project provides an informative signal to market-based financiers. We also find that public screening works more efficiently if it is accompanied by subsidy allocation. |
| Keywords: | adverse selection; innovation finance; financial constraints; R&D subsidies; certification |
| JEL: | D82 G28 H20 O30 O38 |
| Date: | 2008–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofrdp:2008_019&r=ppm |
| By: | Robert S. Huckman (Harvard Business School, Technology and Operations Management Unit); Bradley R. Staats (Harvard Business School) |
| Abstract: | Prior work in organizational learning has failed to find a consistent effect of variation in experience on performance. While some studies find a positive relationship between these two variables, others find no effect or even a negative relationship. In this paper, we suggest that the differences in prior findings may be due to the failure to separate the processes of knowledge acquisition and knowledge application. While variation in experience may permit the acquisition of valuable knowledge, additional mechanisms may be necessary to enable the subsequent application of that knowledge in a team setting. We hypothesize that team familiarity - prior experience working with team members - may be such a mechanism. We use detailed project- and individual-level data from an Indian software services firm to examine the effects of team familiarity and variation in market experience on multiple measures of performance for over 1,100 software development projects Consistent with prior work, we find mixed results for the effect of variation in experience on performance. We do, however, see evidence of a moderating effect of team familiarity on the relationship between these two variables. Our paper identifies one mechanism for uniting knowledge acquisition and knowledge application and provides insight into how the management of experience accumulation affects the development of organizational capabilities. |
| Keywords: | Experience, Knowledge, Software, Team Familiarity, Variation |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:09-035&r=ppm |
| By: | Esteban Jaimovich |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a theory in which risk-averse heterogeneously talented entrepreneurs are the key agents driving the process of development and modernisation. Entrepreneurial skills are private information, which prevents full risk sharing. In that setup, development to a modern industrial economy might fail to take place, since potentially talented entrepreneurs may refrain from taking on the entrepreneurial risks as a way to avoid income shocks. An interesting feature of the model is that the informational asymmetries in the economy are endogenous to the process of development, as they are related to the heterogeneity in entrepreneurial skills required in the manufacturing activities. |
| Keywords: | Adverse Selection, Development, Entrepreneurship, Risk-Sharing |
| JEL: | O12 O16 D81 D82 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:78&r=ppm |
| By: | Meuleman, M.; De Maeseneire, W. (Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School) |
| Abstract: | Many countries spend sizeable sums of public money on R&D grants to alleviate debt and equity gaps for small firms’ innovation projects. In making such awards, knowledgeable government officials may certify firms to private financiers. This paper investigates whether government subsidies to R&D enhance SMEs’ access to external financing due to this certification effect. Using a unique Belgian dataset of 1107 approved requests and a control group of 501 denied requests for a specific type of R&D grant, we examine the impact on small firms’ external equity, short term and long term debt financing. We find that obtaining a R&D subsidy provides a positive signal about SME quality and results in better access to long-term debt. |
| Keywords: | R&D subsidies, government policy, SMEs, financial constraints, certification hypothesis, behavioural additionality |
| JEL: | G32 H25 O38 |
| Date: | 2008–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vlg:vlgwps:2008-12&r=ppm |
| By: | Athias, Laure; Nunez, Antonio |
| Abstract: | We empirically assess the winner’s curse effect in auctions for toll road concessions. First, we investigate the overall winner’s curse effects on bidding behaviour. Second, we account for differing levels of common-value components. Third, we investigate whether the possibility of renegotiation affects the winner’s curse effect. Using a unique dataset of 49 concessions, we show that the winner’s curse effect is particularly strong, i.e. bidders bid less aggressively when they expect more competition. In addition, we observe that this effect is larger for projects where the common uncertainty is greater, and is dampened in weaker institutional frameworks, in which renegotiations are easier. |
| Keywords: | Winner’s curse; Common value auction; Public Private Partnerships; incomplete contract. |
| JEL: | H57 H54 L51 H11 D44 D82 |
| Date: | 2008–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10539&r=ppm |
| By: | Johansson, Maria (SISTER) |
| Abstract: | This study attempts to provide a new perspective on current shifts in knowledge production through analysing the relationship between research and education. The study, based on interviews and questionnaires, focus on the interaction within applied research centres with a close industry co-operation. The results suggests that the interaction between research and education benefits from a collaborative environment since: researchers hold positive attitudes toward integrating research, education and collaboration, and students are given the opportunity to work within applied research projects. The findings are discussed in terms of researchers’ ability to handle their scholarly tasks of research, teaching, and collaboration, and the importance for acknowledging research collaborations from both research and teaching perspectives. |
| Keywords: | Research and teaching links; collaboration; applied research; undergraduate education |
| JEL: | I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2008–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0138&r=ppm |