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Project Portfolio Management in Telecommunications R&D

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Handbook of Product and Service Development in Communication and Information Technology

Abstract

Research and development in telecommunications is increasingly conducted through target-oriented projects. Project management systems and tools have been implemented to improve efficiency and general manageability of activities. In a dynamic business environment, however, the biggest challenge is in deciding what to do, in addition to how. Project management discipline has recently expanded its scope towards multi-project management, frequently referred to as project portfolio management. Since projects in the same organization compete for the same resources, they together should be steered to fulfill strategic business objectives.

Project portfolio management is about managing the entire set or subset of projects towards strategic objectives. During the past decade, project portfolio management literature has introduced tools and frameworks for steering R&D project portfolios effectively towards business goals. These methods are no longer merely about rational and numerical decision making, but more about skilled, multi-disciplinary criteria, evaluation and strategy-driven choices.

Due to the contingent nature of human decision-making, it is likely that project portfolio management should be different at the different stages of R&D: research, technology development, and product development. Such research has not been reported earlier. We examine three Finnish telecommunications organizations and their approach to project portfolio management. Our aim is to analyze whether project portfolio management practices differ, or should differ across the different R&D stages, and to suggest good practices for each stage.

In addition to presenting an overview of R&D and project portfolio management literature, this chapter discusses the differences identified across R&D stages and proposes some ideas for future research.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nokia Ventures Organization, Finland

    Taru Aalto

  2. Talent Partners Oy, Finland

    Miia Martinsuo

  3. Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

    Karlos A. Artto

Authors
  1. Taru Aalto
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  2. Miia Martinsuo
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  3. Karlos A. Artto
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

    Timo O. Korhonen  & Antti Ainamo  & 

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© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Aalto, T., Martinsuo, M., Artto, K.A. (2003). Project Portfolio Management in Telecommunications R&D. In: Korhonen, T.O., Ainamo, A. (eds) Handbook of Product and Service Development in Communication and Information Technology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48712-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48712-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-7595-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-306-48712-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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