Success rate and resource consumption from project interdependencies

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show how interdependencies are used to make the project selection and review more effective in project portfolio management. Managers need to make appropriate pre‐evaluation of disciplines before taking them into use, therefore it is useful to know how much interdependencies can increase the success rate of projects and how big is the resource reduction from the use of interdependencies. This paper is an excerpt of a larger interdependency survey. Design/methodology/approach A large‐scale survey is carried out in two countries – Estonia and Finland. A total of 288 responses were received. Findings People see only positive aspects in interdependencies, but this paper proves that it is not always so. It is found that companies which take the phenomenon into account are more successful. Contrary to the respondents' perception and prior literature, a higher need for resources is noticed among the users of interdependency. The results indicate homogeneity between managerial issues of interdependencies in small‐to‐large companies. Research limitations/implications The main limitation comes from the sample, as findings from the sample countries and industries may limit generalizability. Practical implications Practitioners can expect a higher success rate and resource consumption from interdependencies. Managers from small‐to‐large companies can find size‐related peculiarities and practices for their daily managerial actions. Originality/value This paper provides empirical evidence for a less investigated, but emerging field of interdependencies. So far, mostly components of interdependency have been investigated in isolation. The paper highlights the behavior of success rate and resource consumption among the users/non‐users of interdependency, which to the author's knowledge has not been provided so far.