Link to thesis. - Concept - NTNU

MANAGING THE FRONT-END OF PROJECTS: AN INDUSTRIAL NETWORKSTHEORY APPROACHABSTRACTTraditional project management has focused on the implementation of singular projects. Thehigh level of uncertainty has been acknowledged in the traditional approach, but there is ageneral lack of concepts that could fully capture the uncertainty and dynamics involved,especially in the front-end of projects. In this paper attention is drawn upon the description ofhow an approach from industrial networks theory can be applied to analyse and manage thefront-end of projects. The use of the approach is exemplified by an analysis of the early phaseof a Norwegian public building project. It is concluded that in capturing the dynamics of thefront-end the approach is promising, but some important questions concerning the descriptionof activities and resources of the front-end needs to be further elaborated.KEYWORDSFront-end Project Management; Industrial Networks Theory; Project NetworksINTRODUCTIONThis paper is concerned with the front-end of projects. Traditionally, the implementationphase of projects has received greatest attention both in the academic and the professionalcommunities. A trend in existing literature in the field of project management, however, is a1