Project and portfolio management in dynamic environments: Theory and evidence from the biopharmaceutical industry

This dissertation consists of five chapters that collectively investigate the factors that affect the manner in which project and portfolio management is conducted at biopharmaceutical companies.; The first chapter consists of an evaluation of firm-level organizational factors that impact project management sophistication. Results of a statistical analysis demonstrate that the sophistication of the project management practices is associated with organizational factors. These findings provide at least a partial explanation as to why larger, more established firms tend to have higher project management maturity, while smaller, de novo firms tend to be less mature.; The second chapter presents four models for conducting project portfolio analysis that were identified from empirical observations. The number of management layers between the scientists and engineers conducting product development and the executives that make project portfolio decisions differentiates the four models. A statistical analysis determined that as project phase diversity becomes more diverse and as the number of external collaborations engaged in become more plentiful, project portfolio management sophistication increases.; The third chapter discusses using business models to make project go/no go decisions. Case studies reveal that successful projects had complete and robust business models, while the terminated projects were missing one or more attributes of a complete business model. The case studies also demonstrate that portfolio managers and executives can make prudent go/no go decisions regarding development projects using more than project performance data and that economic gain can be realized from terminated projects.; The fourth chapter investigates which project milestones are viewed as most valuable by the investing public. A statistical analysis demonstrates that investors place the most value in the ability to achieve regulatory milestones, followed by clinical performance milestones and project performance milestones, respectively. Also, market reactions to milestone news are strongly correlated with firm liquidity.; The final chapter evaluates portfolio and financial factors that impact long term firm market performance. Firm performance relative to the Standard and Poor's 500 index is not statistically related to the size of the project portfolio or the firm's access to capital, whether in the form of cash, cash flow, or debt.