Abstract
The era of the Market Demand Strategy by the Transportation Logistics Company heralded an unprecedented large capital outlay by the organisation to modernise and expand its rail, port, and pipeline infrastructure, with the Rail Logistics Company managing a large contingent of projects and programmes concurrently. The achievement of the corporate strategy is critical to organisational success, and this often depends on the execution of portfolio components (projects and programmes). Previous project research in the Transportation Logistics Company examined the organisation in terms of project failures, success factors, and project maturity level, but none from the perspective of Project Portfolio Management (PPM). As a result, the study assesses how effective the Rail Logistics Company is managing and executing its capital project portfolio and recommends areas of improvement for successful implementation of PPM.
The study examines the principles and practices of PPM, as well as the benefits, success factors, and the importance of portfolio governance. A case study strategy is followed under an interpretivist research paradigm. The study seeks to gain insights inductively on the effectiveness of the current capital delivery model of the Rail Logistics Company through qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with a purposely selected group of practitioners. The data revealed that the Rail Logistics Company was not managing its capital project portfolio book effectively and efficiently.
As a result, the study recommends that the Rail Logistics Company implements project portfolio management and develop a clear framework that defines programmes and portfolios, as well as sound multi-scoring criteria for project selection and prioritisation, and conduct periodic reviews on strategy alignment and benefits management, including strategy translation workshops. The findings also revealed the need for the organisation to establish a single Enterprise Project Management Office to standardise execution methodologies, enforce process adherence, categorise, balance, and prioritise projects, and conduct resource analysis on capacity, capability, and demand.