Alternative ways to manage projects - Benchmarking study for housing business management

The motivation for this research arises from the need of finding new ways of doing business and gaining competitive advantage in housing business management. Housing business is seen as an engineering-led field and investments in research and development are rare, when it comes to develop new methods of working. Moreover, the approach to project management has been very traditional and technology-centered. For example, instead of concentrating on improving the projects creating value to customers, the main focus has been on cheapest price. The objective of this research is to identify best practices of project management, especially in software business, and draw their implications for housing business. The main purpose is to analyze how project management could be improved and enhanced, for example, using software companiesí project management methods. Also, the study discusses how to change already existing approach to project management and how the effectiveness of alternative approaches could be analyzed. In sum, the study is about thinking differently by adopting new ways to manage projects and adding them to housing operatorsí toolbox of project management. In addition to benchmarking, the study contains also interviews of housing operators and home buyers. The data of this study is gathered in Finland and it focuses on Finnish housing market. The focus is on finding alternative approaches to project management in housing business management, but the results are expected to be applicable also to other business fields. The hypothesis is that results indicate the effectiveness of alternative project management approaches in housing business management. The implementation of these best practices makes housing operators more proactive and customer-oriented, which can lead to new competitive advantages and speed up business development. Still, there are few housing operators which are ready to change their existing approach to project management. Therefore, the aim of findings is also encourage housing operators to develop project management methods.