Collaborative and cross‐company project management within the automotive industry using the Balanced Scorecard

Purpose – This paper aims to summarize the scope, methodology, and main findings of a doctoral thesis about cross‐company project management in the automotive industry. The concept of the collaborative project scorecard (CPS) is described and the results of its application to a project are summarized and discussed. Design/methodology/approach – The project adopted an action research approach which included a series of interviews, surveys, workshops, and a case study where the developed project management concept was tested and evaluated in a real project setting. Findings – The concept of the CPS supports the alignment of project goals with business strategies, improves transparency in networked project organizations with respect to roles, responsibilities, goal achievement, stakeholder identification, and performance assessment. Project goals is not only based on and measured by hard facts but also on soft facts such as trust and employee satisfaction. The balanced choice of common strategic project goals improves the achievement of long‐term strategies in a project partnership. Practical implications – Difficulties in defining appropriate indicators are identified, and resistance to change can need to be overcome so that every project member has a clear understanding of the concept's benefits. Legal issues (contract) may need to be discussed when the concept is used by a cross‐corporate project team. The method helps the delivery of performance to become more clearly measurable. Originality/value – The project gives insight into a new cross‐company project management concept that was tested and evaluated in the automotive industry. Furthermore, an information technology (IT) solution is developed and implemented, and advantages and disadvantages of the concept and its IT solution are analysed and recommendation on its application given. The project demonstrates how the Balanced Scorecard can successfully be applied to networked project environments.