Project Management

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International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 567 – 581
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman

Impact of customer integration on project portfolio management and its
success—Developing a conceptual framework
Martin Voss ⁎
Technische Universität Berlin, Chair for Technology and Innovation Management, Straße des 17. Juni 135, Sekr. H 71, 10623Berlin, Germany
Received 31 July 2011; received in revised form 29 November 2011; accepted 26 January 2012

Abstract
The growing number of company projects requires comprehensive management, project portfolio management (PPM), for strategic alignment
and efficient use of resources. In parallel, companies face customers demanding higher value, and joint value creation with customers isconsidered
a key success factor in the future. Project portfolios delivering products and services for customers implicate a link between PPM and an increased
customer focus. Combining the research fields of marketing and PPM for the first time, this study proposes customer integration into PPM. I develop a
framework describing the impact of customer integration into PPM on project portfolio successmediated through relationship value. Furthermore, the
study describes relevant aspects for customer integration on the project portfolio level and identifies interfaces for cross-functional integration of a customer portfolio representative within the PPM process. The findings and limitations of this study are discussed, and further research is suggested.
© 2012 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rightsreserved.
Keywords: Project portfolios; Project portfolio management; Customer integration; Project portfolio success; Customer relationship management

1. Introduction
Projects are ubiquitous in today's business environment and include various objectives: develop and market new products and
services, change internal processes, or implement business strategy. Project work has gained largershares of companies' activities
and budgets, and project landscapes are becoming more complex.
An effective and efficient single project management is no longer
sufficient for success, but rather a structured and proactive management of the project landscape becomes necessary to stay competitive (Elonen and Artto, 2003). The task of project portfolio
management (PPM) is to carry out a set ofprojects under the sponsorship of a specific organization, whereby the projects share and
compete for scarce resources (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999).
PPM can be considered to be a set of business practices that integrates projects with other business operations (Levine, 2005) and
that includes key activities such as decision making on which pro-

⁎ Tel.: +49 30 314 28337.
E-mail address:martin.voss@tim.tu-berlin.de.
URL: http://www.tim.tu-berlin.de.
0263-7863/$36.00 © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.01.017

jects are to be given priority, which projects are to be added to or
taken out of the portfolio, and how to allocate resources (Archer
and Ghasemzadeh, 2004; Dammer and Gemünden, 2006).
In parallel, companies are confrontedwith customers demanding value-adding activities, such as joint product development, financing, or consulting services (Homburg et al., 2002).
Companies introduce concepts and processes such as customer
relationship management (CRM) or key account management
for a closer customer relationship and better service (Ernst et
al., 2011; Frow and Payne, 2009), aiming to create value both
for thecustomer and for the company (Boulding et al., 2005).
Furthermore, customer prioritization and the management of customer portfolios have received more attention in research and
practice (Homburg et al., 2008, 2009; Terho, 2009). A customer
portfolio should be managed along the customers' value contributions to the relationship portfolio, not just the customers'
value contributions to the firm...