Academic Master

Business and Finance

The Portfolio Management of Climax Transportation Business

Executive Summary

Globalization has revamped and made way for the majority high-tech firms to change their business strategy. Initially the success of the business was measured through the quality of the product supplied only, however, now the criteria has changed and it depends upon the global standing and sustaining the international pressure of any business. Thus, it has increased the complexity of the processes adopted and the expected shorter lifecycle of the product demands more focus on research and development for adopting ways in which the business like a transportation company is able to expand without reducing the quality service of deliverance.

In order to facilitate this need, the transportation company like Climax is subjected to use the sets and sub-sets of the projects in relation to each other and prioritize on the time to time basis. Moreover, the portfolio approach helps in identifying that if the product is able to cope up the long term investment or not. The transportation industry is the main share generating department, thus, to stay competitive the company like Climax needs to emphasize on the strategic planning or strategic planning as the main strategy of the business.

This report aims on focusing the portfolio management of Climax transportation business. The company has been working since many years with the established clients but is planning to expand over sees. Thus, portfolio management is one of the most difficult decision making process of the business. Since the business is aiming to target the future projects, the success rate is uncertain. Also, the portfolio positioning changes with ongoing dynamic changes in the environment. Lastly, funding for each product distant from each other may cost a fortune to the business, so how to manage these changes, it will discussed in this report that how Climax transportation is managing these future challenges.

Introduction

The portfolio management is the growing need for every business. Since Climax transportation has grown from a small scale business and has been known for serving a set number of clients. However, after being operational for around 15 years the business is now planning to expand over sees along with the local project. For this purpose, a stronger need for a new technique is felt which will help the business to maintain the quality with the older clients and establish new stronger contact with the new ones. Considering the size of the business as it is a medium sized business, the portfolio management will help the business to plan and fund for each project on priority basis and will help in managing the funds without exerting pressure on the existent resources.

The Climax transportation due to local operating competence has been using the regular management techniques for managing all the businesses. The company can improve the current management style of the business maintenance, however, for expanding the business oversees and having this experience for the first time, Climax transportation needs to opt for the portfolio management technique for successful implementation of this new business idea.

Initially, the portfolio management will be divided on regional basis. The regions more appropriate for the initiation of the international business will be evaluated that if it is feasible to invest in generating the business aspect or will it only cost the expenditure and resources to business. The research for this purpose will be conducted in two domains i.e. Region A and the other is Engineering and Product Development. The region A will be focusing on the complete business development, operational cost and sales in the region. However, the Engineering and Product Development will emphasize on the development of the new product in consistence with the existent product strategy of the business. Both the department works in coordination with each other. The product developed by the EAPD department is customized according to the business needs of region A. The recommendations from the stake holders will help in highlighting the attributes of project portfolio management for the new business projects.

Literature Review

“The emergency of PPM as a recognized set of practices may be considered the biggest leap in project management technology since the development of PERT and CPM in the late 1950s ” by Levine stated in his book in 2005 that the project portfolio management is critical for the decision making process. It is ensured that the business projects are supported by the right set if projects as it will ensure the success under the strict governance of professional check. The project management on the other hand deals with the budget and the resource allocation to the specific business ideas. The author further emphasized that the project portfolio management is initiated with the importance and authenticity of the projects.

Cooper et.al defined the term project portfolio management in 1997 as a dynamic process in which the new active processes are continuously updated and revised as per the emerging need. The new projects are continuously scheduled showing the completion as per the time line, however, the previous projects are aborted or killed if they are completed or shifted to the delay log. According to Cooper, the project portfolio management is conducted to achieve the following goals:

  1. Enhancing the value of the portfolio
  2. Achieving the balance of the portfolio and seek for the right balanced portfolio
  3. Build the strategy into the portfolio

There are certain common components of the portfolio like:

  1. The organizational perspective of planning and investment in any project.
  2. The projects are aligned with the organizational strategies and goals
  3. The projects selected has something in common which helps them to be in lined so that they are completed together
  4. The portfolio is a quantifiable entity and could be ranked by its importance.

Such as the transportation company will be aiming to target the projects and clients which are somehow interconnected as it will help them to save their resources like fuel, man power and vehicles. Along with this aim that each visit of the vehicle will generate back the profit. The important components of the project portfolio management is governance, tools and techniques, processes and strategy.

Morris, Jamieson and Archibald state a link between the projects, portfolio, and corporate strategy. The figure below illustrates that how the corporate strategies are communicated to the individual level.

Fig-1: Portfolio Management in Organization

For Climax transportation, the project portfolio management is a new technique. However, the business depends upon the day to day operations. The operational capacity of the business actually helps them to manage the projects as per their importance. The operational management of the processes in the Climax transportation company will then be controlled by the portfolio components. Both the project and the operation aspect of the business will be considered in the portfolio management of the new business ideas at the Climax transportation.

It is expected that the project portfolio management will turn out profitable for the business. For the reason that the business is operating as a medium sized organization. Introducing the project portfolio management technique for the business expansion will help in successful picking of the projects with lesser likely chances of any failures and delivering the quality services on time. However, with the introduction of new techniques higher level of challenges shall be expected as well. The project portfolio management needs to be governed by specialist in this field. The projects are updated as per their preference and importance. Thus, it depends upon the management that how they prioritize their business processes. Such as the if the management was using books to maintain the business records, now they need to shift to the electronic system which is indeed a big change and if the employees and the management is unwilling to opt for this new addition of business strategy then there are highly likely chances that the new business product will fail.

The key elements for introducing project portfolio management for influencing the organizational goals are listed as below:

  1. Finance
  2. Marketing
  3. Corporate Communication
  4. Human Resource Management

These key elements together will help the successful inculcation of the project portfolio management in the firm. Each key element will be customized according to the business needs. The climax transportation will uplift the existent corporate communication techniques as they will be serving the customer segment away from the local establishment. In such business deals, the customer always focuses on the corporate communication approach adopted by the host business. The Human resource will be managed as per the business needs. The existent projects will work as per their usual routine. However, the business will not take any new local projects but will focus fulfilling the new business venture for successful business expansion.

For this purpose the hierarchical approach for the project portfolio management will be adopted . The below illustrated image explains that how the business with the incorporation of the changes will work.

Fig-2: Hierarchical Approach for the Project Portfolio Management

The hierarchical approach helps in communicating the business needs from the top to down in a way that each department and individual participating in the execution of business processes is able to understand that what are their responsibilities and how they are expected to be executed. The implementation of the project portfolio management is not an over-night process instead the business team will be given thorough orientation about the requirements and the needs of the upgraded system and how they are expected to perform accordingly. The project portfolio management will be a newer technique for targeting the extended business but the team will remain the same. Therefore, it is necessary that a thorough orientation is offered for each member about their responsibilities.

Conclusion

The changing business dynamics demands for the adoption of newer business techniques like Project portfolio management for the effective usage of the resources. The businesses like Climax transportation has the capacity and the domain to grow globally. The project portfolio management can help Climax transportation to initiate the business expansion through selection of feasible projects. The surveillance of these projects are kept under strict government check. Thus, it is expected that the proper layout of the plan will help the transportation company to attain new customers and achieve the global competence through participating in international market.

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