A Real Options Analysis of Project Portfolios: Practitioners’ Assessment

Authors

  • Skander Ben Abdallah Skander Ben Abdallah Université du Québec à Montréal École des sciences de la gestion Canada
  • Hélène Sicotte Université du Québec à Montréal École des sciences de la gestion Canada

Keywords:

Project Portfolio Management, Real Options, Managerial Flexibility, Practitioners’ Assessment

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to assess the effectiveness and ease of implementation of the real options analysis applied by practitioners to select projects and constitute portfolios while taking into consideration managerial flexibility in project. The real options approach is based on a user-friendly bubble diagram as an attempt to overcome barriers that have so far limited the implementation of the real options analysis despite its superiority in appreciating managerial flexibility with respect to other approaches to resources allocation. Results suggest that the real options analysis seems to perform better regarding its completeness and its ability to generate balanced project portfolios but remains less appreciated according to other criteria such as the ease of interpretation.

Author Biographies

  • Skander Ben Abdallah, Skander Ben Abdallah Université du Québec à Montréal École des sciences de la gestion Canada

    Skander Ben Abdallah is currently associate professor in the Graduated Project Management Programs at UQAM’s École des sciences de la gestion (ESG). Skander holds a Ph.D. in economics and a master’s degree in civil engineering. His areas of expertise include real options theory, fuzzy logics, natural resource management, project finance, and project portfolio optimization. Before joining ESG UQAM, Skander worked as a project manager and consultant in the energy sector and in project finance for 10 years. His current research focuses primarily on the sources of flexibility in infrastructure design and proactive risk management in project and portfolio management. Some of his researches have been published in international journals such as Journal of Economic Dynamics and Controland Resource and Energy Economics.

  • Hélène Sicotte, Université du Québec à Montréal École des sciences de la gestion Canada

    Hélène holds a PhD in technology management. She is currently professor and former Director of the GraduatePrograms in Project Management at ESG UQAM. She conducts research on project management processes; ecosystems; organizational project management; the development of new products, processes, and services; and technological and organizational innovation in the private and public sectors.

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Published

2022-05-20

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2018): The Journal of Modern Project Management

Section

Articles-JMPM

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Copyright (c) 2022 Skander Ben Abdallah, Hélène Sicotte

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

A Real Options Analysis of Project Portfolios: Practitioners’ Assessment. (2022). The Journal of Modern Project Management, 6(2). https://journalmodernpm.com/manuscript/index.php/jmpm/article/view/JMPM01703

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