Decision-making on mega-projects: Drifting on market dynamics and political discontinuity

The decision-making on mega-projects suffers from many problems. The issues of cost overruns and disappointing achievements are well documented. Because of the long periods between initiative and start of operation many uncertainties occur. Very often unexpected developments take place, as a result of market dynamics and political discontinuity. This paper gives an overview of different forms of market dynamics and different forms of political discontinuity (sometimes these are interrelated). We analyse these forms and try to find out how project managers could handle these kinds of pitfalls. The paper aims to contribute to theories of decision-making on mega-projects and proposes recommendations for those involved in the decision-making process of mega-projects.