Project management competence requirements when procuring complex systems

How the client organization (the buyer) should manage its resources when procuring a large technical system, referred to as a complex system, is the scope of this paper. This issue is interesting due to the ever-increased competition, leading to the downsizing of client organizations, and the search for higher organizational effectiveness. Therefore, it is essential that projects be managed in a more efficient way than they have in the past. The paper summarizes the results from an ongoing research project carried out at the Department of Industrial Information and Control Systems at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. The results are based on case studies and interviews, which have been conducted in close co-operation with major clients, vendors and consultants in Swedish companies. The projects included in the research have been studied from an organizational competence perspective. Finding out "who" is most suitable to do "what" according to different initial conditions in the projects studied. The paper addresses those aspects of management that are critical for successful completion of projects in this field.