Developing "Owner Project Capabilities" for public sector clients delivering infrastructure projects: a dynamic capabilities approach

Abstract

Infrastructure lies at the very heart of social and economic development of a country and the world at large. Yet, despite its importance the delivery outcomes of infrastructure projects have been far from satisfactory. Infrastructure projects face issues of cost and schedule overruns as well as failure to realise expected benefits. Research in the field of project management has emphasized the importance of a 'strong owner' to the success of projects. To act as strong owners, public sector clients that deliver infrastructure projects need to have project capabilities to perform various roles. This paper presents an initial framework on how public sector clients can develop 'owner project capabilities', so as to improve infrastructure project delivery outcomes. The theoretical perspective of dynamic capabilities is employed to study how these public sector clients can develop the requisite 'owner project capabilities'. It is suggested that learning is the mechanism by which owner project capabilities are developed, based on the concept of routines development, and argues for the incorporation of the organizational learning theory within the dynamic capabilities framework. Theoretically the paper contributes to the extension of the current application of organizational capabilities into the public sector infrastructure context. Additionally, it also provides initial insights into the relationship between owner project capabilities and (organizational) learning; and the difficulties faced by public sector clients during the process of capability development.