Owner project capabilities in infrastructure projects: unpacking commercial capabilities

Abstract

This paper investigates how the public sector organisations charged with the definition and delivery of large infrastructure projects are structured and resourced, and how they undertake the definition and delivery of the projects they promote. The paper locates its contribution in the theoretical literature on dynamic capabilities and its roots in the resource-based view of the firm. We take as our point of departure the emerging literature on client side project capabilities for infrastructure development - termed as owner project capabilities, referring to the dynamic capabilities that are required by public sector clients to develop infrastructure assets and deliver public services. More specifically, based on an extensive literature review, we focus on the owner project capabilities needed to develop and maintain commercial interfaces with the project-based firms which supply the human and material resources - which we dub commercial capabilities. Examples of such capabilities include, but are not restricted to, packaging capabilities, contracting capabilities, and relational capabilities. The conclusions lay bare the importance of rejecting the notion of project management as a best practice toolkit, which is always applicable and useful, to instead direct attention to which sets of capabilities should be deployed.