Empirische Untersuchungen zur Organisation und Koordination überbetrieblicher Projekte im Großanlagenbau

This thesis investigates the organisation and coordination of inter-firm projects in the plant engineering sector. It focuses on the perspective of the main contractor of such projects and is guided by two research questions: Firstly, how are inter-firm projects in the plant engineering sector organised and coordinated and secondly, which factors influence the coordination effort and the success of a project-specific collaboration between the main contractor and a key supplier with an international background.

In order to answer the first research question a case study within three companies from the plant engineering sector is carried out. Based on the results of the case study and a review of the literature a system model for the description of the organisation and coordination of inter-firm projects in the plant engineering sector is developed.

The second research question is addressed in a survey within the German plant engineering sector. The survey is guided by a conceptual model which attempts to illustrate the influence of factors such as cultural distance between the partners, degree of previous experience in working together, task complexity, task novelty and task interdependence on the coordination effort and the success of a project specific collaboration between the main contractor and a key supplier. By conducting a cluster analysis, a total of 113 datasets, each characterising a particular project-specific collaboration between a main contractor and a key supplier, are grouped in eight clusters. Through the interpretation of the clusters conclusions regarding the influence and the interaction of the factors from the conceptual models are drawn. Furthermore two archetypical constellations which result in unfavourable results regarding the relation between coordination effort and success for the main contractor are identified.