Taking Stock: Capability Development in Interorganizational Projects

Abstract

We examine how capabilities emerge in repeated interorganizational projects and how they affect project development. A multifaceted understanding of project capabilities in interorganizational projects is important, because project management research emphasizes capabilities’ contribution to project performance, but has also stressed their tendency to grow rigid. We review the literature on interorganizational project collaboration to identify the foundations and drivers of project capabilities in project networks and to outline their potentially ambiguous consequences. Our systematic overview of these studies provides a basis for further empirical research and project management practice.