Megaproject Organization and Performance: The Myth and Political Reality delves into the complex world of organizing megaprojects and investigates the extent to which the performance of these projects could be traced back to their organizational structure. Through multiple case study research, including the London Olympic Park and Heathrow Airport Terminal 2, the authors show how megaprojects are unique in how they are organized. They explore core-periphery relationships between promotors who control strategic choices, and suppliers, the contracted experts who provide the actual resources to get the project done. The implications of these structural–performance relationships within a robust economy are then compared with railroad and highway development projects in the developing economies of Nigeria, Uganda, and India. This in-depth study brings a complementary perspective to megaproject literature and enables us to reconcile conflicting explanations for the regularity with which megaprojects miss performance targets. With pluralism at the core of the megaproject’s organizational structure, the authors argue that megaprojects work best when accountability is shared and everyone has a stake in the final outcome.

This book synthesizes a decade of research by the author into fundamental issues in organization design. The result is a novel micro-structural perspective on organizations, which aims to both expand and narrow current thinking. The new perspective takes an expansive view on the kinds of phenomena that can be studied in terms of organization design- such as cross-functional teams, strategic partnerships, buyer-supplier relations, alliance networks, mega-projects, post-merger integration, business groups, open source communities, and crowdsourcing, besides traditional concerns with bureaucratic organizations. At the same time, this approach narrows focus by abstracting away from the variety and complexity of organizations to a few fundamental and universal problems of organizing (that relate to how they aggregate their members' efforts), as well as a few reusable building blocks microstructures (which capture common patterns of interaction between members of an organization). The microstructural approach to organizations will be of interest to researchers and PhD students in management, organization science, and strategy.

Many companies are not single businesses but a collection of businesses with one or more levels of corporate management. Written for managers, advisors and students aspiring to these roles, this book is a guide to decision-making in the domain of corporate strategy. It arms readers with research-based tools needed to make good corporate strategy decisions and to assess the soundness of the corporate strategy decisions of others. Readers will learn how to do the analysis for answering questions such as 'Should we pursue an alliance or an acquisition to grow?', 'How much should we integrate this acquisition?' and 'Should we divest this business?'. The book draws on the authors' wealth of research and teaching experience at INSEAD, London Business School and University College London. A range of learning aids, including easy-to-comprehend examples, decision templates and FAQs, are provided in the book and on a rich companion website.

Many companies are not single businesses but a collection of businesses with one or more levels of corporate management. Written for managers, advisors and students aspiring to these roles, this book is a guide to decision-making in the domain of corporate strategy. It arms readers with research-based tools needed to make good corporate strategy decisions and to assess the soundness of the corporate strategy decisions of others. Readers will learn how to do the analysis for answering questions such as 'Should we pursue an alliance or an acquisition to grow?', 'How much should we integrate this acquisition?' and 'Should we divest this business?'. The book draws on the authors' wealth of research and teaching experience at INSEAD, London Business School and University College London. A range of learning aids, including easy-to-comprehend examples, decision templates and FAQs, are provided in the book and on a rich companion website.