This is the first book to establish a theoretical framework for commercial management. It argues that managing the contractual and commercial issues of projects from project inception to completion is vital in linking operations at the project level and the multiple projects (portfolios/ programmes) level to the corporate core of a company.

The book focuses on commercial management within the context of project oriented organisations, for example: aerospace, construction, IT, pharmaceutical and telecommunications in the private and public sectors. By bringing together contributions from leading researchers and practitioners in commercial management, it presents the state-of-the-art in commercial management covering both current research and best practice.

Commercial Management of Projects: defining the discipline coversthe external milieu (competition, culture, procurement systems);the corporate milieu (corporate governance, strategy, marketing, trust, outsourcing);the projects milieu (management of uncertainty, conflict management and dispute resolution, performance measurement, value management); andthe project milieu (project governance, contract management, bidding, purchasing, logistics and supply, cost value reconciliation).

Collectively the chapters constitute a step towards the creation of a body of knowledge and a research agenda for commercial management.

Dr David Lowe is Senior Lecturer in Commercial Project Management and leads the Management of Projects Research Group in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester. He is Programme Director for the highly successful MSc in the Management of Projects, and joint programme director for a distance-learning MSc in Commercial Management, a bespoke programme for a consortium of blue-chip companies.

Dr Roine Leiringer is Research Fellow at the School of Construction Management and Engineering, The University of Reading.

CONTRIBUTORS:Professor Jan Bröchner Michael Brown Professor Andrew Cox Dr Andrew Davies Dr Richard Fellows Dr Peter Fenn Professor Marc Georgen Professor Michael Hobday Professor Malcolm Horner Dr Will Hughes Dr David Hugill Dr Paul Ireland Dr Kalle Kähkönen Professor John Kelly Dr Malik Khalfan Professor David Langford Dr Roine Leiringer Dr David Lowe Dr Peter McDermott Krisen Moodley Dr Mike Murray Dr Christopher Preece Dr Luc Renneboog Dr Andrew Ross Professor Martin Skitmore Dr Hedley Smyth Dr Will Swan Professor Graham M Winch

Contributors.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

1. Commercial Management Defining a Discipline (David Lowe and Roine Leiringer).

PART 1: EXTERNAL MILIEU.

Introduction to Part 1 (David Lowe and Roine Leiringer).

2. Competition (Headley Smyth).

3. Culture (Richard Fellows).

4. Procurement in the Context of Commercial Management (David Langford and Mike Murray).

PART 2: CORPORATE MILIEU.

Introduction to Part 2 (David Lowe and Roine Leiringer).

5. Corporate Governance and Shareholder Value (Marc Goergen and Luc Renneboog).

6. Strategies for Solutions (Andrew Davies and Michael Hobday).

7. The Effectiveness of Marketing Spend (Christopher Preece, Kristen Moodley and Michael Brown).

8. Trust and Commercial Managers: Influences and Impacts (Will Swan, Peter McDermott and Malik Khalfan).

9. Outsourcing (Jan Bröchner).

PART 3: PROJECTS MILIEU.

Introduction to Part 3 (David Lowe and Roine Leiringer).

10. Management of Uncertainty (Kalle Kähkönen).

11. Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution (Peter Fenn).

12. Performance Measurement (Malcolm Horner).

13. Value Management of Complex Projects (John Kelly).

PART 4: PROJECT MILIEU.

Introduction to Part 4 (David Lowe and Roine Leiringer).

14. The Governance of Project Coalitions - Towards a Research Agenda (Graham M. Winch).

15. Contract Management (Will Hughes).

16. Bidding (David Lowe and Martin Skitmore).

17. Strategic Purchasing and Supply Chain Management in the Project Environment - Theory and Practice (Andrew Cox and Paul Ireland).

18. Signals from site - Embodied Logic and Management Accounting on Construction Projects (Andrew Ross and David Hugill).

19. Afterword - Identifying and Defining a New Inter-Disciplinary Research Agenda for Commercial Management (David Lowe).

Index.