Project management and innovation practices: backgrounds of the sustainable competitive advantage in Southern Brazil enterprises

The business environment is surrounded by economic uncertainties, which shows the need to develop methodological practices that make it competitive, sustainable and innovative. The purpose of this paper is of analysing the relationships between the project management practices, the product and process innovation, and the sustainable competitive advantage in enterprises in Southern Brazil. This research has a quantitative and descriptive character, in which the data were collected through a survey in 226 enterprises in the Activity Sectors of Industrial Manufacturing, Commerce and Services. Data analysis done through the Structural Equation Modelling, we used the following techniques and methods: Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Hypotheses tests. The research showed that enterprises use project management practices and have product innovation and process innovation, which are essential for sustainable competitive advantage. However, the enterprises are moving towards proactive behaviours, since they present innovative actions for their market permanence and competitiveness, once the organisations face constant legal and political enforcement, due to the globalised market. The research shows evidence which may help the enterprises' managers and decision-makers to improve or influence their enterprises' competitive and sustainable performance. In this sense, the practical implications of the research are presented to add value to project managers and researchers.