Response strategies to stakeholder pressures in global projects

Global projects that are implemented in highly uncertain and turbulent environments inevitably face a variety of external institutional pressures exerted on them. Demands presented by external stakeholders are typical examples of such institutional influences. Companies involved in the execution of global projects may enact different strategic responses as a result of the stakeholder pressures. Through an empirical analysis of four different case projects implemented in emerging markets, the paper identifies and describes five different types of response strategies, varying from passive to active approaches enacted by focal project companies. The identified response strategies are adaptation strategy, compromising strategy, avoidance strategy, dismissal strategy, and influence strategy. The paper further discusses the different factors that are seen to explain the use and emergence of the response strategies. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.