Project management in service sector SMEs: a comparative study between Portugal and Denmark

Abstract

Project management has been increasingly implemented in private and public organizations around the world and in different sectors of activity, producing improvements in companies' effectiveness and efficiency. This study explores how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) effectively use project management for business development within the service sector in Portugal and Denmark. The paper describes how SMEs employ project management to improve results and achieve project objectives while often struggling to adapt project management practices to their contexts.A qualitative approach was adopted, by the conduction of seventeen semi-structured interviews in ten companies in Portugal and nine interviews within nine companies in Denmark. Collected data was then analyzed through MAXQDA software. The most useful project management practices in SMEs of the service sector in both countries are identified. In spite of several difficulties in implementing project management reported by SMEs, project management practices are used and adapted to the needs of the companies' context. In both Denmark and Portugal, the most useful project management practices identified include progress meetings, lessons learned, activity lists, stakeholders' communication, and progress reports.