How is risk assessment performed in international technology projects

Abstract: In today’s ever changing business landscape, technology and innovation projects play a key role in creating competitive advantages for an organisation. However, many such projects are often hampered by under performance, cost overruns and lower than predicted revenue (Morris and Hough, 1987 and Christoffersen et al, 1992). This seems to indicate the lack of risk management in the way we manage projects. On the other hand, it is impossible to have any projects without risks. Thus, it is essential to have effective risk management rather than trying to eliminate risk out of projects. These factors have guided this study to focus on understanding the way risk assessment is performed in international technology projects. It aims to identify the link between risk assessment and project categorization, drawing from the ransaction cost economics (TCE) perspective. A qualitative approach applying semi-structured interviews was conducted with ten interviewees holding different roles in the engineering and technology projects within a multinational company with presence in more than 100 countries around the world. The application of the data display and analysis technique by Miles and Huberman (1984, 1994) enables initial findings to be presented using the “dendogram” method, thereafter, leading to the development of a two-dimensional risk assessment matrix as the final result of this study.