Managing Projects across Different Foreign Environment
Learning Activity 10: Managing Projects across Different Foreign Environment
Before a company embarks on a foreign project, it should consider primary political, geographic, economic, and infrastructure factors, which are likely to have an impact on the project. The political factors that the company should consider concerns the political stability of the foreign country. The local and national laws and regulations are also essential as they give a guideline on how the company should manage its operations. Another aspect to consider is whether the government would support or interfere with the project, and the company should also consider the level of corruption in the country. The geographic factors include seasonal and climate differences, as well as the national geographical obstacles that the company may experience. Economic factors are the balance of payments, the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and the protectionist policies and strategies. The company should also consider the infrastructure factors like the telecommunication networks, transportation systems, and the power distribution grids.
All these factors have an impact on the implementation of a foreign project. If the foreign land has political instability, then the project will not succeed in that country because the government will always interfere. The geographical factors also have to be favorable for the project to succeed. If these factors are uncertain, then the project will have hiccups in its success. The infrastructure has to be right in the sense that the telecommunication networks and the transport systems are functional. If they are weak, they will affect the success of the project. Above all, a good economy will boost the project and vice versa.
Learning Activity 11: Course Reflection
The most significant thing I have learned about project management is the fact that a project is an essential aspect of a company, as it happens once in a while. When the project of a company succeeds, the whole company succeeds. When the project of a company fails, the entire company fails. Thus, for a company to undertake a project, it should consider a lot of things. All the factors involved in taking up international projects are ideal because they have a significant impact on the projects. These factors will determine whether the project will become successful or not. The factors that a company should consider include political, security, geography, economic, infrastructure, and cultural factors.
The questions that remain are whether project directors often consider all these factors. To what extent do these factors have an impact on the implementation of the project? How do the project directors cope with the cultural differences that they encounter in foreign countries? The steps that I will take to seek out the answers to these questions are to research them. Seeking for companies that have successfully managed to carry out foreign projects and knowing the obstacles they went through will also help to answer the questions. For companies that want to undertake a foreign project, it is ideal to consider whether the management considers these factors, as it also helps to answer the questions. As I consider my career in project management, the next step is to find ways in which I can engage with other companies and find out how they manage their projects. Interaction with different companies will help to bring out the experience that I need.