Changing project business orientations: Towards a new logic of project marketing

SummaryIn this paper we draw together the changing orientations that have been shaping the project business arena during the past years and discuss their implications for the future of project marketing theory and practice. Based on empirical qualitative data from two longitudinal research programmes, we identify ten changing orientations shaping the international project business, and discuss how these orientations challenge the existing concepts of project marketing. By reporting several case examples from our cross-national qualitative data, we illustrate these orientations and analyse how they affect the behavior of project business companies. Finally we discuss them in the light of the existing project marketing concepts and propose new directions for project marketing research in order to keep up with these changing orientations. Based on each identified changing orientation we propose a possible shift in project marketing and draw implications for project marketing theory and practice.