Financial Resource Allocation in a Project Portfolio: Analysing the Necessity to Integrate Sustainability into Resource Allocation

Abstract

Resource allocation in a project portfolio is a complex decision-making process that is influenced by multiple and very often conflicting objectives. Furthermore, companies are coming under strong social pressure to integrate elements of sustainability into their decision-making process, which makes this process even more complex. Nowadays, the concept of sustainability is widely applied by many companies through their mission statement and strategy. It is also one of the most popular research fields for scholars. Despite the fact that sustainability is considered one of the most important challenges of our time, the integration of sustainability into project or project portfolio management (especially in resource allocation) is not fully recognised. This paper presents a literature-based analysis of the use of the sustainability concept in project management and therefore makes suggestions on how to integrate sustainability into resource allocation in a project portfolio.

Tackling projects on sustainability: a Lithuanian case study

“…Sustainability in construction covers not only environmental issues, technical efficiency and functional requirements, but also urban renewal and social aspects. Sustainable construction aims to design buildings that would allow saving energy and resources, protecting the health of residents and ensuring their well-being (Dobrovolskienė and Tamošiūnienė 2015). Construction projects have been explored in more depth because of their significant impact on the environment, society and economy (Yao et al 2011).…”

“…At present, both sustainability and project management are important and expected to grow in importance even more in the future. The relationship between project management and sustainability is rapidly gaining interest from both practitioners and scholars (Silvius 2014;Dobrovolskienė and Tamošiūnienė 2015;Økland 2015;Marcelino-Sádaba et al 2015;Dobrovolskienė and Tamošiūnienė 2015a;Silvius 2016;Dobrovolskienė and Tamošiūnienė 2016;Carvalho and Rabechini 2017;Silvius et al 2017). Sustainability is one of the most important…”

“…The construction sector was chosen for three reasons. First, projects in the construction industry are among the most important, as this sector is one of the largest sectors and of major importance for the national economy (Dobrovolskienė and Tamošiūnienė 2015). Second, construction projects have a huge impact on the environment and society (Yao et al 2011).…”

Evaluation of factors having an impact on the development of the sharing economy

“…However, the multicriteria method has been effectively applied to the complex evaluation of complex quantities. A range of multicriteria methods such as SAW (Simple Additive Weighting), AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution), PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organisation Method for Enrichment Evaluation), COPRAS (Complex proportional assessment), ELECTREI (Elimination and Choice Translating Reality) and others are widely used in scientific research (Balcerzak, 2017;Balcerzak & Pietrzak, 2017a, 2017bJiang-Jiang Wang et al, 2009;Stankevičienė & Menčaitė, 2012;Nugaras & Ginevičius, 2015;Ginevičius et al, 2018;Dobrovolskienė, 2016;Slavinskaitė, 2017;Banasik et al, 2016;Memari et al, 2019;Guerrero-Baena et al, 2015;Latinopoulos & Kechagia, 2015;Podvezko, 2009;Wierzbicka, 2018;Pietrzak & Ziemkiewicz, 2018a, 2018bCalabrese et al, 2019;Balvanshi &Tiwari, 2018;Diaz-Balteiro et al, 2017;. Furthermore, multicriteria methods are applied in doctoral dissertations of social sciences (Gedvilaitė, 2019;Slavinskaitė, 2017;Podviezko, 2013;Kraujalienė, 2019a,b;Rakauskienė, 2013;Kareivaitė, 2012;Labanauskis, 2020;Šimelytė, 2014;Dobrovolskienė, 2016;Bruzgė, 2014;Ubartė, 2017).…”

“…An analysis of the use of multicriteria methods in social science dissertations shows that the SAW method is popular and applied in social science doctoral dissertations (Simanavičienė, 2012;Gaudutis, 2013;Podviezko, 213;Bruzgė, 2014;Stasiukynas, 2015;Dobrovolskienė, 2016;Slavinskaitė, 2017;Ubartė, 2017;Gedvilaitė, 2019;Oželienė, 2019;Zapolskytė, 2021;Razminienė, 2021). Furthermore, the SAW method was widely applied for the calculation of the integral indicator (index) (Table 2.6).…”