Abstract

The Project Management profession has been facing, since its introduction, a serious impediment establishing a significant and well-defined role among the Egyptian construction community. In an attempt to uncover the reasons behind this impediment, a problem identification research was conducted with service-provider firms of different sizes, origins, and backgrounds. The research confirmed the observation. It also arrived at the main obstacle hampering the development of Project Management in Egypt. This obstacle was the poor communication of the service and its benefits to the market. A barrier, built of mismarketing, has therefore parted between Project Management professionals and their clients. This study constitutes an initiative to overcome th.is barrier by presenting the basic necessary tools marketers need to understand the offered service and, therefore, establish successful marketing plans for it. Such tools are known as the Marketing Characteristics of th.is service. In order to achieve this goal, an extensive literature review was performed to identify the characteristics of service marketing in general. These characteristics formed the theoretical basis for the core research of this thesis. In this research, the obtained characteristics were tested for applicability to the profession of Project management as a service provided in the Egyptian construction market. Structured interviews were conducted with samples of the service providers and buyers. The data collected was then statistically analyzed. Other characteristics suggested by practitioners and buyers were tested as well.

A maJor finding was that Project Management as a product, although physically intangible, is not conceptually intangible to the buyer. Equally impo1iant findings were the fluctuating demand and the unidentifiable client needs. The final change in condition, created by the provider and witnessed by the buyer, was found to be the buyer's major source of need satisfaction.

School

School of Sciences and Engineering

Department

Interdisciplinary Engineering Program

Date of Award

6-1-2002

Online Submission Date

1-1-2002

First Advisor

Amr Hassanein

Committee Member 1

Ibrahim Hegazy

Committee Member 2

Osama Hosny

Committee Member 3

Ahmed Sherif

Document Type

Thesis

Extent

161 leaves

Library of Congress Subject Heading 1

Project management

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Call Number

Thesis 2002/42

Location

mmbk

Included in

Engineering Commons

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