Fostering project risk management in SMEs: an emergent framework from a literature review

Abstract

Given the relevance of project risk management (PRM) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which need to adopt an efficient and effective methodology coherent with their peculiarities to support their innovation and growth, this research provides a framework derived from systematic literature that could foster the adoption of PRM in SMEs. It offers an extended and iterative PRM process that includes the strategic selection and evaluation of projects, a flexible a dynamic approach according to the characteristic of the SME and the project, the inclusion of the stakeholders’ perspective, the mitigation of potential bias on risks evaluation, the use of risk clustering to improve project organization, the adoption of systematic and transparent communication to increase awareness on risk exposure, and the integration of Risk Knowledge Management into the PRM process, in order to obtain an enterprise learning process.

Keywords:

• Project risk management
• SMEs
• systematic literature review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Padova under Grant [VERB_SID19_01].

Notes on contributors

Raffaele Testorelli

Raffaele Testorelli is a c-level manager and a management and business advisor with more than 20 years of professional experience. He is also a PhD candidate in Management Engineering and Real Estate Economics at the University of Padova. His major research interests include innovation management, program and project management, and risk management in industrial context and in particular project risk management. In these fields, he participated to various national and international industrial projects, across multiple business sectors, with leadership roles.

Priscila Ferreira de Araújo Lima

Priscila Ferreira de Araújo Lima is a post doctoral research fellow at the Department of Management and Engineering of the University of Padova (Italy). After the Master Degree in Management Engineering she received her Ph.d. in Management Engineering and Real Estate Economics in 2020. Her major research interests include risk management in industrial context and in particular project risk management.

Chiara Verbano

Chiara Verbano is an associate professor of Business and Engineering Economics at the Department of Management and Engineering of the University of Padova (Italy). Her major research interests include R&D management and organization, risk management both in industrial and clinical context and healthcare operations management, In these fields, she participated to various national and international research projects, funded by public and private organizations. She has regularly contributed to scientific journals as a reviewer and she is author and co-author of more than 100 scientific publications.