Project marketing in multi-project organizations: A comparison of IS/IT and engineering firms

An emerging trend suggests that a project marketing approach could, or should, be merged into project management. Consequently, an exploratory study has been made of the project marketing and management functions in four firms in two different industries and analyzed with a project marketing overlay. Contrasts were noted. The engineering firms actually described their marketing activity as a sales activity and the function tended to be differentiated from project management. The IS/IT firms, on the other hand, appeared to be particularly oriented toward establishing mutual understanding of customer needs and marketing was closely integrated with project management. Major differences are associated with the relative environments in which the firms work.