Business Case Processes in the Context of Product Portfolio Management. The Case Study of a Manufacturing Company
Zoglia, Piero (2025)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025120733311
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025120733311
Tiivistelmä
Big corporations benefit from their size and their dominance of the market however they struggle to innovate. Generally, large corporations are not short of new ideas but an excessive focus on short term targets, a limited overview of the resources and of the investments, the conflicting interests of the stakeholders and the normal bias make it challenging to identify, evaluate, nurture and prioritize the right projects. Business cases can help to take better decisions, when supported by the right process, the right tools, and if put in context.
Business cases and best decision processes are well documented in literature, however there is a gap on how to connect the two items and how to use business cases as a recurring decision-making document.
This thesis aims to connect these two topics and to facilitate the work of the product portfolio management functions by clarifying which are the most important elements and stakeholders of a business case, and when to use it.
Five research questions have been formulated and have been answered with the use of 1) literature review and 2) of a case study in a large manufacturing company. The case study was instrumental to understand the differences between theory and practice.
An inductive approach was used for the literature review while the case study was carried out with a deductive mixed approach to collect primary and secondary data and gather an accurate picture of the situation at the corporation.
As a result of the Thesis, a simple framework is proposed to summarize the key elements and stakeholders of a business case decision process. The framework is used to guide the reader through the literature review section. The results of the case study are compared with literature: suggestions on how to improve the existing practices and a guideline on how to write a business case are provided.
Business cases and best decision processes are well documented in literature, however there is a gap on how to connect the two items and how to use business cases as a recurring decision-making document.
This thesis aims to connect these two topics and to facilitate the work of the product portfolio management functions by clarifying which are the most important elements and stakeholders of a business case, and when to use it.
Five research questions have been formulated and have been answered with the use of 1) literature review and 2) of a case study in a large manufacturing company. The case study was instrumental to understand the differences between theory and practice.
An inductive approach was used for the literature review while the case study was carried out with a deductive mixed approach to collect primary and secondary data and gather an accurate picture of the situation at the corporation.
As a result of the Thesis, a simple framework is proposed to summarize the key elements and stakeholders of a business case decision process. The framework is used to guide the reader through the literature review section. The results of the case study are compared with literature: suggestions on how to improve the existing practices and a guideline on how to write a business case are provided.