Soft Computing (2018) 22:5535–5545
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-3277-8
FOCUS
Project portfolio selection based on synergy degree of composite
system
LiBiao Bai
1
· Hongliang Chen
2
· Qi Gao
2
· Wei Luo
3
Published online: 4 June 2018
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract
A synergistic perspective to selecting the right project portfolio is the key to realizing strategic organizational objectives. Based
on the theory of the composite system, this paper identifies the factors that affect the science of project portfolio selection
(PPS) and investigates the synergistic relationship among the organizational strategic objective subsystem, the project portfolio
subsystem and the environment subsystem, which collectively constitute the composite system of project portfolio selection.
Utilizing the concept of order parameters, an order parameter system is built for each subsystem to reflect the synergistic
relationships in the composite system of PPS. The PPS model is constructed based on the degree of synergy in the composite
system by describing the order degree of the subsystem and the synergy degree of the composite system, which helps to
quantify the synergistic relationships among these subsystems. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model are
demonstrated and validated by a case study.
Keywords Project portfolio selection · Composite system · Order parameter · Order degree · Synergy degree
1 Introduction
With the development of the economy and changes in the
business environment, multiple projects executed in par-
allel have become an effective ways for organizations to
retain their competitive advantage. Project portfolio selection
(PPS) is an important mode of multi-project management that
refers to a synergistic process for managing multi-projects
to achieve organizational strategic objectives (Yang and Shi
Communicated by X. Li.
B
LiBiao Bai
LB.Bai@chd.edu.cn
Hongliang Chen
chenhl@nwpu.edu.cn
Qi Gao
gaoqi22@fmmu.edu.cn
Wei Luo
2015128065@chd.edu.cn
1
School of Economics and Management, Chang’an University,
Xi’an 710064, Shannxi, China
2
School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical
University, Xi’an 710072, Shannxi, China
3
School of Civil Engineering, Chang’an University,
Xi’an 710064, Shannxi, China
2016). Meanwhile, how to select the right projects from the
“pool of projects to be implemented” and combine them
into a portfolio to achieve organizational strategic objectives
have become key issues of the project portfolio management
(PPM) problem.
PPS initiated by Harry (1952) in the area of investment
portfolio management, uses the net present value (NPV) as
the sole evaluation criteria (Rabbani et al. 2016), potentially
maximizing the benefits of an organization. However, this
single evaluation criteria model may lead an organization
to sacrifice its strategic objectives to pursue economic effi-
ciency, which is inconsistent with organizational long-term
development objectives (Shi et al. 2011). To compensate
for this deficiency, scholars have constructed some multi-
objective models based on a comprehensive analysis of PPS
constraints (Razi and Shariat 2017;Lietal.2014; Perez
and Gomez 2016;Wuetal.2018). It is also proposed
a project portfolio configuration process combined with
strategic needs (Calvo et al. 2016; Buys and Stander 2012;
Oosthuizen et al. 2016), thereby providing a new method for
project portfolios including organizational strategic objec-
tives and adapting the synergistic development between a
project portfolio and strategy. As a result, synergistic eval-
uation between a project portfolio and strategy has become
a basis for PPS. Moreover, as sustainability is increasingly
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