Clarifying portfolio manager job functions: in search of essential ones

Abstract

The research aims to clarify portfolio manager (PfM) job functions and design essential and marginal job functions a PfM should perform. Often understood as a tool for embodying the company strategy and creating its value, portfolio management is viewed chiefly from the project management and investment perspectives. Despite the differences in understanding portfolio management from different perspectives, on the fundamental level, outcomes have similarities shown in the literature review. Different PfM studies display primarily descriptive characteristics of the role, which are blurry and do not add a solid basis in understanding the job functions. This study is qualitative, with content analysis as its main method. We chose literature and electronic sources that meet the following conditions: published during the past ten years; focused on a PfM or portfolio management process-related topics; containing a description of PfM tasks, activities, functions and/or responsibilities. We single out 19 PfM job functions, including seven essential and twelve marginal ones. These findings are significant, serving as a basis for building PfM job descriptions and competency models along with assisting both novice and experience PfMs in enhancing their performance.