Project portfolio formation as an organizational routine: Patterns of actions in implementing innovation strategy

Implementing strategy through an innovation project portfolio starts with project portfolio formation. The routine of project portfolio formation is especially influential, as it includes identifying, screening, and prioritizing the projects that shape the eventual portfolio. Comprehensive understanding of the project portfolio formation routine is important for addressing the simultaneous pressures for continuity and renewal when implementing innovation strategy. This study explores portfolio actors’ behavioral patterns in the project portfolio formation routine to understand their contextuality and implications on innovation strategy implementation. A multiple-case study with innovative companies reveals a comprehensive framework of governing and empowering actions and organization-specific patterns of actions. Differences between organizations in the combination of governing and empowering actions may be explained by innovation types, and the size and history of the organization. The behavioral patterns of project portfolio formation can provide organizations with a foundation for implementing both continuity- and renewal-oriented innovation strategies.