Success criteria and critical success factors for contractors of urgent and unexpected projects

Urgent and unexpected projects are defined as those that require continuous additional attention to minimize the overall lead time, and which were not regarded as likely to happen when planning resources in advance. Urgent and unexpected projects substantially differ in approach from best practice project management, as they do not start after an extensive feasibility study and completion of a detailed scope, budget and risk analysis (Meredith & Mantel, 2006). With the costs of asset downtime in mind, it is relevant for the field of operations management to understand which factors are critical for the success of these projects. A prerequisite to determine success factors is knowing if a project is successful. The objective of this study is therewith to contribute to the development of theory regarding urgent and unexpected projects by identifying the success criteria and critical success factors for contractors and specify their relation.