Why Projects may Fail
1.Iridium satellite telecommunication company was once the best trading company in Wall Street. The company had at some point tripled its share prices. However, in the mid 1990’s, the company filed for bankruptcy, one of the largest in the U.S history. Its genesis towards downfall had just begun. Iridium satellite telecommunication failed in its course due to poor project conception, implementation and the overall impact of the financial bankruptcy. The company could not sell enough subscriptions given the business model that offered services to remote business travelers who were few at that time.
This would have enabled it reach a breakeven point because its sustainability depended on subscriptions. As a result of this, the company could not pay debtors and make profit worth the investment.
2. Projects fail because of poor implementation of technology. Iridium satellite technology had not been implemented properly. The main technology depended on costly phones, which consumers could not easily access. This reduced the number of subscribers hence the project could not remain viable. This is because of the high costs than what other terrestrial phone providers offered. Projects fail also because of non commitment from top management.
Management plays a vital role in overall conception and implementation of projects. Governance helps in project phases, where critical milestones need to be measured to ascertain the probability of a project success. Capital budget analysis plays an important role in ascertaining the costs of implementing and overseeing projects. Financing a project is crucial and as such, enough funds need to be allocated to reduce failure rates. It is imperative that companies work on formulas that are achievable and can sustain long term projects.
