Driving Industry Impact: USBS Academics Share Insights at Two Leading Conferences
The University of Southampton Business School has recently launched its latest report, Clienting in Major Projects: Beyond Outputs, Towards Outcomes, which is already attracting significant attention across multiple sectors. Since its launch in October, the lead academics behind this initiative, Professor Jeni Giambona and Dr Nicholas Dacre, have been invited to two major industry events to share the report’s key recommendations and insights.
In October, they were invited to speak at the Major Projects Association Conference, where they explored the key blockers that must be understood and removed for successful major project delivery. The report goes further by introducing the comprehensive Major Projects Clienting Framework (MPCF), designed to drive an immediate cultural shift within clienting organisations. This framework helps move from a transactional approach to clienting towards a more strategic orchestration, by bringing people, systems, and capabilities together to achieve desired outcomes.
In November, Professor Jeni Giambona and Associate Professor Nicholas Dacre also represented the University of Southampton Business School at this year’s National Grid Commercial Forum, held at the iconic National Memorial Arboretum. They shared insights from our latest report, Clienting in Major Projects: Beyond Outputs, Towards Outcomes—a research-driven framework designed to transform how major projects deliver value.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
This prestigious invitation highlights the growing influence of USBS research in shaping industry practice and demonstrates how we are bridging the gap between academia and industry through exemplary knowledge exchange. The Forum brought together leading professionals from across the major projects sector, creating a unique platform to explore how systems thinking and collaboration can improve clienting. As our academics emphasised, effective clienting is about convening capability, not commanding it.
The report is the result of months of rigorous research, combining academic expertise with practitioner insights. It offers practical tools and guidelines that professionals can apply immediately to achieve better outcomes in complex projects.
Professor Jeni Giambona remarked
Sometimes we do not apply lessons learned because we experience "uniqueness bias", but also because we don't manage to gather and tease out the huge amount of knowledge that there is in these temporary organisations.
Dr Nicholas Dacre also commented
Effective clienting requires a systems approach and a framework that moves clients from a culture of Mission Control to Mission Orchestration.
Read the full report here: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/~assets/doc/fss-international/USBS_Clienting_in_Major_Projects_Framework%20%20Final.pdf