MANAGEMENT AND FINANCING OF E-GOVERNMENT PROJECTS IN INDIA: DOES FINANCING STRATEGY ADD VALUE?
A high rate of failure in e-government projects has resulted in significant loss of investments across the globe. These projects require adoption of complex and ever-changing information and communication technologies (ICT), and involve significant organisational transformation. How do managers manage these complex multi-dimensional risks in the absence of in-house technical capabilities and expertise? How do decision makers approve large scale funding for these projects in an environment of increasing pressure and constraints on public resources? How do executives mitigate the risks of strategic error in preventing loss of investments from these high-risk projects? A major issue in the e-Government projects is the financial structuring with resultant strategic managerial consequences. Our aim is to build on the theoretical construct based on prior work and to examine the managerial value-addition resulting from the application of innovative structured finance approaches in public projects. The results of our study are presented as a set of propositions based on inferences drawn from strategic decisions, influenced by the adopted financing approach of both successful and unsuccessful projects. We found that to maximise the value derived from these investments, the project managers would need the flexibility to structure the projects in order to manage a complex set of multi-dimensional risks, to build the core capabilities required, and to leverage the alternative sources of finance. A carefully crafted and customised structuring strategy (rather than an inflexible bureaucratic approach) is needed to manage all project phases in order to derive benefits from breakthrough ICT technologies in government organisations. Our case studies show that innovative structured financing is more capable than the traditional option of facilitating flexible decision making, building core capabilities, managing risk, providing funds needed for growth and innovation, and customising tailor-made project governance strategy.