PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION IN A MULTINATIONAL CONTEXT- BENIN

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 1 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION IN A MULTINATIONAL CONTEXT- BENIN Module Code Module Name Student Number Word Count Number of Figures and Tables

5

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 2 Table of Contents

Table of Contents...........................................................................................................................2 Part A: Project Report..................................................................................................................3 Country Brief..............................................................................................................................3 Country History.......................................................................................................................3 Political Elements....................................................................................................................4 Environmental Factors...........................................................................................................5 Social Elements.......................................................................................................................5 Technical Elements.................................................................................................................6 Economic Elements.................................................................................................................6 Legal Elements........................................................................................................................7 Potential Site............................................................................................................................8 Cultural and Communication Challenges...............................................................................8 Governance and Organisation..............................................................................................10 Project Management.............................................................................................................10 Stakeholder Management.....................................................................................................10 Critical Success Factors...........................................................................................................11 Summary and Conclusions......................................................................................................12 Reference List............................................................................................................................13 Part B: Academic Essay..............................................................................................................15 Introduction..............................................................................................................................15 Challenges Facing Complex Construction Projects in Non-Developed Countries............15 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................23 Reference List............................................................................................................................24

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 3 Part A: Project Report Country Brief Country History Benin is a West African country whose neighbours include Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Niger. It was formerly known as Dahomey, and its capital city is Porto-Novo. French is the country's official language. Benin's population is approximately 11.53 million, while its average life expectancy is 61.2 years (The World Bank 2020b). There is widespread poverty in the country due to limited per capita growth of 1.5 per cent between 2008 and 2018. In 2008, its poverty rate was approximately 49.5 per cent, while in 2015, it was 40.1 per cent (The World Bank 2020b). Although Benin is one of Africa's leading countries in economic growth, it is one of the world's poorest nations (Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index (BTI) 2020).

Political Elements Although there were some tensions during the 2019 legislative elections, Benin can be considered a stable democracy. Talon's government has a majority in parliament, and there are approximately a dozen political parties in the country (The World Bank 2020b). Although the government has made efforts to eliminate corruption, it is still a systemic problem (BTI 2020).

The high levels of corruption pose a challenge to the construction of the manufacturing facility.

The country is also highly bureaucratic. For example, getting construction permits in Benin is a lengthy procedure that involves several steps (The World Bank 2020a). Thus, the manufacturing facility's construction will experience delays because of the slow process of getting approvals to embark on the project.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 4

Table 1: Dealing with Construction Permits in Benin (The World Bank 2020a) Environmental Factors Benin has adopted some legal and regulatory frameworks for environmental protection. A clear environmental management direction was adopted in the country after the 1990 National Conference. For example, environmental management and protection were included in constitutional law. According to article 27 of Benin's 1990 constitution, each person is entitled to a healthy and sustainable environment and must defend it (The World Bank 2018). Therefore, in implementing the project, the team members should ensure that they abide by Benin's environmental protection laws.

Social Elements There is extensive social marginalisation in the country, and it is structurally ingrained. There has been improvement in several social indicators, such as life expectancy and primary school enrolment (BTI 2020). However, most of Benin's population lives in absolute poverty, and this has risen since 2011. Approximately 59.9 per cent of the population was living on $1.90 per day in 2015. In 2011, the purchasing power parity was $1 per day, and the population living on this amount per day was $53.9 per cent (BTI 2020). Due to the country's high unemployment levels, the project managers will easily get employees to work on the construction project. However, there is a shortage of highly qualified people in project management in non-developed countries.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 5 Technical Elements Most developing countries, including Benin, do not use automated systems in the construction industry. As a result, there is low construction productivity (Akogbe, Feng, & Zhou, 2015).

However, the multinational project team members can transfer the required technical systems and technology from their developed nations to Benin.

Economic Elements Over the last few years, the country has achieved economic growth but has not yet attained sustainable poverty reduction. As one of the least developed nations globally, it's 2016 per capita income was $770. Its 2017 Human Development Index value was 0.515, and it was ranked at position 163 out of 188 nations (BTI 2020). Its macroeconomic situation is stable, and its GDP growth rates between 2012 and 2016 were over 4.9 per cent. Although the formal private sector has been improving, it still faces many challenges such as corruption, access to credit, and unfair tax rates. These challenges are expected to affect the implementation of the construction project in Benin.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 6

Fig. 1: Country Report: Benin (BTI 2020) Legal Elements According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) (2014), various laws govern Benin's occupational safety and health. Therefore, while implementing Benin's construction project, the project team members should ensure that they abide by these laws to avoid legal problems in the country.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 7 Potential Site The potential site for the construction of the manufacturing facility is Cotonou because it has a seaport used for trading with Europe, Asia, and North and South America. The port will facilitate easy transfer of raw materials and products into and out of the country. Benin's main airport is also located in Cotonou. This will make it easy for the multinational team to travel to and from the manufacturing facility and the easy transportation of materials and products into and out of the country.

Cultural and Communication Challenges Working with multicultural teams to deliver the Thomas Pharmaceutical International Development (TPID) project poses several cultural and communication challenges. The people involved in constructing and operating the manufacturing facility come from different countries, each with diverse cultures and languages. The project's sponsor board members come from six different nations, including the UK, Sweden, Greece, China, Japan, and Spain. The official languages in these countries are English, Swedish, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish.

Moreover, the official language of Benin, where the facility will be located, is French. Therefore, there will be communication challenges in terms of language barriers among the project's people.

The cultures of the project team members are also different. According to Geert Hofstede's dimensions, countries differ in their national cultures. For example, China and Greece are highly collectivist, while the UK and Sweden are highly individualistic (Hofstede Insights n.d.).

Therefore, the teams will have conflicts because those from individualistic nations will expect hiring and promotion decisions to be made based on merit, while those from collectivist countries will want preferential treatment from their relatives in the organisation. Moreover, China and Japan are long-term oriented while the other countries have a short-term orientation.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 8 Employees from nations with a long-term orientation will adapt traditions to changes in the environment, while short-term oriented employees will be resistant to change. Spain, Greece, and Japan also have high uncertainty avoidance levels, while the other countries' scores for this dimension are low. People from countries with low uncertainty avoidance will be comfortable with ambiguity, while those with high uncertainty avoidance levels will be concerned about ambiguous, undefined and changing situations. The masculinity, indulgence, and power distance scores for the six countries also differ. People from a masculine culture will be highly competitive, while those from a feminine country will be motivated by the quality of life rather than standing out. Individuals from indulgent cultures will be willing to enjoy life and have fun, while those from restrained societies will be disinterested in gratifying their desires and engaging in leisure activities. Those from countries with a high power distance will respect the organisational hierarchy, while those from low power-distance cultures will prefer power decentralisation and independence. Therefore, the project team members are likely to experience challenges due to different cultures.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 9

Fig. 2. Cultural Dimensions (Hofstede Insights n.d.)

Governance and Organisation The project team is likely to face challenges because of differences in organisational structures and governance. For example, corruption can lead to the project's failure because of the ineffective use of funds. In Benin, corruption is pervasive, and this may pose a challenge for the project team. Furthermore, there is a high level of bureaucracy in the country, which may pose challenges such as delays in the government's approval. Challenges may also arise regarding the organisation's structure as some team members come from hierarchical societies with a high power distance, such as China, that supports centralisation. Others come from Sweden and the United Kingdom, where power is decentralised and decision making is participative.

Project Management The project may be affected by personality differences between the team members. Due to cultural differences, there may be misunderstandings among the project team members, which

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 10 may affect the project's completion. The team members may face challenges such as language barriers as they come from diverse countries, leading to miscommunication. Miscommunication or failure to understand instructions due to language barriers can result in project failure due to the wrong instructions' execution. The project may also be affected by conflicts arising from religious, political, socioeconomic, and time differences.

Stakeholder Management It will be challenging to manage stakeholders from different countries and cultural backgrounds.

Each multicultural international team member speaks a different language and has unique cultural beliefs regarding how a project should be managed. For example, China's manager may expect the people to work as a team because he comes from a highly collectivist culture. At the same time, the United Kingdom may want them to work on their tasks individually because they come from an individualistic culture. Such clashes in cultures may pose challenges for the project team.

Critical Success Factors The success of different projects depends on various factors. For the TPID project, there are various critical success factors, including culture-related, project-related, environment-related, project manager-related, and project management factors.

The role of culture in cross-cultural construction projects is critical in the success or failure of the project. Both culture and communication are crucial elements in the failure of projects. Cultural and communication barriers can hinder many elements of project deliverables. There are numerous national cultures in international project teams. Moreover, cross-cultural projects' success largely depends on the team members' cultural awareness and tolerance for cultural

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 11 differences (Eberlein 2008). The project's success depends on the project manager's ability to integrate diverse attitudes, communication patterns, and behaviours into a single functioning team. Thus, project managers in multinational projects act as mediators between different cultures and values.

Project-related success factors include the project's size and location, adequate funding and other resources, clear and feasible goals, and proper tendering and procurement methods (Gunduz & Almuajebh 2020). Environment-related factors also determine projects' success, including the economic, political, social, and legal aspects. Factors related to the project manager include his or her skills and experience, ability to delegate authority, involvement in the project, adaptability to change, commitment to the time, quality, and cost objectives, and coordination between all the stakeholders (Gunduz & Almuajebh 2020). Project management factors include proper communication systems, appropriate organisational structure, feedback mechanism, decisionmaking effectiveness, risk identification, effective quality assurance programs, top management support, dispute resolution process, and project team motivation.

Summary and Conclusions Overall, the execution of the manufacturing project in Benin is expected to face numerous challenges. These include high levels of corruption in the country and a bureaucratic system, making it difficult for the multinational team members to start and manage the project.

Procedures such as getting construction permits take a lot of time. There is also a lack of highly trained personnel in project management in the country. The nation also lacks automated construction systems. The project may also face challenges such as unfair tax rates and cultural and communication problems. The project's critical success factors are culture-related, projectrelated, environment-related, project manager-related, and project management aspects. Culture-

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 12 related factors include cultural and communication barriers. The project team should also be aware of project-related success factors such as the project's size and location, adequate funding and other resources, clear and feasible goals, and proper tendering and procurement methods.

Environment-related factors include the economic, political, social, and legal aspects.

Characteristics of the project manager also affect the project's success. Project management factors are also critical to the successful completion of the construction. Although there are numerous potential challenges for the project, it is still feasible as the multinational team can avoid various strategies. For example, they can avoid culture-related challenges by being culturally competent and adapting the project to the local context. Project team members from various countries should undergo cultural training to familiarise themselves with different cultures and ensure that they can work harmoniously with each other to minimise conflicts and delays in the project. They can also bring technology and competent personnel from developed countries or train local employees to work on the project. They should also ensure that they abide by environmental and labour laws in Benin to avoid legal problems in the course of the project.

Therefore, the multinational project team should go ahead with the constriction of the manufacturing facility.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 13 Reference List Akogbe, RK, Feng, X & Zhou, J 2015, 'Construction projects productivity in West African country of Benin: Case of Ground Earthworks', Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management, vol. 5, no. 2, pp.16-23.

Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index (BTI) 2020, Benin country report 2020. Available at <https://www.bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report-BEN-2020.html>. Accessed on 29 March 2021.

Eberlein, M 2008, 'Culture as a critical success factor for successful global project management in multinational IT service project', Journal of Information Technology Management, vol.

19, no. 3, pp.27-42.

Gunduz, M & Almuajebh, M 2020, 'Critical success factors for sustainable construction project management, Sustainability, vol. 12, no. 5, p.1990.

Hofstede Insights n.d., Country comparison. Available at <https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/china,spain,sweden/>.

Accessed on 29 March 2021.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) 2014, Benin: Occupational safety and health. Available at <https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.listResults? p_lang=en&p_country=BEN&p_classification=14>. Accessed on 29 March 2021.

The World Bank 2018, Republic of Benin: Program for the universal access to drinking water in rural areas. Available at <http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/962781521155092860/pdf/P164186ESSA-EN-15-March-2018.pdf>. Accessed on 29 March 2021.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 14 The World Bank 2020a, Economy profile Benin: Doing business 2020. Available at <https://www.doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/country/b/benin/BEN.pdf>.

Accessed on 29 March 2021.

The World Bank 2020, The World Bank in Benin. Available at <https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/benin/overview>. Accessed on 29 March 2021.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 15 Part B: Academic Essay Introduction Construction projects in non-developed nations face various challenges, with most ending up being terminated. The complexities and characteristics of the construction industry in nondeveloped countries differ from those in developed nations. Even though there is a widely accepted standard, the projects are executed in different contexts, with each being adapted to the local setting. A project's dynamics, including its sponsor, location, stakeholders, purpose, and timing, play a role in the management approach. Although construction projects mainly function under an elaborate context, those in non-developed nations face more instability and unpredictability because of many challenges. According to Tekinel (2013), some of the challenges faced when implementing international projects include resource limitations, complex objectives, cross-cultural differences when dealing with multicultural teams, external risks, differences in the concept of time when dealing with teams in diverse geographical locations, international politics, unstable political and legal system, delays in financing approval, unclear roles of project supervisors and sponsors, and complex stakeholder management. Ngowi (2002) argues that construction projects in non-developed nations face the challenge of adopting technology and innovative practices used in other countries. The transfer of best practices established in developed nations faces problems such as the unwillingness of international contractors to nurture potential competitors, project delays, and difficulties in using the local personnel's acquired knowledge. Other problems facing technology transfer include cultural differences and the complexity of the technology. Another challenge hindering the implementation of projects in non-developed nations is the government's involvement and control, which leads to inefficiency due to high bureaucracy levels. Bribery and corruption are

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 16 also rampant in developing nations, and they hinder the success of construction projects (Yanwen 2012). Furthermore, there is a lack of project management infrastructure in developing nations, including the lack of well-trained managers, well established administrative procedures, and capable institutions. The top management also lacks awareness regarding project management in developing countries, leading to the implementation of projects similar to nonproject activities. There are also scarce resources such as trained personnel, appropriate technology, and technical skills (Yanwen 2012). Many developing countries also lack adequate public service infrastructure, including transportation systems, water supply, education, and waste disposal systems. All these problems are unique to developing nations due to the nature of their infrastructure, cultures, systems in place, and availability of different resources. The challenges facing construction projects in non-developed nations include engineering, managerial and political, human development, sustainability, contextual or structural, organisational, and institutional.

Challenges Facing Complex Construction Projects in Non-Developed Countries Complex construction projects in developing nations face numerous challenges. According to Othman (2013), the challenges facing constriction projects in non-developed nations can be categorised into engineering, managerial and political, human development, and sustainability.

Engineering challenges include technical and design problems. These projects are complex and require unique skills, experience, and expertise. They are likely to fail due to the unavailability of professional expertise, lack of business innovation and research capacity, lack of full understanding of technical and scientific requirements of the projects, failure to make proper decisions, and disregarding the views of stakeholders and specialists during decision making (Othman 2013). Poor management capabilities and inadequate design experience contribute to

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 17 the misunderstanding of the client's specifications and hinder the completion of project objectives. Other engineering challenges include ill-defined procedures and rules, inadequate front-end planning, unavailability of construction materials, ineffective project management, inability to manage complexities of work processes, and change of project requirements by stakeholders at the final stages of the project's life cycle, Human development challenges also hinder the implementation of projects in non-developed countries. Lack of quality professional training and education programmes makes it difficult to implement projects using qualified human resources with the appropriate skills matching the project's demands (Othman 2013). There is also inadequate human resources development in contract administration, leadership, and project management, resulting in inexperienced staff handling critical roles in the project. The projects lack well-trained on-site workers and supervisors. Academic institutions also do not provide adequate skills for graduates to enable them to meet the construction industry's requirements. Thus, it is difficult to match the required skills with the project demands.

Moreover, political and managerial challenges hinder the success of construction projects in developing nations. These include bureaucracy, leadership problems, corruption, and lack of political support. If the non-developed country's leadership is corrupt, bureaucratic, and selfish, the business environment will be unfavourable for innovation. Such challenges obstruct the implementation of construction projects that could boost the country's economy. For example, due to inefficiency and lack of political support, the development of Chile's biggest dam project was halted (Othman 2013). Political instability hinders a county's economic development as it discourages foreign investment and construction projects. Moreover, in many non-developed nations, leaders misuse authority and hand over public-funded projects to politicians. Other

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 18 managerial and political challenges include the unfavourable regulatory framework in nondeveloped nations, unavailability of construction materials, weak project management governance, misuse of political authority, and political tensions between nations.

Sustainability challenges such as insufficient financial resources impede construction projects' development due to poor management of a nation's assets, low Gross Domestic Product, and inadequate monetary resources (Othman 2013). Other sustainability challenges include missing intermediary bodies, poor identification and involvement of key stakeholder groups during initial project stages, poorly trained on-site supervisors, inadequate communication and poor coordination among project stakeholders, ignorance of safety and health considerations, poor risk analysis, and failure to consider environmental requirements leading to the endangering of natural reserves and historical sites.

Engineering

Sustainability

Challenges facing constructio n projects

Managerial and Political

Human Development

Fig. 3: Challenges facing Construction Projects in Non-Developed Countries (Othman 2013)

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 19 Ika (2012) categorises the challenges affecting construction projects in non-developed nations into contextual or structural, organisational or managerial, and institutional or sustainability.

Contextual or structural challenges include political, geographic, historic, economic, sociocultural, environmental, and demographic. Political challenges include contradictions between the development and political agendas of the developing countries and the multinational sponsor. Such projects may also face the economic challenges of resource constraints, tight budgetary restrictions, and domestic price regulations in non-developed nations. Geographic challenges include climate, terrain, natural resources, location, land, flora, and fauna (Ika 2012).

The projects may also face historic challenges, including collective action patterns, ethnic origins, and past experience with development efforts. Sociocultural challenges include religion, cultural traditions, gender roles, and language barrier.

Another challenge faced in managing projects in developing countries is organisational or managerial. Some of the organisational challenges include imperfect project design, failure to agree on project objectives, inadequate needs analysis, and an unclear definition of goals. Other organisational challenges include the managers and supervisors' insensitivity to the beneficiaries' needs, poor needs analysis, contradictory stakeholder agendas, and the unavailability of skilled personnel in project management (Ika 2012). The projects also face other organisational challenges such as poor stakeholder management, delays, poor risk analysis, cost overruns, communication problems with locals, and project monitoring and evaluation failure.

Projects in non-developed countries also face institutional or sustainability challenges, including lack of political support, endemic corruption, and recurrent project costs. Other institutional challenges include capacity building setbacks, incompatible management systems between countries, lack of implementation capacity, and overemphasis on quick results (Ika 2012).

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 20 These challenges lead to project management traps such as overemphasis on accountability for results, taking a one-size-fits-all approach, lack of project management capacity, and the failure to adapt projects to the local cultural context (Ika 2012).

Fig. 4: Project Management Challenges and Traps in International Development (Ika 2012) Shahhossein, Afshar, and Amiri (2018) argue that construction project failure is caused by contractor-related, consultant-related, client-related, and external factors. According to Nguyen and Chileshe (2015), projects fail because of disregard of the importance of project planning, frequent design changes and poor design capacity, and the lack of experience in undertaking complex projects. According to Mackhaphonh and Guangshe (2017), megaprojects fail in nondeveloped nations due to contractors, project resources, corruption, technology and technical, external environment, project management knowledge, social and culture, and financial elements. Contractor-related challenges include lack of experience, incompetence, poor site management, inaccurate estimation, site-related issues, and improper tools and techniques.

Technology and technical challenges include lack of experience and knowledge, lack of technological knowledge, high technical requirements, and lack of technologies. Challenges related to project management knowledge include limited experience with complex projects,

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 21 ineffective leadership, and strategic planning. Other challenges are related to the project resources, including shortage of labour, limited project resources, lack of skilled personnel, and poor contractor management. Financial challenges include high project costs, lack of financial resources, and difficulties in getting credit. Cultural differences also pose a challenge to the completion of megaprojects. Corruption and external factors such as poor infrastructure and inconsistent policies also affect projects in non-developed nations.

According to Rondinelli (1976), projects fail in developing nations due to several reasons, including ineffective planning and preparation, improper evaluation and selection, defective project designs, start-up and activation problems, poor execution and supervision, ineffective external coordination, and inadequate diffusion and assessment of results and follow-up action.

Ineffective planning and preparation include the inappropriate procedures within the operating ministries and national planning agencies, distortion of development patterns, inaccurate market need analysis, national governments' inability to commit resources to viable projects, inadequate analyses of the countries' absorptive capacity to finance and execute certain projects, and insufficient technical appraisal and feasibility studies. Furthermore, improper evaluation and selection entails lack of clearly defined project objectives and expected outputs, inadequate request assessment for continuation funding, promotion of pet projects, overemphasis on financial goals during appraisal and selection, increased emphasis on technical and economic criteria while ignoring other factors, the difficulty of approximating true capital costs, and lengthy processing and approval periods by international funding agencies.

The challenge of defective project designs includes insufficiently detailed designs, those that are not suited to local needs, conditions, and capacities, inadequate specifications, underestimation of resource demands, lack of contingency planning, not planning for policy changes, not

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 22 selecting adequate developmental indicators and baseline data, and failure to incorporate projects into larger networks or related systems. Start-up and activation problems include corruption and lack of cooperation, poor organisational planning, delays in getting approvals, difficulties in getting local resources, not redesigning the project after encountering unanticipated obstacles, and poor analysis and comparison to other methods for achieving project objectives.

Poor execution and supervision is another challenge, including cost overruns caused by delays, incompetence or insufficient capacity of local contractors, inadequate equipment specifications, high personnel turnover and poor training, and outdated accounting procedures, lack of supervision and continuity from international agencies. It also entails inadequate information flows, lack of competent project managers, flawed work and resource scheduling systems, delivery delays, conflicts among team members, and unnecessary fragmentation of project implementation responsibility. There are also complex procedures, excessive utilisation of expatriates, overextending financial resources, and failure to attract foreign contractors and consultants to supplement local workers (Rondinelli 1976). Ineffective external coordination is another challenge that includes delays in getting funds from donors, political interference, insufficient technology transfers and adaptation, insufficient supporting facilities, poor coordination among the involved organisations, failure to train personnel by government agencies, and poor funding coordination.

Lastly, inadequate diffusion and assessment of results and follow-up action include poor internal reporting, inadequate utilisation of complete projects, inadequate monitoring by government ministries, faulty supervision by international lending agencies, failure to adapt techniques and outputs to other developmental activities, delays in submitting completion reports, failure to

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 23 retain staff after project completion, failure to end projects at the right time, and ineffective postevaluation procedures.

Conclusion Evidently, complex construction projects face numerous challenges in non-developed nations that hinder their success. Such problems are not faced by project managers in developed countries. These challenges are categorised in different ways by several authors. They can be classified as engineering, managerial and political, human development, and sustainability challenges. These challenges can also be categorised as contextual or structural, organisational or managerial, and institutional or sustainability. Moreover, challenges facing construction projects include resource limitations, complex objectives, cross-cultural differences, external risks, differences in the concept of time, international politics, unstable political and legal system, delays in financing approval, unclear project roles, and the inability to transfer technology and innovative practices used in other nations. Construction project failure is also caused by contractor-related, consultant-related, client-related, and external factors. Other factors leading to project failure include disregard of the importance of project planning, frequent design changes and poor design capacity, and the lack of experience in undertaking complex projects.

Megaprojects in non-developed nations also fail due to contractors, project resources, corruption, technology and technical factors, external environment, lack of project management knowledge, social and culture, and financial elements. Lastly, the challenges can be categorised as ineffective planning and preparation, improper evaluation and selection, defective project designs, start-up and activation problems, poor execution and supervision, ineffective external coordination, and inadequate diffusion and assessment of results follow-up action. Clearly, construction projects face unique challenges in the international context. The characteristics of non-developed nations

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 24 differ from those in developed countries. These pose numerous challenges to project managers, especially if they are not aware of the unique features of the non-developed world. For complex construction projects to be successful in non-developed nations, the project team members have to find ways of overcoming these challenges to avoid falling into traps such as overemphasis on accountability for results, taking a one-size-fits-all approach, lack of project management capacity, and the failure to adapt projects to the local cultural context.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 25 Reference List Ika, LA 2012, 'Project management for development in Africa: Why projects are failing and what can be done about it', Project Management Journal, vol. 43, no. 4, pp.27-41.

Mackhaphonh, N & Guangshe, JIA 2017, 'Mega projects in developing countries and their challenges', International Journal of Business, Economics and Management Works, vol.

4, no. 11, pp.6-12.

Ngowi, A 2002, 'Challenges facing construction industries in developing countries', Building Research & Information, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 149-151.

Nguyen, TP & Chileshe, N 2015, 'Revisiting the construction project failure factors in Vietnam', Built Environment Project and Asset Management, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 398-416.

Othman, AAE 2013, 'Challenges of mega construction projects in developing countries', Organization, Technology & Management in Construction: An International Journal, vol. 5, no. 1, pp.730-746.

Rondinelli, DA 1976, 'Why development projects fail: Problems of project management in developing countries', Project Management Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 10-15.

Shahhossein, V, Afshar, MR & Amiri, O 2018, 'The root causes of construction project failure', Scientia Iranica, vol. 25, no. 1, pp.93-108.

Tekinel, EA 2013, 'International development projects-challenges and opportunities', PMI® Global Congress 2013-EMEA, Istanbul, Turkey, Project Management Institute, Newtown Square.

Project Implementation in a Multinational Context- Benin 26 Yanwen, W 2012, 'The study on complex project management in developing countries', Physics Procedia, vol. 25, pp.1547-1552.