Role of adopting response strategies to manage the Front-End phase

The study investigates the role of the Front-End phase within the context of Innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises through the project management lens, focusing on what practitioners can do to manage this phase. Taking a cue from the assumption that the Front-End phase of a project is a very critical and important stage, this study begins with a literature review on innovation and on its role among the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and moves to the identification of the main challenges that an Innovative Italian Small and Medium Enterprise has to face in the Front-End phase. Particularly, the research focuses on the strategies that a Project Manager can implement to deal with the fuzzy nature of the Front-End phase, originated by uncertainty, equivocality and complexity.