Considering that international projects with teams in the virtual environment (IPTVEs) contribute to the reduction in the carbon footprint and, at the same time, become life-saving solutions in extreme global situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations familiar with this type of project will have a substantial advantage in their ability to operate efficiently and to achieve their sustainable goals. An important aspect of project management is to identify the factors that influence the success of an international project, increasing its performance. Our first research hypothesis was that the decision to create a project team in the virtual environment is a factor with a major influence on international project success. Data collection was performed through an online survey conducted within international project team members and managers. The success factors were explained through factorial analysis which revealed two main factors and the neural network algorithm on a dataset through IBM SPSS Modeler software. The predictive model revealed that the most important field is setting up a virtual team, followed by organizational culture. These results support our hypothesis.

International projects have helped organizations around the world to better adapt to the new environmental conditions in which they operate, driven by the phenomenon of globalization. Electronic communication and information tools have enabled the creation of international virtual project teams (IVPTs), allowing team members to collaborate regardless of their geographic location or cultural, historical, socio-political, and educational differences. However, such an environment characterized by diversity will be productive only if the project team managers acknowledge and understand the behavior of influence factors comprised by the virtual environment, developing, accordingly, strategies that support team performance. In order to analyze the factors that influence IVPT performance, we used a C5.0 algorithm on the dataset through IBM SPSS Modeler software. Data collection was performed through an online survey, conducted within 107 IVPT members and managers, in order to answer the third question of the research. The predictive model created by the data mining algorithm revealed that the most important fields underlying the decision tree building were the cognitive skills training programs, team culture, and selection of IVPT members based on the characterisics of their national cultures. These results demonstrate the hypothesis that culture represents one of the most important factors influencing team performance.

MATEC Web of Conferences, open access proceedings in Materials science, Engineering and Chemistry

Systemic thinking is an instrument used in any field to understand the complexity of the changes and challenges that take place, and to discover the reciprocal links and conditions between the internal elements that determine the functioning of the system. Understanding how the international project with virtual project teams works as a system can help us better address the issues that arise in managing it, helping to increase the success rate. The international project with teams in the virtual environment, due to the diversity it embraces, in various aspects, especially at the cultural level, is considered a complex system, and can be seen as a system of systems. This term applies to systems in which interactions that could appear between different elements and deliverables are difficult to represent by a mathematical model or to be anticipated. In order to highlight the complexity of the international project system, we chose to represent project management in the virtual environment as a subsystem through the subsystems that compose it. This graphic representation can be used as a theoretical model of how to manage an international project with teams in the virtual environment

International projects with teams in the virtual environment (IPTVE) are known as complex and high risk projects, these features being considered as significant obstacles to project success. Applying the appropriate risk management methodology could increase their success rate, becoming a fundamental tool for decision making. Research on IPTVE management risks is scarce, focused on specific sectors as software development or construction, without taking into account the differences between traditional and international projects. Thereby, risk management within IPTVE becomes a necessary approach for the performance in managing international projects. This article aims to improve the risk management process within IPTVE, by proposing a flexible theoretical model of the process.