Iiya,
While this is a real problem in project management. Is this the role of the project manager? To justify the project in business terms?

Absolutly right. This is one of the role of Master Planning, Business Case and Balanced Scorecard for projects. Google will bring "project balanced scorecard." We've used this to make visible the insane commitments of senior execs. In the absence of these measures, their critical success factors and stratgey goals, the project of probably doomed from the beginning.
Glen B. Alleman
VP, Program Planning and Controls

Kudos on a great article!

Glen, you mention some tools and processes that can be usefully deployed to consider the strategic implications of projects. And, in some cases, these processes do act as proxy for individuals taking a strategic approach. However, I strongly agree with Ilya's initial point - that a strategic view of the project is needed (and, too often, missing) at most levels of projects and programs down to final implementation. While often not welcome and sometimes not useful to question the core foundational rationale for a company's or project's strategic direction, in my experience, projects are always better provisioned when they ask the right questions and align with larger strategic directions and goals. Although this isn't the project's primary focus, for the PM to pursue such strategic questioning may be the only really effective mechanism for higher levels of the organization to engage in the conversation about how/whether this project REALLY fits within a broader strategic direction. As the program or project manager asks these key questions, they bring these high level notions to a ground-level reality and enable those at higher levels to consider whether this was really what they imagined they wanted.

Oh yes, and, in my experience, it is always a person who asks these questions. The trick is always to ask them in a way that can be 1) heard, and 2) acted upon. That is the role of political savvy and cultural awareness.

Amy Schwab

Amy,
My first comment suggested getting the strategy, mission and vision is not the responsibility of the project manager, rather the responsibility of the business manager.
There is no doubt having this information benefits the projects, that should be obvious.
The tools are simply the repositories for the information and produce the artifacts used to communicate with others.
That's all I suggested to Iiya, that BSC and the like are outside the domain of the PM.
Making the connections between Mission, Vision, Strategy, Goals, Critical Success Factors, Key Performance Indicators, Project Deliverables, and their preformance measurement baseline starts and ends with people. The tools are just helpers in this process.