Abstract
The increasing competitive pressures and dynamic user preferences have resulted in a fast-paced and uncertain business environment. In the face of these circumstances, organizations are looking into alternatives to incorporate flexibility to become more adaptive and responsive to change. In this line, co-working, typically associated with freelancers, entrepreneurs, and startups, has become a particularly interesting alternative in the market that has caught the attention of corporate occupiers. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify co-working strategies that can be implemented as part of the corporate real estate portfolio, in alignment with the flexibility demands of the organization. This nascent research topic is studied through 5 qualitative case studies including in-depth, semi-structured interviews with corporate real estate managers and related case documentation. The results evidence the different motivations that the organizations have when incorporating co-working in their property portfolio. As seen across the cases, organizations in different stages of maturity are implementing co-working as the main office location or as a temporary or complementary space solution, through six different strategies: (1) Swing Space, (2) Expansion Space, (3) Core and Flex, (4) Touchdown Space, (5) Testing Market, and (6) Temporary Projects and Staff. This research evidences that each strategy plays a specific role in the corporate real estate portfolio and implies different sources of flexibility that support the physical, functional, and financial flexibility demands of the organization.
Highlights
Changes in society, technology, and economy have resulted in a dynamic and fastpaced business environment in which organizations operate
In 2017, with the projected expansion plans of the core business, the company relocated to their own headquarters in Amsterdam Zuid, and established a partnership with a large co-working operator to co-locate in the same building complex and provide the flexibility to gradually take up complementary space as the operation expanded over time—allowing the company to expand up to 1,000 employees
In face of the competitive pressures of the business environment and changing user preferences, organizations are looking into alternatives to incorporate flexibility to adapt and respond to change
Summary
Technology, and economy have resulted in a dynamic and fastpaced business environment in which organizations operate. In the face of volatile conditions and external shocks that impact the capital markets—as seen in the COVID-19 pandemic—organizations are adopting different practices that overturn the rigidity of previous production systems to become more responsive and agile to change [2] In this line, the far-seeing companies, that have realized the powerful strategic value of real estate (RE), are increasingly demanding flexibility in their portfolio as a means to embrace change and support the evolving needs of the organization under conditions of uncertainty, while remaining responsive and competitive [3]. As a result of these changing preferences and increased competitive pressures, the property market has responded with a growing array of property products that provide choice and flexibility to organizations and workers Within this wide range of options, co-working spaces are of particular interest due to its exponential growth in the last years. Brinkø [13] suggests that the shared use of space is a more efficient and sustainable method for the operation of buildings, which makes co-working an interesting real estate alternative for corporate users
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