Real Estate Services Research Articles

Utilising performance measurement to drive operational excellence in a post‐merger environment

Pharmacia’s Corporate Services organisation (which consists of Global Real Estate, Facilities Management, and various other internal service functions) recently commenced an initiative aimed at driving operational excellence throughout all functional areas and geographic sites. Apart from greatly improving both financial and operational results, this initiative also led to the collapse of existing functional and geographic ‘silos’. By breaking down these ‘silos’ (which developed partially as a result of Pharmacia’s recent merger activity), Corporate Services has begun to achieve breakthrough results. These results are largely attributable to the application of a comprehensive, management‐sponsored undertaking, referred to as the Continuous Improvement (CI) Initiative. The CI Initiative has helped to minimise disparity, drive process optimisation and ensure enterprise‐wide alignment with organisational objectives. This paper outlines the various tools, processes and resources that Corporate Services’ management used in design and execution of the CI Initiative. Most notably, the paper describes the use of ‘scorecards’ to communicate and drive performance in a balanced context. Further, the paper provides numerous real‐life examples of how these scorecards are leveraged in the identification and prioritisation of process improvement opportunities.

Agglomeration and Dispersion of High-order Service Employment in the Montreal Metropolitan Region, 1981-96

Much of the recent urban literature on suburban employment centres has neglected the role of high-order services, perhaps the principal component of 'edge cities', in the creation of the evolving multinucleated metropolitan structure. This paper specifically explores the role of high-order services in this process. We use employment by place-of-work data at the census-tract level to examine the changing intrametropolitan geography of employment in four finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) services and eight business services in the Montreal area over the period 1981-96. We find evidence of central business district (CBD) decline in relative, but not absolute, terms. The resulting decentralisation has clearly assumed the form of polycentricity rather than of generalised dispersion. In spite of recent advances in telecommunications technologies, agglomeration economies continue to exert an important impact upon intrametropolitan location.

Time, Place, Space, Technology and Corporate Real Estate Strategy

Few corporations take a strategic approach to managing real estate. This survey finds that corporate real estate managers and service providers in Australia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States continue to fulfill a traditional transactional role within their organizations. Real estate is not cooperating with other parts of the organization to provide their companies with flexibility that could increase competitiveness. While the use of technology is growing, real estate managers remain uncertain about its role in their future. Corporate real estate managers believe that to be effective in the future they will need strategic planning skills and business knowledge.

The Impact of a Rapidly Expanding Service Sector on Private Office Property: The Case of Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s economy has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past two decades. The rapid expansion of the service sector is a major outcome. Within the services sector, the finance, insurance, real estate (FIRE) and business services sub‐sector is the most influential and also the major source of generating demand for office space in the economy. This paper examines how the rapid expansion of the FIRE and business service sub‐sector influences new office construction. Using the Engle‐Granger (1987) methodology for cointegration and error correction mechanism (ECM), the causal relationships between growth of sub‐sectors of the services sector and the new office space construction were explored. The FIRE and business services sub‐sector growth is shown to be cointegrated with new office space construction. The paper reports empirical findings based on a sample survey on location and quality of space. The study reveals that the growth of the FIRE and business service sector has influenced office space development in terms of location of space, per capita space and the type and quality space during 1981‐2000.

Outsourcing: What does it take to be a top‐notch service provider?

Outsourcing has moved beyond a trend and has become a mainstream management practice. As a result, all major real estate brokerage firms now offer some type of corporate real estate service. In fact, typical brokerage houses are merging and consolidating, turning into large service organisations ‐ maturing to meet the ever‐increasing needs and demands of their corporate real estate clients. Correspondingly, the responsibility of the person providing the service is ever‐increasing to meet the evolving expectations and trends of corporate real estate. What does it take to become a leader in providing value added services as an outsourced real estate professional, and why are companies using outsourced firms for functions that have traditionally been handled in‐house?

Corporate competence in FM: current problems and issues

Over the past ten years there has been a significant shift towards the outsourcing of facility and real estate services in both the public and private sectors. However, relatively little attention has been given to the corporate competencies needed to maximise the benefits of externalisation of this kind. A number of models have been proposed such as the intelligent client, the contract manager and the partnering champion. However, research has shown that the successful development and implementation of new facilities need the active participation and involvement of a wide range of well‐informed end users. This paper considers the range of management models currently proposed to deal with these problems, and proposes a framework for the development of corporate competence that emphasises the importance of a collaborative approach in which key facility management perspectives form part of the wider culture of the client organisation.

Key performance indicators: Primary drivers of information systems design

As the demand for enterprise‐wide performance measurement of corporate real estate portfolios and service providers ever increases, the number of tools available to executives which claim to facilitate this has also grown. Starting by developing an understanding of key business drivers, this paper reviews the latest developments in performance metrics including key performance indicators, service level agreements, and how the emergence of web‐based data collection, access and presentation is transforming the role of information systems in supporting decision‐making processes.

REALMEDIA: providing multimedia-based real-estate services through the Internet

This paper presents the design and implementation of a software system, known as REALMEDIA, which provides Web-based, multimedia real-estate services on the Internet. REALMEDIA is innovative in that it is designed to provide both on-line services to clients and a tool for maintaining the system to real-estate agent. The software consists of a web-based interface, a client side editor and an application server. The web interface is used by both the customer and the real-estate agent to request particular services. When used by a customer, it allows the potential buyer to select and view desired properties, and to make an appointment with agents. Multimedia information, which integrates text, graphics and video clips, are presented to the customer. When used by the agent, the web interface allows the agent to dynamically update the contents of the web page and to manipulate property details through the Client Side Editor. The application server acts as a bridge between the Web Interface and the Client Side Editor. The computational architecture and major components of REALMEDIA as well as its implementation using JAVA, TCP/IP and FTP will be described.

The role of real estate assets in supporting the fulfilment of corporate business plans: key organisational variables for an integrated resource management framework

The focus of the research was to provide a business perspective to the role of real estate assets in supporting the fulfilment of corporate business plans. Based on a comprehensive survey of published literature and a series of in‐depth interviews of corporate real estate/facilities managers, an integrating resource management framework was developed to model the nature of interactions between strategic business planning and operational asset management in an organisational setting. The study supports the view that research efforts aimed at improving management effectiveness of the operational real estate asset base must be channelled to provide frameworks or models that promote understanding to all parties involved in the process, from a knowledge base that aims to define better: the operational requirements of core business(es); the key real estate and facilities service attributes; and options evaluation to meet dynamic changes.

The structure of employment and structural adjustment in the Philippines

Growth in the 1970s seemed, at that time, to have brought the Philippines to a rather high equilibrium growth path. But the foreign debt and political crisis in the early and mid‐1980s had brought the economy down to a lower equilibrium path. The recovery years (1987 to 1990) did not prove to be sustainable, given the extreme debt overhang, so that the economy retreated once again to the lower equilibrium path in the early 1990s. Significant debt reduction schemes and the new inflows (remittances of overseas workers and rising foreign investments) allowed a new growth trend. Whether sufficient growth can be maintained in the medium and long term will depend to a large part on uncontrollable external conditions. Significant improvements in trade and industrial policies are needed so that external deficits and imports will finance those sectors that allow for creation of high quality employment. Policy will have to shift resources away from the trade, real estate and other service sectors to strong tradeable manufactures. If the Philippines cannot get out of the boom—bust cycle, labour productivity in the medium and long term will stagnate and the share of those employed in the total labour force will remain stable, leading to stagnating employment opportunities and worsening income distribution.

How to succeed in business without being white: straight talk on making it in America

From the high-profile founder and publisher of the highly successful Black Enterprise magazine comes an illuminating and inspirational guide for the aspiring African American entrepreneur.(Graves) engagingly dispenses blunt advice and sharp commentary (New York Times) In This Timely and Important Book, Graves, One of the most influential and well-known executives in the world, shows how he, the son of a West Indian garment worker, became a multimillionaire entrepreneur, director of several of America's Fortune 500 corporations, and a philanthropist. Using his own story -- which includes careers in the military, real estate, and public service as an assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy -- and those of dozens of other black men and women who have made it in the business world as examples, Graves offers inspiring and down-to-earth advice to help readers take advantage of opportunities to achieve personal and professional success. From overcoming the unique challenges blacks face in getting financing for new ventures to identifying the best industries and jobs for black job seekers and cultivating the behaviors needed to make it as an entrepreneur, How to Succeed in Business Without Being White clearly lights the path readers can take to overcome adversity and succeed in today's largely white business environment. The book offers practical advice to black businesspeople on everything from getting a job to owning and running a business to supporting other African Americans. -- Washington Post

International Competitiveness: Labor Productivity Leadership and Convergence Among 14 OECD Countries

From 1970 through 1991, the United States led other OECD countries in overall labor productivity, a key measure of national competitiveness. During this period, labor productivity in these countries converged, both towards the mean OECD labor productivity and the U.S. level of labor productivity. This suggests living standards among the OECD countries are becoming more alike. In the latter half of the period, the rate of convergence slowed. The industrial components of aggregate labor productivity offer insight into the causes of this convergence slowdown. Although most industry groups continued to converge between 1982 and 1991, two key industry groups--1) Manufacturing, and 2) Finance, insurance and real estate and business services--did not. Growth in Japanese labor productivity created the divergence in Finance, insurance and real estate and business services. Strong manufacturing labor productivity growth in United States high-technology industries was a primary cause of the divergence in Manufacturing. In 1991, the United States was among the labor productivity leaders in almost all manufacturing industries. It was, however, no longer the unequivocal labor productivity leader in these industries. Other countries had overtaken U.S. labor productivity in three of the nine industries and retained the lead in three other industries. Japan, for example, had a dominant lead in Chemicals and chemical petroleum, coal, rubber and plastic products. The United States, however, held a considerable lead in Fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment, which includes most key high-technology manufacturing industries. The slowdown of OECD labor productivity convergence toward the U.S. level since 1982 is a sign of continued U.S. competitiveness. The results of this analysis of selected OECD countries at the aggregate and industry levels suggest that the pundits of the 1980s were too quick to point to the demise of the U.S. competitiveness. These results show that although the United States? overall labor productivity lead is not as overwhelming as it once was, the United States continues to lead in overall labor productivity and in labor productivity in many important individual industries. This is not to say that there are no reasons to watch U.S. labor productivity measures closely and explore the roots of labor productivity changes. The situation is, however, much more complicated and not necessarily as dire as some analysts suggested during the 1980s.

The property management division of Kiev City

Outlines the attempts made over the past few years to develop the financial services required by Kiev City council’s property management division to function as a privatization authority ‐ to develop, that is, what is referred to as the financial aspects of property management or, to be more precise, the accountancy, real estate, asset valuation and leasing services, which the property management division of Kiev City require to participate in the privatization, economic reform and process of liberalization the Ukraine has become subject to since the break‐up of the former USSR.

Examining the Thesis of Central Business District Decline: Evidence from the Montreal Metropolitan Area

Much recent North American research has focused on the decline of the central business district (CBD) as the economic core of metropolitan areas, and the corresponding rise of suburban employment centres. According to the literature, this trend is particularly evident in the case of high-order service functions: business services, finance, insurance, and real estate services, and head offices. In this paper, we argue that the decentralization of high-order service activities and the corresponding CBD decline may be neither as strong a trend nor as universal a phenomenon as certain authors have indicated. Rather, the growth of suburban office employment may reflect a strong CBD whose economic base is becoming increasingly specialized. Using data from the Montreal metropolitan area, we first examine intrametropolitan decentralization in a shift-share framework, then document the mobility of establishments and employment. Our findings suggest that, in spite of a certain level of intrametropolitan decentralization, the CBD continues to be the primary locus of high-order services.

Valuation of public real estate: context and concept

Notes an increasing interest in valuation of publicly owned real estate, and also controversy about the relevance of different concepts of value, especially for special purpose properties. Argues that it is important to distinguish between different contexts before taking a stand on this issue. Discusses three such contexts: external information, asset management and introduction of buyer‐provider models for real estate services within the public sector. Concludes that there is no type of public property for which the question of asset value is unimportant, and also that the information provided by aggregate values and a traditional balance‐sheet is small.

THE INTRAMETROPOLITAN LOCATION OF HIGH ORDER SERVICES: PATTERNS, FACTORS AND MOBILITY IN MONTREAL

ABSTRACT The issue of the interurban location of high order service activities (i. e., producer services and finance, insurance and real estate services) was one of the major areas investigated by service industries researchers during the 1980s; the spatial concentration of high order services in a relatively small number of large metropolitan areas is now a well documented fact. In the 1990s, researchers are increasingly turning their focus on the intrametropolitan location of these activities. In particular, certain studies have shown that high order services have begun to leave their “natural habitat”–the CBD–in order to locate in suburban office agglomerations. This paper explores the intrametropolitan location issue in the specific context of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), employing data derived from a detailed survey of 324 high order service establishments. We first examine patterns of intrametropolitan mobility, in terms of both establishments and employment; spatial stability, rather than decentralization, is evident. Next, we explore locational factors from the viewpoint of site attributes. Accessibility to the establishment for clients and land costs or rental prices emerge as the major factors. Finally, we conduct a logistic regression analysis in order to identify the principal characteristics of high order service establishments that may be used to explain their location within the Montreal CMA. The majority of the characteristics found to be statistically significant involve market linkages to clients, either in terms of the geographic distribution of clients or the types of clients served.

The intrametropolitan location of high order services: Patterns, factors and mobility in Montreal

The issue of theinterurban location of high order service activities (i. e., producer services and finance, insurance and real estate services) was one of the major areas investigated by service industries researchers during the 1980s; the spatial concentration of high order services in a relatively small number of large metropolitan areas is now a well documented fact. In the 1990s, researchers are increasingly turning their focus on theintrametropolitan location of these activities. In particular, certain studies have shown that high order services have begun to leave their natural habitat—the CBD—in order to locate in suburban office agglomerations. This paper explores the intrametropolitan location issue in the specific context of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), employing data derived from a detailed survey of 324 high order service establishments. We first examine patterns of intrametropolitan mobility, in terms of both establishments and employment; spatial stability, rather than decentralization, is evident. Next, we explore locational factors from the viewpoint of site attributes. Accessibility to the establishment for clients and land costs or rental prices emerge as the major factors. Finally, we conduct a logistic regression analysis in order to identify the principal characteristics of high order service establishments that may be used to explain their location within the Montreal CMA. The majority of the characteristics found to be statistically significant involve market linkages to clients, either in terms of the geographic distribution of clients or the types of clients served.

The Host Report, Hotel Operating Statistics, Annual Report for the Year 1992. The Arthur Andersen Real Estate Services Group, 633 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071. 1993. 108p. $200 annual subscription

The Host Report, Hotel Operating Statistics, Annual Report for the Year 1992. The Arthur Andersen Real Estate Services Group, 633 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071. 1993. 108p. $200 annual subscription

The Geographical Formation of International Management Centres in Europe

International management centres are based on production-control functions. Control functions comprise headquarters as bases of operation and beachheads co-ordinating foreign branches and subsidiaries. Bases of operations and beachheads are sustained by advanced business services, financial and real estate services and corporate services. These activities make up an economic formation. Transport, communication facilities, internationally oriented office locations and specific amenities enable the formation to function smoothly. The spatial and social structures of many city regions are strongly affected by the development of these international management centres. Segmentation processes in the housing and labour markets can be related to these formations of management activities.

Benchmarking: The Search for Best Practices in Corporate Real Estate

Working with over sixty leading U.S. companies since 1987, LaSalle Partners, an international real estate services and investment firm, has conducted a series of nine benchmarking studies in a vari...