Corporate Real Estate Management - Importance, Strategies and Development

Problem description An organized approach to corporate real estate (CRE) decisions i.e. a CRE strategy, can add value to a company in many ways. The decision to own or lease real estate is a vital part of the strategy. What factors are decisions to own or lease CRE based on? The authors seek patterns in decision factors for different industries. Identified patterns will provide an understanding of companies’ CRE management (CREM). Purpose The aim of this study is to investigate companies’ CREM with a focus on strategies for CRE decisions, in particular to own or lease real estate. Investigated companies will be categorized in order to find patterns within and between industries. To achieve the aim, the following objectives have been identified: To verify whether companies realize the potential value CREM can add and if they do, discover how it shows in the organizations. To recognize what strategies and rationales companies use for CRE decisions such as owning or leasing. To understand how CREM has developed over time and what external factors it is affected by. Conclusions The variation in how companies are managing their CRE is large. Some companies have no CRE strategy, others are currently developing one, and some have one but are not working actively with it while others have come a long way. Overall, companies tend to view CRE as more important today than before. Several factors that influence the decision to either own or lease real estate have been identified. They seem to be company specific rather than industry specific. CRE strategies should consequently be company specific rather than industry specific. The importance of CREM is likely to increase in the future due to stronger market competition, which makes it essential to handle CRE as a strategic resource