Five axioms for corporate real estate management: a polemical review of the literature

This paper argues from a review of the literature that five key roles for CRE and its management are such foundation concepts that they constitute axioms for the field from which current theorisation is derived. The roles are demonstrably long-standing in CREM but the treatment as axioms constitutes a new interpretation of this existing material. This interpretation is undertaken with the aim of adopting a more philosophical approach that represents an expansion in the field's knowledge production beyond a reliance on empirical studies or experienced practitioners' encapsulation of that experience. Two recent key works that represent a theory of CREM theories are analysed using thematic content analysis together with a selection of illustrative literature across the history of CREM that display the theorisation that is based on the suggested five axioms. This analysis supports claims that the five axioms exist in the field. Furthermore, because such philosophical thinking is so rare in the field the paper then considers why this might be the case in its science-making