It's about time

Purpose - Time is a critical element of commercial real estate (CRE) and has received only cursory attention. This paper identifies and describes the interactions between time, change and CRE. It leads to important implications and possible changes in professional practice, teaching and research. Design/methodology/approach - The research design involves identifying and synthesising research in a disparate discipline into a coherent portrayal of time, change and CRE. Using the CRE environment as a foundation, a more comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach is developed to highlight the temporal issues within CRE. Findings - The extreme levels of complexity, dynamism and uncertainty characterising current CRE environments affect the interaction of time, change and CRE. In response, CRE has become increasingly specialised in property types and time segments. The paper identifies four issues for CRE: the role of CRE as an integrator of different layers of civilisation with different clock speeds, the need for a temporal mindset recognising finite and infinite games, the need for temporal ambidexterity and the use of strategic foresight and scenarios. The very definition of CRE as an industry is questioned. Research limitations/implications - Need for essential empirical work as well as additional work for implications. Practical implications - CRE faces disruption from many sources, and this paper considers how to incorporate time and change into analysis of the CRE market environment. It identifies specific ways CRE can understand and avoid disruption. Further, areas of teaching and research are highlighted. Social implications - Real estate assets are substantial, long-lived assets with important consequences for society. This paper advances the analysis of such assets. Originality/value - Areas of concentration in CRE and academia needing attention are identified. The areas have generally not been considered prior to this paper.