Examining The Corporate Relocation Decision Making Process To Design And Evaluate A Client Focused Tool To Support Objective Decision Making

The size of the organisation can have a significant impact on the building evaluation and decision making process and previous research undertaken by the author suggests that larger firms are more likely to pursue a sophisticated measurement and modelling process. In addition, smaller firms with less resources are more likely to make the relocation decision based on ìgut feelingî rather than detailed evaluation. The research also confirmed that some decisions were made in a few cases based on personal preferences of the Chairman or Chief Executive. However, with increased transparency, accountability and corporate social responsibility, decisions based on more rigorous and objective approaches are being demanded. Establishing clear quantifiable building assessment criteria and a framework for evaluation are essential if the relocation decision is to be made in a purely objective manner. The methodology most likely to be adopted would be one which compares the specifications for building demand with the specifications for building supply, often through the use of checklists and tick box exercises. However, the relocation evaluation process should include more than just the evaluation of a buildings specification and should consider factors such as demographics and quality of life are likely to play a greater role. The weighting placed on each element will be individual to the organisation. What we find is that extracting the preferences and ranking them in an objective way is difficult for companies and they need time, support and a simple framework to assist them in their prioritisation of supply priorities. In the European Challenge project for European Students we have been working for many years with the Dutch designed system the Real Estate Norm (REN) originally developed by DTZ Zadelhoff and Jones Lang Wootton (now Jones Lang LaSalle) and G&P Starke Diekstra. It has never really been adopted fully in the industry, probably due to, in our opinion, its over complexity and attention to detail and Dutch orientation. However, we believe that its methodology in identifying a comprehensive list of occupier demand factors, translating this into a specification and allowing users to score available buildings is a very useful approach. The authors have been working with Creative Sheffield, the Sheffield based urban regeneration company to extend, refine and adapt the REN approach into a working tool to support the organisation demand and supply analysis, inherent in relocation projects. The tool is spreadsheet based and requires occupiers to rank 54 business factors in terms of High, Medium, Low priority or Not Applicable. Each of these factors have been examined in detail and a building specification developed on a five point scale. The paper will examine the literature around corporate relocation decision making and the development of tools to support the process and demonstrate the operation of the Sheffield Hallam / Creative Sheffield Tool and its beta testing and evaluation in a student project which has led to its refinement before offering it to real clients looking to relocate to Sheffield.