Attributes of Alignment of Facilities Management to Business Needs: an international comparative analysis

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a model for Real Estate/Facility Management alignment, and to validate it based on questionnaire surveys carried out in a number of countries around the world.Design/methodology/approach - The model for FM alignment is inspired by the work of the fathers of the Balanced Scorecard in their book “Alignment” (Kaplan and Norton, 2006). The model includes a number of criteria for alignment between business needs, facility solutions, FM services and FM resources. Three multi-year questionnaire surveys were conducted using the same methodology, in different languages: English, Portuguese and Danish. Respondents were senior professionals in the area of Real Estate/Property/Facility Management, mostly working at strategic levels, and representing countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. The results of the surveys were combined and then analysed, using both discourse analysis and statistical tests to validate them. Differences in the priorities of the alignment criteria are described and analyzed.Findings - A main result of the surveys is that all of the alignment criteria were seen as relevant and useful in near all countries, but the priorities accorded to the different criteria varied a lot for some of the alignment variables in the different countries. The highest degree of agreement was on capacity, being the most important criteria for the alignment between supply and demand of facility solutions in relation to business needs. One of the main differences was between the importance of strategy versus cost in the alignment between facility solutions and FM services.Research limitations/implications - The validity and value of the model was evaluated positive in all countries, but by far most positive in USA and least positive Europe. Although the survey results might be limited in terms of a broader generalization, this was not the main purpose of the research, but rather the test of hypotheses about alignment criteria and their validation by professionals, thus enabling further developments of the framework.Originality/value - Alignment to business needs is an essential management task of great importance for Facilities Management in order to create added value to the core business. Moreover, as companies go increasingly global, an international comparative study of these priorities becomes more relevant. However, there has been limited research into such alignment.