Corporate Real Estate Strategies In Finnish Companies

Large occupiers in Finland have traditionally owned significant part of their premises. This has been caused by corporate taxation benefits or pure tradition to own rather than a conscious strategic choice. It was not until the 1990s that Corporate Real Estate (CRE) has gradually become recognised function in some more advanced companies. The aim of this paper is to analyse and evaluate the current level of CRE strategies in 15 major Finnish companies representing different industries: retail, high-tech, basic industries, public sector. The main topics reviewed in this paper are: 1) The role of real estate resources, 2) The key features of CRE-activities 3) Evaluation of CRE-management by two critical factors: communicational and organisational issues. The data for the research was gathered in in-depth interviews with managers responsible for CRE functions in these companies. The interviews were conducted in two phases: in phase one the basic facts of corporate real estate management were collected; in phase two these facts were evaluated and discussed further. Nine critical factors affecting the performance of CRE ñ management were identified based on these interviews. Preliminary results show that corporate real estate management has become more sophisticated in recent years. However, remarkable differences remain between different companies. The communication between CRE-management and top management and business units seems to be one of the most significant problems in enhancing the role of corporate real estate management.