Target Group-Specific Clustering Of Office Tenants In Germany - An Empirical Analysis

High vacancy rates, the ascent in non-marketable office buildings and increased flexibility and regional mobility of office tenants have fostered the relevance of a segmentation of office tenants as well as of the application of target group-specific management strategies with regard to office buildings in Germany. Although the ìmarket-oriented view of real estateî has increased in importance in the German office market, the application of target group-specific marketing strategies have been criticized for a lack of empirical base. To address this deficit, we evaluate statistically the results of a comprehensive survey of German office tenants. Hereby, we particularly utilize factor and cluster analysis to segment different target groups. The contribution of the study is its thorough theoretical and empirical investigation of German office tenants. In this way, the empirical survey investigates the strategic relevance of a target-group specific view on office tenants for various groups of stake holders. Hereby, the analysis aims to contribute to an optimal management and design of office buildings in a market-oriented way. Thus, the paper identifies different groups of office users with different preferences. By this means, the investigation shows the importance of a range of diverse attributes regarding the macro and micro location, fitting, appearance and services for diverse target groups. The authors contend that an essential part of a successful (re-)development, letting or positioning strategy requires the application of a target group-specific approach. In light of the current market circumstances, a clear and differentiated segmentation of office tenants is necessary to outrank the competition.