CRE effects on organizational performance: measurement tools for management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify potential measures for corporate real estate (CRE) aspects to correlate them with organizational performance. These measures must simplify discussion between corporate real estate management (CREM), architects and users, and help CREM to claim its place at the strategic decision‐making table. Design/methodology/approach – An analysis is made of literature in relevant fields (e.g. CREM, architecture, ergonomics and installation technology) to identify aspects that influence performance. For the ones that lacked clear measures, a solution was deducted from other fields of study (environmental psychology, geography, urban design). These new measures are applied to two existing office buildings to show their relevance and usability, followed by a discussion on how to use them as a CRE manager. Findings – In total, 51 CRE aspects affect organizational performance. Particularly, the structural aspects are not quantified or measured in consistent ways, like “open layout” and “visibility”. Methods from the field of spatial network analysis show very promising possibilities for quantifying these configuration related aspects. Also, it does not appear to be very difficult for CREM to start using these methods. Originality/value – The spatial network analysis methods that are described and applied in this paper, have not been subject of an article in any (corporate) real estate‐related journal yet. Up till now, this field of research appears to take place in a totally different community of academics and practitioners. Hopefully, this paper will make CREM aware of these methods and encourage them to use them.