Corporate real estate performance

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and quantify the impact of corporate real estate (CRE) performance on shareholder value and its contribution to core business competitiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe selected approach intended first to identify CRE performance in global industrial corporations by using a questionnaire, focussing on pharmaceutical companies. The results then were evaluated to classify the participating companies into CRE outperformers and CRE underperformers. Finally, the participants were compared based on three selected financial measures: share price performance, expense ratio and asset intensity.FindingsSummarising the findings, no evidence could be found that companies outperforming in corporate real estate management (CREM) perform better in terms of share price performance. The same holds true for asset intensity where no difference is identified when comparing asset intensity between both groups. Looking at the expense ration per EUR sales, CRE outperformers perform better, indicating that CREM is able to manage and optimise cost.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper is the introduction of a questionnaire producing a single indicator to rate companies according to their CRE performance. Furthermore, it aims to quantify the impact of CRE performance on the firm combining qualitative and quantitative measures. Finally, it provides insight into CRE practices in global pharmaceutical companies.