The corporate objective is to increase shareholder value. Strategies are created to transform capital and labor into products and services, and then back into capital, which is (hopefully) greater than that deployed. The physical backbone of the process is real estate, supporting the operation, culture, and in many ways, contributing to the brand and competitive advantage.
Being physical in nature, real estate lends to a long useful life. In contrast, corporate strategy can change in an instant, resulting from a merger or acquisition, change in law or regulation, innovation or disruptive technology, or because of an economic, social or natural event. The ability to maintain a strategy that can adapt to these internal and external forces and keep competitors at bay is rare and elusive. Testament is the fact that only two of the thirty original Dow Jones Industrial Average companies remain in the DJIA today. Buildings and infrastructure are built to support the initial strategy, but when strategy changes, real estate remains. The implication is significant. Corporate real estate is generally the largest expense in the General and Administrative budget, and, after employee compensation and inventory, it is the third largest expense overall. The only reasonable solution is integration of real estate into the corporate strategy.
The purpose of IntelligentCRE is to share strategies, techniques and experiences that have succeeded and failed, at aligning real estate with corporate strategy.
Rory Johnson
I am a 29 year old corporate real estate consultant (Transaction Advisor) with UGL Equis, and am a member of the Minneapolis Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. I graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 2001, with a degree in Entrepreneurship. I like to snowboard, play hockey, invest, read, and above all, spend time with my family. Professional interests lie in corporate real estate, management and exploring corporate competitive advantages.
Part of Australia based United Group Limited, UGL Equis is a multidisciplinary corporate real estate services firm that delivers integrated services exclusively to space users.
A leading engineering and services company providing industrial maintenance, manufacturing, engineering, transport, facilities management and corporate real estate services to blue chip companies and governments throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, United States and the United Kingdom.
Rory Johnson
rory@intelligentcre.com
