Evaluating the sustainable competitive advantage model for corporate real estate

Purpose – The paper aims to establish empirical connections between corporate real estate management (CREM) practices and organisations' sources of sustainable competitive advantage (SSCA). The alignment of CREM practices with modes of achieving competitiveness provides greater competitive advantage from CREM. Design/methodology/approach – The model for sustainable competitive advantage for corporate real estate (CRE) theorising the connections between CREM practices and SSCAs was implemented in a survey of Australian CRE managers. Practices' competitive benefits are reported at the aggregated level of practice categories and illustrated with a selected category of individual practices. Findings – The model was supported by the study's results by providing connections suggested in the model but not previously corroborated in the literature. The cost source of sustainable competitive advantage was a dominant empirical competitive mode for CREM, as it was in the model. Categories of technical CREM practices providing competitive advantage were shown to be practices for “location/site selection”, “workplace styles” and “corporate finance for CRE”. Research limitations/implications – The research's relatively small sample of organisations meant that not all practices were evident. However, the study does establish the model's usefulness for evaluating CREM's alignment with organisations' modes of competition. Practical implications – For CRE and its management to fully support a competitive organisation it is essential that CREM practices align with that organisation's competitive positioning. This research evaluated a framework for CRE managers to do this. Originality/value – CRE, its management, and their connections to competitiveness have seldom been studied but are important as CRE is an organisations' second largest resource. This paper's model is a significant advance in frameworks linking CREM practices to organisational competitiveness for both practitioners and also further theoretical work in the area.