Get competitive through strategic thinking about property Posted 2011, 29 November Despite the fact that property is the second biggest cost for most businesses, it is still not often a topic high on the list of priorities in the board room. For a great many leaders in business, the case for integrating the strategic management of property with business development and productivity has not been made. I’m increasingly determined to bring the message home. Strategic planning for commercial property premises is an awesome opportunity to grow more competitive, especially for New Zealand organisations and, indeed, the country as a whole. It is interesting to note that Auckland is hosting some of the world’s top thinkers about economic development this week at the 14th Annual Global Competitiveness Institute Conference. The focus of The Competitiveness Institute (TCI) right now as the leading global network for economic development leaders is building competitiveness through business clusters. It was heartening to see the following in the conference blog, which makes the point for thinking strategically about property and infrastructure for a competitive edge. Music to my ears! A cluster’s hard infrastructure needs to at least match that of its competitors. Weak, dysfunctional, static clusters… Cramped land space, little room for firm growth. Poor alignment of the physical infrastructure with needs of core & support firms. Duplication with neighbouring regions of underutilised facilities. Multi-sector industrial parks, managed as a real estate development. Failed attempts to centre a clustering initiative on an industrial park. General purpose business incubators, open to all SMEs, offering subsidised rents to a lucky few firms. In contrast: Strong, innovative, high performance clusters… Availability of serviced land. Decentralised administration, local decision making on e.g. land use. Local municipalities able to collaborate. Specialised, dedicated physical infrastructure in place. Science parks with a sector/cluster focus. Incubators co-located with specialised knowledge centres, such as a university.
