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The innovation patterns and processes in facility management (FM) organizations are crucial for the development of FM as a discipline, but they are not yet fully explored and understood. This paper aims to clarify FM innovation from the perspective of innovation processes and the innovativeness of FM organizations.

It explores the innovation patterns in FM organizations by applying the innovation management concepts to FM practices. A sample of four FM organizations is analyzed by means of a comparative case study approach. Based on their innovative performance, the sample of FM organizations are divided into two groups – a group of high‐performers and a group of low‐performers. The major similarities and differences in managing the innovation process between these two groups are described.

Based on this study it is concluded that FM organizations innovate only mildly. The innovation in FM industry is incremental due to the day‐to‐day nature of decision‐making in FM projects and fast changing demands and needs of the client organizations.

Further research should concentrate on a specific type of innovation projects, where the points of interest would be the routines followed, activities performed and the tools used by the FM teams when carrying out the innovation projects.

This paper provides a different perspective on studying the innovation patterns in FM industry.

Facility management (FM) teams must deal with the creation of value in the physical world of resources and a virtual world made of information. Therefore, an innovative approach in the day‐to‐day FM operation is crucial. Studying the innovative ability of the FM teams contributes to the ongoing discussion in the field concerning the innovative ability of in‐house FM departments in comparison to their outsourced counterparts. The focus of this article is on the innovative ability of in‐house and outsourced FM teams. The article addresses the issue of innovative ability of FM teams from a theoretical perspective, suggesting an assessment framework to be used, providing an overview of implementation mechanisms of an innovation project. It concludes with a methodological application of the framework developed.

This paper aims to explore similarities and dissimilarities between facilities management (FM) and corporate real estate management (CREM) regarding its history and key issues, and whether the similarities may result in a further integration of FM and CREM.

The paper is based on a review of FM and CREM literature, seven interviews with experienced academics and consultants and the long experience of the author as a researcher and teacher in accommodating people and activities.

Both FM and CREM aim to support primary business processes by aligning the physical resources of organisations to the organisational strategies in order to contribute to organisational performance and to add value to the organisation. Efficiently and effectively supporting the primary activities and business purposes are key issues. Dissimilarities consider the focus on facilities and services (FM) versus that on buildings and real-estate portfolios (CREM), as well as a shorter time frame and high flexibility of facilities (FM) versus a long life cycle and rather static buildings (CREM). In spite of the differences, it is expected that both disciplines will be more integrated in the future.

The selection of key topics and key publications may be biased by the personal knowledge and European perspective of the author and the input from seven expert interviews.

The common body of knowledge of FM and CREM may be used to improve both professions and disciplines and may result in a more integrated approach of facilities and real estate management (FREM).

This paper combines insights from two related disciplines with different histories and focus points, and explores what they have in common and can learn from each other.