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Despite increased interest in headquarters (HQ) and their activities, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the drivers of HQ relocations and their consequences. We seek to address this gap by examining whether HQ relocations are primarily driven by cost-reduction or value-creation motives, whether these motivations vary by HQ type and how these relocation patterns vary over time. We explore these questions on the basis of a unique hand-collected database of 227 HQ relocations in Europe between 2000 and 2012. Our findings illustrate that different types of HQ units play their orchestrating role in different ways and that their relocations are driven by different motives. Furthermore, our data suggest that although all types of HQ units are increasingly mobile, the implications of relocations for the MNC may differ considerably by HQ type. These findings contribute to a more fine-grained understanding of the drivers of HQ relocations and open up various new avenues for future research on HQ relocation and the role of HQ units in the orchestration of MNCs’ internal networks.

Corporate relocation is a rare event in the history of an individual company. The choices related to location, building and workplace constitute major long-term strategic decisions that determine the company’s future operating environment. However, business decision-makers often do not evaluate all the aspects of relocation before making relocation decisions. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to systemise the knowledge behind corporate relocation and the strategic qualities and impacts of these choices.

This conceptual paper is based on a comprehensive literature review of 74 articles on the strategic qualities of short-distance corporate relocation of knowledge-intensive firms. Based on the review insights, a conceptual model of the strategic operational qualities for work environment selection is developed.

This paper identifies three strategic layers of physical environment change, namely, location, building and physical work environment, which need to be considered when deciding to relocate. Corporate relocation affects a company through five operational qualities, namely, staff productivity, costs, employee retention and availability, operational changes and organisational culture.

Relocation is a complex process for an individual company. Justifying choices based on direct costs can lead to unexpected changes in indirect costs for the company. This paper helps decision-makers understand the strategic importance of corporate relocation, identify relocation goals and plan successful relocation.

This paper uses a strategy and organisation lens to provide a systematic overview and synthesis of the strategic qualities of short-distance corporate relocation of knowledge-intensive firms.

Relocation is a significant event in the course of an organization's lifetime. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the impacts that relocation has on the relocating organization itself and to identify the economic, social, and environmental impacts of office occupier relocation.

Drawing from the existing literature on impacts of occupiers' relocation, a conceptual framework for modelling organizational relocation impacts is developed. The literature review is done by a systematic review of the ten most relevant journals within the corporate real estate, property, and facilities sector.

Relocation has various impacts including relocation costs, disruption, employee reactions to change, altered lease attributes, and changed environmental footprint. Further, the changes in productivity, employee satisfaction, employee turnover, organizational dynamics, ways of working, commuting, accessibility for external stakeholders, and organizational culture and image are all possible impacts of organizational relocation.

The identified impacts are limited to office occupiers' short distance relocations. As the paper is conceptual by nature, there is a need for more empirical research on the impacts of relocation. The framework introduced in the article requires testing with experiences of relocated case companies and accordingly, it is to be developed further.

The paper provides central questions that relocating organizations should ask themselves.

Using the perspective of the relocating organization, the paper provides insight into the impacts of relocation from the expanded spectrum of Triple Bottom Line of sustainability. The study is of value to corporate real estate researchers and practitioners.

This research investigates the literature and perspectives of bilateral domains of experts, the facilities management (FM) and real estate management (REM) professionals. It provides insights towards a comprehensive understanding of office facilities relocation as organizational workplaces.

An investigation of the literature was conducted, to identify design aspects, drivers, challenges, and technical and functional considerations of the workplace relocation. A structured survey was utilized, as face-to-face interviews with 32 FM and 32 REM professionals, to explore and compare their perspectives and expertise.

The study identified key aspects for workplace relocation that were rarely focused on, holistically, in the literature. The research led to identifying the drivers, challenges, considerations, scenarios, and design needs pertaining to the implementation, acquisition, and occupation of the workplace in times of relocation. There is a dispersed view on workplace relocation between FM and REM, which requires alignment. FM and REM experts' perspectives were intrinsically discussed to ascertain the identified key areas.

Workplace relocation is a change that disturbs almost every workplace around the globe, at least once in its life cycle. This study enlists comprehension of the knowledge obtained from a review of the international literature, to provide a holistic guide for organizational decision makers, and interlink FM and REM professionals' perspectives, for enhanced decision-making.

This article reviews the literature on workplace relocation, covering FM and REM domains perspectives to advance the organizational workplace relocation practices.

The purpose of this paper is to describe different short-distance relocation management approaches applied by organisations in Finland. Corporate short-distance relocation is a significant event in the course of an organisation’s lifetime. While these kinds of relocations happen frequently, they are an infrequent event from the perspective of a single organisation. Therefore, few organisations have experience and knowledge on relocation management, which can result in improvised ways of managing the process.

The paper uses a multiple-case study approach where the relocation management of five organisations is assessed post-relocation. Different aspects of the process, such as process phases and tasks, the organisation involved and employee participation, are scrutinized through 32 interviews with company representatives and documents provided by the organisations.

The study describes five unique relocations that vary based on the level of change from a “routine move” to a “new beginning”. It further identifies four different models of managing the process: “one-man-show”, “orchestra”, “expert taskforce” and “democracy”.

While previous studies have focused on either site selection decision-making or design of an already chosen space, the study describes five relocation processes that start from the relocation trigger and end when the organisation has relocated and settled into their new space.

Many States in America have enacted laws to encourage redevelopment of contaminated urban properties. The laws attempt to do this by addressing one barrier to redevelopment, the environmental liability attached to contaminated urban properties. In general, the laws attempt to remove or reduce the significance of that barrier by reducing or eliminating the environmental liability risk attached to these properties. Our hypothesis was that these efforts cannot encourage significant redevelopment because they fail to address non‐environmental barriers to urban redevelopment. To determine whether this legislative focus on environmental liability is misplaced, we conducted a survey of Northeast Ohio businesses which had decided, since the enactment of Ohio’s brownfields law, either to move to a new location, or to expand at an existing location. The survey asked businesses to rank the relative importance to their relocation decision of environmental and non‐environmental factors. The results of the survey show that numerous non‐environmental factors were of equal or greater importance to decision‐makers than the environmental status of the property. Therefore, legislative efforts to encourage redevelopment of contaminated urban properties must be expanded to address non‐environmental barriers to redevelopment

The purpose of this paper is to focus on issues of corporate control around the announcement of the decision of Hertz Global Holdings to relocate its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Florida in 2013. The relocation decision and accounting irregularities discovered after the announcement raised interest from activist investors. The firm responded by enacting a “poison pill,” but control was eventually wrestled away and the CEO was replaced. Examining these events gives students insights into corporate control issues facing a major US corporation.

This case study presents a history of the firm from its founding in 1918 through 2017, with an emphasis on key events from 2012 through 2017. These events include acquisition of a competing firm (Dollar Thrifty), relocation of corporate headquarters, accounting irregularities, restatement of financials, activist investor responses, issuance of a “poison pill,” and turnover in the CEO position.

The case is intentionally written to “tell the story” of events that relate to issues involving control of the company around the decision to relocate its corporate headquarters. The case highlights potential agency problems between management and shareholders and the market’s response to those problems.

No prior case study considers the topic of corporate control from the perspective of Hertz Global Holdings. This case study can be used by instructors in graduate and undergraduate courses to examine corporate control issues from a “real world” perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to holistically identify and assess the factors affecting the workplace relocation process during its various phases, namely: pre-relocation, relocation and post-relocation. The factors assessment evaluates the perspectives and level of agreement between facilities and real estate management professionals.

Literature review was conducted to identify the factors affecting the workplace relocation process. In total, 34 factors were identified, which formed the basis of a questionnaire survey to assess their importance. Responses to the questionnaire survey were obtained through face-to-face interviews with two groups of professionals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 32 facilities managers (FM) and 32 real estate managers (REM). The questionnaire utilized a 5-point Likert scale of importance.

The research delivers rankings of the identified factors for prioritization. Where a moderate (to high) level of agreement between FM and REM professionals was remarked. Significant factors include: “availability of workplace health and safety plan”, “analysis of business needs for relocation”, “cost control and management of the relocation process”, “availability of maintenance plans” and “selection of fit-out contractor”.

The study provides a significant contribution to research and professional practice, while no comprehensive studies have been conducted on the various phases of the relocation process. The findings of this study are genuine to keep professionals and practitioners on the ball managing their workplace relocations, overcoming their unforeseen struggles, resourcefully and efficiently.

This paper aims to focus on how political resources and their correlation with business models affected the headquarters location decision making of successful private enterprises established in small cities.

The paper constructed a research model which included political resources and a business model as contributing factors; selected eight companies as the research object; and used cross‐case study method to explore the function of political resources and a business model to the headquarters location decision of private enterprises.

The special political environment during China's economic transformation created substantially different political resources between different regions and governments at different levels, which forced private enterprises to relocate their headquarters in order to chase political resources conveniently. The relevance of a business model and political resources determined the significantly different ways that private enterprises obtained political resources: enterprises which were highly dependent on local political resources found it difficult to make a decision regarding corporate headquarters relocation; those enterprises with a high political resources optimization capability would be driven by the pursuit of political resources to make their headquarters relocation decision; those enterprises with an inconspicuous connection between political resources and a business model would rather be “hermits” in a metropolis and relocate their headquarters.

This paper's research results would be conducive to further study of private enterprises' headquarters location decision making during China's economic transformation.

The paper indicates the importance of political resources and the relevance of corporate business models to the headquarters location decision of private enterprises; the paper further makes clear the status of political resources as an important factor in location theory.

To what extent, why and where do multinational companies locate divisional headquarters (DHQs) abroad? This study of 30 of the largest listed companies in Norway over the 2000–2006 period shows that foreign-located DHQs have become relatively commonplace. A majority of DHQs located abroad are outcomes of foreign acquisitions, which suggests that obtaining legitimacy from local stakeholders such as customers, employees and investors is an important motivation. We also find that Norwegian companies emphasize efficiency and value creation in their location choices, as they tend to prefer other advanced and competitive countries as hosts for their DHQs. Distance from Norway is not significant. The off-shoring of strategic units such as DHQs is a phenomenon that occurs in advanced phases of companies' internationalization, beyond the point when familiarity and proximity still are key decision-making factors.