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The purpose of this paper is to investigate innovation in the facilities management sector by conducting an empirical study.

This study uses a qualitative research approach to investigate the research question. Data collection includes qualitative semi‐structured interviews with key facility management managers and directors, secondary material such as company brochures and reports and participation to workshops and conferences on facility management.

The main results are that big service providers perceive innovation as a strategic activity and see themselves as innovative companies. Facilities management (FM) service customers with their own FM department present mixed results. Some perceive innovation as a strategic priority and have clear innovation strategies. Others perceive themselves as not being innovative, even though they might be. The organizations belonging to the category “ICT Supplier/consultants” perceive themselves as innovative organizations and their innovations are both driven by the user needs and by the desire to improve their competitiveness. The types of perceived FM innovations found in the study can be mainly categorized as service, contract, process and business model innovations. Finally, the study shows that ICT is perceived to be a driver of FM innovations and that FM organizations use both closed and open innovation strategies.

These results can be used by FM managers, innovation researchers and FM researchers alike. For FM managers the results provide some useful information about how innovation is addressed in FM provider and customer companies. FM researchers can get a picture of what is going on in the FM innovation landscape in Denmark. Finally, service researchers can get some insights about service innovation in a specific and under‐researched service field: facility management services.

This paper contributes to the understanding of innovation and innovation types in facility management companies.

Innovation in facilities management (FM) is a complex process as FM is a diverse discipline. This paper aims to use innovation trajectories to explore this complex process through the introduction of a technology innovation in two FM services of security and workspace management. It also aims to consider the discourse of individuals within their trajectory to understand their positions toward the innovation.

A two‐year case study was conducted and it was based in an in‐house FM department that was part of a financial institution. The specific methods used for the paper were semi‐structured interviews with key participants of the project. Critical discourse analysis was used to examine the data.

Individuals who were involved in introducing the technology to the FM department were both internal and external to FM as innovation in FM does not happen in isolation to the organisation. Innovation trajectories were often intertwined or occurred simultaneously during the process of a project which sometimes resulted in conflict. Tensions within the discourse of ownership of the project were particularly apparent as this discourse had a power dimension in driving the project through to implementation.

The research is limited by being a single case study so it is not possible to generalise findings but the findings may have resonances with other organisations.

The paper presents an original idea about how to understand innovation processes in FM services.

The purpose of this article is to investigate how facilities management (FM) units navigate Energy Service Company (ESCO) collaborations, here defined as examples of public collaborative innovation within the context of FM. The driving motivation is to inform and inspire internal FM units of local institutions on how to navigate and manage collaboration of different, intra- and inter-organisational actors throughout ESCO projects.

A deductive research methodology was applied based on the first ten ESCO projects in Danish municipalities between 2008 and 2012.

A model of FM roles in FM public innovation is proposed. The internal FM unit coordinates between clients and end users by acting as translator and demonstrator and collaborates with the ESCO company to implement the energy renovation (FM processor).

The data were collected from a limited sample of ESCO collaborations in Denmark. Future research should thus investigate collaborative innovation in ESCO (and other forms of private–public) collaborations outside of Denmark.

Not only should FM units clarify what different stakeholders expect from an ESCO collaboration, but also they should translate stakeholders’ expectations into actual goals and objectives; process them together with the ESCO company; demonstrate their execution to all stakeholders throughout the process, not just when closing the collaboration.

This paper contributes to FM innovation research by exploring FM innovation in the public sector and by depicting the coordinating role of local governments’ internal FM units engaging in public–private collaborative innovation.

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.

This is a conceptual paper for facilities management (FM) practitioners and FM researchers. The paper seeks to analyse a number of well‐documented successes and failures in military exploitation of innovation, and identify several recurrent facets that resonate with the contemporary approach to, and difficulties with achieving innovation in FM.

Several military cases are selected for their analogous pertinence to FM. They cover military aspects of technological innovation; process innovation, including innovativeness in the modes of engagement; innovativeness within strategy and paradigm; and innovativeness in the tactical behaviours needed to realise the value of innovations. They are presented as an indirect means of illuminating systemic challenges for innovation within FM.

The paper identifies the primacy of innovativeness over individual technological innovations; and the centrality of empowerment practices and the catalysing of local tactical and operational innovative behaviours to innovativeness. The crucial factors are the attitude and behaviour of leaders, especially in terms of creating latitude for local managers; the locus of command, control and communication; plus local empowerment to achieve clearly explained strategic targets. The authors also identify a shift in performance measurement perspective as a pivotal pre‐requisite for successfully innovating for post‐industrial FM.

Particular focus is made on lessons for developing a culture of organisational innovativeness and for the successful exploitation of latent innovation potential. The paper concludes that these issues represent a significant and systemic challenge to innovation and innovativeness in FM.

The purpose of this paper is to present research findings on the relation between internal/external sources of innovation and information and communication technology (ICT) as a supporter/enabler of facilities management (FM) organizations, as well as on the strategic orientation towards open innovation of FM organizations.

This study uses a qualitative research approach. The data collection includes qualitative semi-structured interviews with key FM managers and directors and secondary material such as company brochures, reports and information provided on the participating companies’ websites.

The results show that the FM organizations in the study sample are starting to develop and engage in open FM service innovations, even though they still mostly conduct closed innovation activities. The findings show that FM organizations mostly take an ambidextrous strategic orientation towards FM service innovations, while they also embrace an exploration approach. Concerning the role of ICT in FM service innovations, the study shows that in the explorative organizations, ICT was mostly an enabler, while in the ambidextrous organizations, ICT mostly supported and enabled the innovations in question. Only in two innovation instances was ICT identified as having a utility role.

The findings of this study challenge researchers and managers to rethink how and why a strategic orientation towards innovation, the sources of innovation and the role of ICT might affect service innovation in FM organizations. One important implication for FM managers and researchers is the importance that the government might have as an external source in fostering FM service innovations, especially in light of changing environmental requirements, such as energy consumption. FM managers should also consider how they could use ICT to improve and innovate FM services and service delivery and the kind of sources (external/internal) they should use to carry out this task.

This paper contributes to the empirical and theoretical understanding of the sources of innovation and ICT as a supporter/enabler, as well as the strategic orientation towards innovation in FM organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to define facilities management and innovation in generic business contexts and critically discuss the role of innovation in facilities management service delivery.

The research adopts a comprehensive literature review from numerous published sources. All related references were discovered through electronic databases, journals and books.

FM is capable of contributing towards organisational success if it is given the opportunity to exploit new ideas and perform innovative activities that are regularly measured and integrated within the overall business goals or an organisation. To achieve this, it is essential that innovation in FM is given appropriate empowerment and a platform within the boundaries of the organisation's total innovation agenda.

There are limited literature materials which focused on service innovation particularly in the context of facilities management and its service delivery. Some discussions that are related to multiple contract management are only mentioned but not extensively reviewed in accordance with the scope of the research. One of the constraints is due to the nature of services that are non‐tangible and hard to perceive.

The study provides in‐depth knowledge on the importance and benefits to an organisation by embracing innovation in facilities management as well as in the delivery of FM services. By tying innovation in FM with the firm's overall innovation agenda, significant improvements are gained through total efficiency in business operations.

The paper provides fresh literature updates on the needs of FM players to embrace innovative ideas and concepts to effectively deliver facility‐related services. The findings indicated here can be used by relevant FM stakeholders to plan and re‐evaluate the role of facilities management functions in their organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the current understanding of business model innovation by outlining how business models unfold over time within supplier–client relationships in facilities management (FM) services.

This study of FM services in Denmark consists of an explorative case study and three case studies of FM clients. Both phases, related and overlapping, involved collection and analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews and archive data.

Findings show that business model innovation entails interorganisational collaboration across different phases of the innovation process. The research demonstrates that external orientation within FM service ecosystems involves both a reaction to changes in the external environment and the proactive involvement of stakeholders throughout business model innovation.

The selection of business model innovation processes was limited to the Danish context. The sample, although heterogeneous and representative, represented only a fraction of the total population, which may have excluded processes of business model innovation that contradict the research.

This paper suggests that by observing the business models of the value network over time, organisations could learn from the interdependencies between intra- and interorganisational stakeholders, thereby supporting the monitoring of risks and uncertainties as well as the anticipation of potential consequences of changes in the ecosystem.

This paper introduces new thinking on the subject of business model innovation to the context of FM. It presents the external orientation of FM business models as a way to combine planned and emergent business model innovation through interorganisational collaboration and value creation in FM ecosystems.

The purpose is to clarify the concept of service innovation in the context of FM service and to map the factors that are critical for service innovations in the FM service sector. The research questions are: how can service innovations be classified in the FM service sector and what are the factors that create requirements and barriers to the service innovations in the FM service sector?

The nature of this study is qualitative. The data were gathered from two specialist workshops and from semi‐structured interviews. The people interviewed worked for the largest service provider companies in Finland and their customers.

Results yielded by this study comprise the classification of service innovations and the factors that create requirements and barriers for the service innovations in the FM service sector.

This study focuses on examining the innovation process and its development and on developing innovation activity in large‐scale service provider companies in Finland.

This study promotes innovation activity in the FM service sector. It helps a service provider to minimize the barriers of service innovation and maximize the related requirements.

This study promotes innovation activity in the FM service sector. It helps a service provider to minimize the barriers of service innovation and maximize the related requirements.

This paper seeks to examine the nature of “service innovation” in the facilities management (FM) context. It reviews recent thinking on “service innovation” as distinct from “product innovation”. Applying these contemporary perspectives it describes UK case studies of 11 innovations in different FM organisations. These include both in‐house client‐based innovations and third‐party innovations.

The study described in the paper encompasses 11 different innovations that constitute a mix of process, product and practice innovations. All of the innovations stem from UK‐based organisations that were subject to in‐depth interviews regarding the identification, screening, commitment of resources and implementation of the selected innovations.

The research suggested that service innovation is highly active in the UK FM sector. However, the process of innovation rarely followed a common formalized path. Generally, the innovations were one‐shot commitments at the early stage. None of the innovations studied failed to proceed to full adoption stage. This was either due to the reluctance of participating organisations to volunteer “tested but unsuccessful” innovations or the absence of any trial methods that might have exposed an innovations shortcomings.

The selection of innovations was restricted to the UK context. Moreover, the choice of innovations was partly determined by the innovating organisation. This selection process appeared to emphasise “one‐shot” high profile technological innovations, typically associated with software. This may have been at the expense of less resource intensive, bottom‐up innovations.

This paper suggests that there is a role for “research and innovation” teams within larger FM organisations, whether they are client‐based or third‐party. Central to this philosophy is an approach that is open to the possibility of failure. The innovations studied were risk averse with a firm commitment to proceed at the early stage.

This paper introduces new thinking on the subject of “service innovation” to the context of FM. It presents research and development as a planned solution to innovation. This approach will enable service organisations to fully test and exploit service innovations.