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The aim of this paper is to introduce a framework that helps to identify strategic themes on which real estate investors form their strategies. A holistic approach to strategic management in real estate management has enjoyed popularity in corporate real estate research, while similar research has been lacking from the investor-based real estate management.

The research design consists of two main parts: 1) formulating propositions based on existing literature and 2) attempting to validate the propositions through a qualitative interview study with major real estate owners in Finland.

The main finding is that the current real estate investors reflect the transient nature of competitive advantages and assess their strategies accordingly. The companies consider the traditional profitability and revenue growth aspects of their business but also a more long-term future growth dimension. As an outcome, the investors base their strategies on eight strategic themes which are “Innovation”, “ESG”, “Marketing and sales”, “Financial management”, “Leasing management and tenant satisfaction”, “Competitive environment and portfolio management”, “Outsourcing and strategic partnerships” and “Cost and operation optimization”.

This paper opens opportunities for future research concerning different strategies in real estate investment business and their impacts.

The presented framework provides support for real estate investors to create real estate management strategy or to evaluate their current strategy and to recognize operational actions and decisions that are relevant for their strategy.

This paper provides an extension to corporate real estate (CRE) literature by showing that the CRE theories are adaptable to real estate investment and provide value for their strategic management. This paper also contributes to real estate investment literature by providing a well-founded and empirically contested strategic management framework, the IREM framework, for identifying strategic themes on which real estate investors form their strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles and dynamics of different institutional actors in the innovation process and to demonstrate how discontinuous sustainability innovation depends on the support of a group of actors wider than the innovating consortium. The paper explores how discontinuous sustainability innovation comes about in the construction industry. More specifically, it focuses on the understudied area of low-technology innovation.

The paper reports the findings of a detailed longitudinal single case study. The case in question is the K3 houses initiative: the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s attempt to point out a low-technology path to energy-efficient detached houses. The empirical data consist of semi-structured interviews and extensive archival data. A visual mapping strategy is used to structure the qualitative case analysis.

The paper reports two main findings. First, environmentally oriented regulation can sometimes hamper sustainability innovation by encouraging a lock-in into a technological trajectory that limits opportunities for discontinuous innovation. Second, an innovation-centric rather than a firm-centric approach to discontinuous innovation can benefit both firms managing and researchers studying innovation.

The paper is one of the few discussing the potential of low-technology innovation in construction for sustainable development. The introduction of the concept of change-based momentum adds a novel dynamic element to the inter-organisational models of construction innovation. Its implications for discontinuous innovation are illustrated with a gravitational slingshot analogy.

The main aim of this paper is to examine how commercial sustainability innovation projects in real estate and construction industries utilise the contemporary market‐oriented innovation models based on the service‐dominant logic.

A survey of a large set of sustainability innovation projects was conducted and analysed.

The results show that over a third of the examined projects lack all the necessary innovation components recognised in the literature. Furthermore, very few projects utilised concurrent market feedback in the development phase. The study suggests that sustainability innovations fail commercially in built environment, because they lack active customer participation and value network involvement, and they aim for incremental instead of radical improvements.

Future research should address available ways for companies in the real estate and construction industries to take advantage of their unused potential in climate change mitigation business through innovation.

Organisations striving for sustainability innovations should aim at radical instead of incremental innovation, and focus on customer participation and involvement of the value network. The innovation processes in the construction sector could be organised better by utilising tested service‐dominant models.

This study is among the first to address innovation elements based on the service‐dominant logic in analysing projects aiming at sustainability innovation in real estate and construction industries.