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The purpose of this paper is to identify appropriate concepts of multi-active façades for the renovation of multifamily buildings in Sweden and to determine which, if any, are financially viable.

A lifecycle profit (LCP) analysis was used to examine financial viability through a ten-step process, which included identifying concepts, assessing costs and prices, calculating the LCP and performing sensitivity analysis. Two existing buildings – one low rise and the other high rise – were used as reference models.

The findings were contradictory. Implementing any of the multi-active façade concepts on the high-rise building would be financially beneficial. The opposite was, however, the case for the low-rise building. Two factors causing this contradiction have been identified: the façade material before renovation and the size of the building.

The study is limited to two case buildings situated in Sweden; however, similar buildings represent a significant amount of the existing building stock. Part of the purpose of the study is also to investigate the merits of LCP analysis to evaluate energy-efficient retrofitting. The study implicates the benefits and pitfalls of LCP analysis needed to be considered by researchers and practitioners alike.

The research findings contribute to the understanding of energy-efficient retrofitting of existing multifamily buildings based on prefabricated multi-active façade concepts.

This article reviews the practice of horenso (a mnemonic for hokoku/reporting, renraku/informing and sodan/consulting) – an under-documented Japanese communication methodology – at a Japanese-owned subsidiary in Thailand. It draws on a number of cultural theories to explore how horenso was influenced by the non-biculturality of individuals at a multinational corporation.

This article draws on first-hand interviews with staff of varying responsibilities at a multinational electronic components manufacturer, Spin-eTech (a pseudonym) to understand how horenso has been utilized and perceived at this Japanese-owned subsidiary in Thailand differently from its original form and traditional use at its headquarters in Japan. This was a targeted case that captured the real time communication difficulties at the workplace.

The themes of horenso's rationale, motivation, style of communication, use for problem solving, information reporting, relation to superiority and culture of communication emerged as prominent differences for how horenso was practiced at the Thai subsidiary.

Using the emic perspective of cultural understanding, insights are offered into the impact of non-biculturality within the Asia Pacific region on the practice of horenso to extant knowledge on the under-explored “eastern vs eastern” cultural differences.