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Resource flexibility is increasingly vital to meet the ever changing needs of organisations. Property is, by its nature, a highly inflexible resource. It needs to become not only more physically flexible, but also more functionally and financially flexible. The paper argues that core property, which is functionally flexible, should be supported by peripheral property, which is financially flexible. A framework for evaluating the flexibilities of a property portfolio is proposed as a basis for assessing when and where flexibility is required.

The annual survey of corporate real estate practices has been conducted by CREMRU since 1993, and in collaboration with JCI since 1997. IDRC and NACORE, two leading professional associations concerned with corporate real estate have supported the survey. In 1999 IDRC endorsed the survey and opened it to a wider audience. This summary of the nine annual surveys focuses on the incidence of corporate real estate management (CREM) policies, functions and activities, as well as the assessment of knowledge or skills relevant to the CREM function in the future. Both are of vital interest to educational institutions concerned with this field, as well as the personnel and training functions within organisations concerned with better management of their property.

In the USA, electronic signatures recently became as legally binding as printed signatures. But the legislation that made electronic signatures legal did nothing to specify how they should be implemented, or what precautions must be taken to ensure the security and validity of the signature process. This paper first reviews the status of electronic signatures in the USA, and compares it to work done by the United Nations. Next, the technology that can be used to implement electronic signatures is summarized. The paper concludes with a discussion of problems and open issues surrounding the use of electronic signatures.

Real estate is an inherently inflexible asset, yet corporate real estate managers increasingly need to find ways in which flexibility can be achieved. Shorter planning horizons, increasing corporate experimentation and growth through mergers and acquisition are but a few of the influences which have led to the need for more flexible resources. One way in which corporate real estate managers can gain a greater insight into the problem is by recognising that real estate is often considered from a variety of perspectives: as a physical, functional and financial asset. Each of these perspectives leads to a different source of flexibility. As a physical asset, corporate real estate managers are concerned with aspects of design, including floorplate sizes, column placement and building services. As a functional asset, corporate real estate managers consider what activities can actually be undertaken inside a building. As a financial asset, corporate real estate managers examine the terms of contracts and the ability (and cost) to terminate those obligations. Each of these types of flexibility is required, but at different times and for different purposes within the life cycle of an organisation. Possibly the most appropriate way to look at the issue is on a portfolio‐wide basis, considering what are an organisation’s core and periphery real estate requirements. This approach requires a different type of examination of the assets but can provide a corporate real estate manager with a firm base for working towards the elusive goal of flexible real estate.

To report on longitudinal change in corporate real estate (CRE) practice in the last two decades, in particular, monitoring significant changes in CRE policy, function and activities through the statistical analysis of annual survey data.

A literature review revealed the major themes that have influenced CRE practice in the last 20 years. Applying principal components analysis the annual survey of CRE practice dataset was analysed to identify significant tends in the CRE practices reported by organizations.

A significant overlap was observed between the activities used in practice and the CRE literature, and new working practices were identified as a significant theme. Based on these analyses comment is made on the impact of changes in CRE practice over the timescale of the survey and it was predicted that new working practices will continue to influence CRE practices in the future.

This paper fulfils a need for evidence‐based monitoring of CRE practices to give insight into the relationship between past, present and indicative directions for future CRE practice.

In the first of this pair of articles we set out the broad problems and components of time‐share (TS) valuation and talked in general terms of the use of DCF techniques that might more realistically incorporate the risks involved in TS from a purchaser's point of view. This second article includes a worked example using first an ‘optimistic single‐point best estimate DCF’ and then a DCF which incorporates a range of values for each of the main variables, using random selection, finally forming a distribution of the 500 valuations actually run.

Management is acknowledged as becoming increasingly important for firms of chartered surveyors (RICS, 1985), yet very little research has been undertaken in this area. In order to open up the debate, this paper examines the areas of valuation and information technology from a management perspective and demonstrates how both of these areas relate to the resource structure and the decision making process of the organisation. It concludes by stating that chartered surveyors must take a wider view of their business environment and package of services, and develop appropriate management plans in order to meet the demands of the increasingly competitive financial market.

A second paper, providing an illustrative valuation, will appear in volume 2 of Journal of Valuation.

Discusses the effectiveness of the private and public sectors in managing property assets. Examines the principles of operational property management in practice, and the influence of effective management. Concludes that it is not possible to isolate specific groups as being good or bad at operational property management, effectiveness seeming to depend more on the overall process than on specific techniques.

There is considerable debate in both the management and property literature on how human and physical resources can become more flexible in order to be able to respond to the dynamic business environment. Often there is an implication that if staff are working in more flexible ways then the property must also be more flexible. However there are numerous sources of flexibility for both these resources. In terms of staff, flexibility can be defined in terms of contractual, time and location elements. For property, flexibility comes from the financial contracts, physical layout and functional opportunities. There is not necessarily a direct link between the flexibility requirements in these two resources. However, it is clear that the demand drivers for office space are changing. The increase in use of information and communications technology (ICT) has had a direct impact on the underlying business processes and thus the breadth and balance of activities which office space needs to support. ICT has also been key in facilitating the staff flexibility. Together these have led to the development of a new strategy for managing workplaces which differentiates between where the space is located, the way in which the space is designed and how it is used. The challenge for corporate real estate managers is to get beyond the rhetoric of flexibility and understand how space can best support ever‐changing business processes.