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Facility resources of growth firms have seldom been studied. The purpose here is to analyse how firms that increased their number of employees changed their office space use between 1995 and 2000 in the Gothenburg region. Six firms have been selected among those who had 1‐25 employees in 1995 and 50‐500 employees in 2000. Site visits with retrospective interviews have been used. Results indicate that growth firms tend to relocate when passing from an entrepreneurial to a managerial phase. Once having relocated within the region, these firms tend to plan for multisite operations with new small offices. Spatial expansion seems to be triggered when no more than 20sq.m are left per full‐time employee. When density rises, these firms avoid raising the proportion of remote work. This may reflect that security is a crucial issue, and a concern with protection would also explain an emphasis on creating office boundaries for visitors.

This article interweaves the disciplines of knowledge management and entrepreneurship, where the purpose is to develop a model that depicts the knowledge creation relationship of entrepreneurial firms in particular and its environmental context related to real estate management. How does the educational level of workers affect knowledge creation in entrepreneurial firms?

This article is based on the results of a survey in Sweden that consisted of an investigation of the offices of 967 enlisted growth firms covering the entire country, forming a basis for further theoretical development.

The findings suggest that education level has a gravitational character according to traditional location theories. Three concepts from the theories of entrepreneurship are transferred to real estate management factors where the educational level of staff would play a significant role.

Entrepreneurial firms have a particular vulnerability, which is their human capital, and require particular management skills to prevent losses.

The significant contribution of this paper is that it provides a basis for conceptualising a model of knowledge creation in entrepreneurial (in contrast to conservative) firms performing under dynamic and competitive environments.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise a dynamic model on the impact on office space and its boundaries of growth firms due to studied factors subject to fluctuations of business cycles.

Theories are based on a literature study on space relation to business cycles, entrepreneurial theories and the service‐oriented society of today. The data are collected from an extensive study of pre‐classified growth firms from all major business sectors in Sweden during the period 1998‐2003, which is studied as an upturn and a downturn period. The study is related to a questionnaire distributed to entire Sweden of 967 listed firms where the response rate was 40 per cent. Investigated factors are: fluctuations of GDP, outsourcing events of core business, events of mergers and acquisitions (Ms&As), creation of subsidiaries, proportion of office workers and temporary staff in offices.

The detected significant correlations of the survey give a platform for a model that indicates that opposite but various forces due to business cycles seem to adjust the space after the events of outsourcing or M&A.

The study could fruitfully be developed theoretically with inclusion of a transaction cost theory and economics encompassing the society in general.

Significant correlations that are found could certainly function as an input for the various stakeholders in the provision of office spaces of growth firms during fluctuations of GDP and market growth.

An extensive survey is a base for a conceptualisation of the dynamics of office space related to studied factors.

The purpose of this paper is to create a model of FM and location variables in the dimensions of location and recessions.

The approach is based on statistical analysis and quantitative methodology.

Significant differences and correlations argue for four settings with different features, first, in the dimension of single or multiple site locations, and second, the dimension in low and high growth of GDP, here termed “recession” and “boom”, respectively.

This paper is a relevant study for growth firms in multiple facilities management perspectives.

A better knowledge and decision basis related to relocation and behaviour of FM during fluctuations of GDP is expected.

The paper presents a survey of FM‐related data that covers an entire nation and all major business sectors, collected concerning two successive periods, and analysed.

To discern patterns of property and facilities management (FM) evolution of the offices of growth firms.

Statistical analysis with ten variables which are analysed through four perspectives (clusters, industrial sectors, age and size).

The result consists of characteristic features of three clusters labelled as “low”, “high” and “moderate” FM firms with a ubiquity from all major industry sectors. The studied population reveals that various industry sectors expose more significant differences of FM variables than age and size. However, age is a background factor for discerning the three clusters and it reveals to be the youngest cluster that has the most intense FM activities, which argues for linkage between rapid growth and FM.

Relevant study for predefined Swedish growth firms.

Reveals linkage between faster growth and FM.

Survey empery is collected in a primary database of FM variables and analysed.

What effect do different business environments, caused primarily by changes in GDP, have on property management of growth firms?

This paper investigates the dynamic effects of two successive periods on property management variables with data from 387 Swedish growth firms during the six year period of 1998‐2003. The variables cover two three‐year time periods: 1998‐2000 (high growth of GDP) and 2001‐2003 (low growth of GDP). The empery originates from a quantitative survey with variables related to: office areas; affiliation changes (events of M&A, outsourcing of core business has occurred) and if those events have changed the total use of office space; use of temporary staff and staff that works in office area; flexibility of contracts; propensity to rent office space and location events. Dramatic changes of GDP are here associated to the dynamic effects of the business environment that have implications on property management variables of the two periods.

The two periods themselves correlate strongly to each other. The results reveal correlations between down turn‐business period and variables that describe the hiring temporary staff; propensity to rent office spaces; significance of flexible contracts; office location in rural area and relocation frequency.

The survey is limited geographically to Sweden with strict growth criteria. The findings argue for a behaviour among growth firms that responds to changes in business environment into property management decisions.

Dramatic changes in GDP influence growth firms behaviour of renting office spaces; down turn of GDP is likely related in particular to increase of rented offices space.

Empery from an extensive survey of growth firms of an entire country with focus on property management variables during two distinct periods regarding GDP.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with two major issues: what alternatives does a manufacturing company have when current office space use is not sufficient, or it exceeds its needs, following changes and business transformation; and second, what principal factors (in particular Facilities and Corporate Real Estate Management factors) must be taken into account in the decision‐making process about possible relocation? The corporate real estate of manufacturing firms in the Western countries is very much similar to that of the service sector. When compared to property devoted to service activities only, the inertia of manufacturing companies is apparent only, because a large part of the premises are in fact offices that, to various extent, are connected to warehouses, laboratories, factories and manufacturing units that cannot be relocated. For this reason it is necessary to devise intermediate alternatives between staying on the current location or total relocation.

This paper is based on literature studies of company locations in a European and global context, with two independent surveys from two different geographical areas: northern Italy and Sweden. Despite the different aspects considered in the surveys, common conclusions can be made for a general understanding of how facilities management factors influence location.

The model described in this paper organizes location alternatives when space changes are required, especially by European manufacturing companies.

The model is a tool for decision makers when analysing and structuring their location needs.

The paper is a pioneering work of classification of intermediate alternatives of partial relocation.

Facilities management has inherited the understanding of how organisations work as value creators from various management models such as Porter's, where value is created through “primary” and “support” activities. The gap between the aspiration of strategic relevance and reality has prompted the facilities management profession to begin to address the question of whether facilities management is a legitimate discipline with attendant theories, research and practice. This paper attempts to bring an alternative theoretical perspective to such aspirations.

Facilities management arrangements and their value as a key organisational competence are outlined. Finally knowledge‐based functional competency is described that encapsulates the new perspective.

The paper provides an alternative perspective that will facilitate its acceptance as a strategically placed corporate function. A new knowledge‐based legitimisation for facilities management is proposed, marking a shift from facilities management's functional knowledge to an organisation‐wide knowledge base.

The way the discipline of facilities management is located within the business organisation sees its primary role in being fundamentally “supportive” to the parent organisation's primary function whether it is product provision or service delivery. This is problematic for a discipline that has been trying to align itself as strategically oriented. This orientation needs to be redefined to allow facilities management to be rather seen as a knowledge‐based core competency and a function that permeates the boundaries of primary and support functions.

The paper encourages wider debate and dialogue within the community on what appears to be a pivotal crossroads in the development of the discipline.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of computer‐aided facilities management (CAFM) in the delivery of knowledge management solutions. It aims to highlight the increasing problem of “attention” as a limited resource amongst facilities stakeholders. The paper attempts to describe the findings of a study to establish the types of CAFM functionality sought by facilities management practitioners.

The study involved a structured questionnaire study of 110 respondents in Scotland (from 395 administered questionnaires) using a stratified sample. The objective was to obtain a profile of early‐adopters and to identify barriers to further adoption.

The findings indicate that the use of information technology in the form of CAFM is more likely amongst dedicated FM service providers than organisations with in‐house FM delivery and that medium‐sized enterprises (between 51 and 250 employees) are least likely to be using CAFM. A limiting factor in continued adoption appears to be the diminishing returns resulting from information overload. “Attention” appears to be the limiting resource in an increasingly complex and information hungry environment.

The findings are based on a national survey in Scotland and may have limited reproducibility outside of the UK. Nevertheless the general findings are relevant to the international context.

This paper provides an indicative analysis of current trends in the computer‐aided facilities management (CAFM) arena. It identifies an increasing need to capture “tacit” as well as “explicit” knowledge in such systems.

This work develops the idea of the “attention economy” in the context of facilities management, highlighting the current impasse for information systems aspiring to become knowledge management systems.