Corporate real estate management (CREM) in Estonia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the development trends of corporate real estate management (CREM) in Estonia and to compare them with more developed western countries in order to define the actual problems. Design/methodology/approach – An explorative survey with direct interviews among the 17 largest organisations in a certain sector (four banks, five infrastructure companies, five universities, three municipalities). Findings – In some fields Estonia recovered from the lost experience stages quickly (organisational structure and outsourcing), while in other fields it has not yet recovered (disposal of owned properties), but in several aspects the problems are similar to western countries (information issues). No differences are found between the public and private sectors or between larger and smaller organisations. The smallness could be regarded as an advantage at the organisational and state levels since it allows for better communication, but requires more flexibility. Strategies and tools justified in more developed markets and in larger organisations could limit development in a smaller environment and therefore, should not be transferred automatically. Research limitations/implications – The office sector was selected for a comprehensive but comparable overview for several reasons. Originality/value – Practically no CREM research has been conducted in either Estonia or any other Eastern European country. Estonia lost about half a century's experience of the open market environment during the Soviet period (1945‐1990), when there was no private ownership of enterprises and properties. Since the second‐half of the 1990s the economy, and especially the property market in Estonia have risen rapidly. Estonia could be handled as a representative example (case) to explore CREM development in countries with a similar history.