Corporate Location Strategy: Challenges and Opportunities
Corporate location strategy can be challenging, but it can create valuable opportunities for corporate real estate (CRE) professionals too.
That’s one of the key findings from two location strategy-themed Discovery Forums held in February.
In Northern California, Nokia Siemens Networks’ David Freed, Global Head of Real
Estate Strategy, presented on NSN’s location strategy, and Cisco Systems’ Greg
Enrique, Senior Manager, Client Relationship Management, discussed how his company approaches location strategy and site-selection decisions. The Forum was hosted by Adobe Systems at its San Jose headquarters.
“We’re finding that location strategy is both a challenge and an opportunity,” observed a senior end user who attended the event in San Jose . “Our team looks five years into the future, but the business looks at the current year. The more robust our data is, the more it can help the business make decisions. We get to be more involved in the business by helping them make location strategy decisions.”
In New York City, at a Forum hosted by Thomson Reuters at 3 Times Square,
Kaplan’s
Jeff Elie, Vice President, Real Estate and Facilities, discussed his company’s approach to location strategy and a case study of a major project won by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Other high-level observations from the two events include:

Based on a recent CoreNet Global survey of end-user members worldwide, the three most commonly cited challenges to creating an effective location strategy are aligning with the business strategy, gaining support from the C-Suite and securing cooperation from other key support functions (e.g., HR, IT, etc.).

Effective strategy should incorporate expertise from a wide range of functions, including: o Business Units o CRE o Finance o HR / Communications o Risk o IT o Treasury o Tax o Compliance o Legal o Government Relations o Public relations

 It’s important for companies and communities to work together to create true partnerships and long-term relationships
CoreNet Global extends its appreciation to the San Antonio Economic Development
Foundation for its sponsorship of both events, and to the Greater Fort Lauderdale
Alliance CEO Council for its support of the New York City event.
Photo cutlines:
(l-r) The
Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance CEO Council’s Robin Ronne, the San Antonio
Economic Development Foundation’s Michele Boggs, and MetLife’s Mehmet F. Ozpay
(lr) CoreNet Global’s Tim Venable, Adobe Systems’ Barbara Crosby Gerth, and the
San Antonio Econom ic Development Foundation’s Tom Long
-- By Melissa Securda and Tim Venable