From the Singapore
experience of globalization of real estate services to China, a number
of companies have entered into China by the establishment of the
company there. Thus the knowledge worker is needed from the home
country to China. The knowledge worker must be receptive to be
uprooted from the comfortable situation to one that may have many
uncertainties...
Systems and Procedures of
Processes
For the facilities
and property management services, systems and procedures of processes
are usually the core competencies and core competitive advantage for
the company to go global. The implementation of ISO standards, the
Total Quality Plan, the Six Sigma or the Malcolm Balridge Award helps
the company tremendously in its pursuit for globalization.
The Malcolm Balridge
Award is an award given to a company who has reached a certain
prescribed standards in seven areas namely: leadership, strategic
planning, management of information system, human resources,
management processes, the measurements of key processes, and customer
satisfaction. The equivalent Malcolm Balridge Award in Singapore is
the Singapore Quality Award which helps a company document its
procedures and processes.
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CHALLENGES IN THE
GLOBALIZATION AND EXPORT OF REAL ESTATE SERVICES
Local
Knowledge and Legislations
In the more developed countries, the local market knowledge and
information of the various legislations can easily be obtained from
publications like journals and books. In the less developed countries,
secondary information may be hard to come by and may be written in
their local language. Information gathering may have to be through
meetings with the locals and the expatriates who have been stationed
that particular country for some time.
In countries where
the legislations are evolving as their economies grow, secondary
information can be outdated very fast. Evolving legislation can also
spell uncertainty to the companies who have invested in a country.
In PREMAS experience,
to provide valuation services in Shanghais or local financial
institutions, the valuer has to sit for a national examination and the
valuation company must have at least 5 licensed valuers. Many foreign
real estate consultancy companies may not qualify and thus only serve
foreign clients who are investing there.
Political
Stability
Politically unstable countries or countries with high labor unrest
provide opportunities and also high risks. Exchange losses can affect
the profits earned in these countries. In some countries, the
expatriation of the profits to the home countries is not allowed.
Cultural
Differences
Cultural differences may have to be taken considerations. In Shanghai,
it is common for the employer to provide lunches or lunch allowances
to the employees. Thus this additional cost to the company has to be
imputed in the business plan. In India, a normal working day may not
start at 8.30 am in the morning.
The food taken in a
foreign country may be different too. To have the same food as from
the home country can be expensive. The fast food meal costs as much in
Shanghai as in Singapore. It is important for the expatriate workers
to adapt to the culture in the new country.
In certain countries,
the medium of communication may not be English. Documents may need to
be translated with the right technical terms. In addition, the ability
to master the local official language makes networking easier and
generally this can be translated into more businesses.
Continual Training and
Upgrading the Skills of Workers
When a company provides facilities and property management services
in countries like China and India where labour cost is much cheaper
than in Singapore, it is economically more viable and advantages for
the company to have more local staff with a certain number of
knowledge workers from the home country for knowledge and skills
transfer. However, continual upgrading of the skills of the local
workers is necessary to ensure the standards and quality of services
are not compromised. Staff may have to be trained in the home
country of the company. It may be a challenge to a medium size
company who has expanded overseas.
In PREMAS, a training
college has been set up to upgrade these skills in the countries which
PREMAS has business operations. For those companies who do not have
the resources to have their own training facilities, PREMAS training
facilities are available to them too.
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FUTURE TRENDS
As Woodward Hansin
from USA has mentioned in his paper, the new economy will be driven by
a profound development. Information is an important matter and global
sharing is made possible through internet and common platforms of
databases. Space and distance have been diminished. Geographical
distance is not an excuse. The world is our customer, business partner
and competitor. Time is collapsing. Instantaneous connection and
response are the demands from your customers. Individuals and
companies are electronically linked. It is no longer a one stop
service but a non stop service that is 24 x 7 service. And this points
towards virtual globalization.
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