The primary purpose of this research is to study the marketing strategies for the real estate industry in Taiwan. After literature review, the aspects of 4Ps and 4Cs are used as the framework of this study. Qualitative research method is used to generate perception understanding of real estate industry phenomena and the interpretations behind each of them. Two real estate corporates are selected and interviewed with one store manager in each of them. Marketing strategies and directions are found from the interviews; by analyzing the answers through 4Ps and 4Cs. Moreover, recommendations are presented at the last chapter of this study.

Sustainability and its development has gotten more attention the recent years as trends in society has increased the knowledge about sustainability and demand for transparency. Authorities have therefore taken actions towards a sustainable development and have regulated reporting on the non-financial information, also known as Sustainability Reporting. The Swedish government implemented at the end of 2016 an extension to the Law of Annual Reporting, making it mandatory for larger companies who meet certain criteria to disclose a sustainability report. Thus, making the sustainability reporting more institutional.   Previous studies have been done in the field where they have had more focus on the quality of the reports and why companies disclose a sustainability report. Some researchers have studied the transition of going from disclosing the sustainability report voluntary to become mandatory, as it has now become in Sweden. This study therefore intends to look at how a certain industry, the Swedish real estate industry, conduct their reporting on sustainability. The new regulation will be used as guidance together with one of the most prominent frameworks of how to disclose a Sustainability Report, the GRI framework. Furthermore, to understand how companies proceed with their reporting, one must understand their motivation and incentives, which is why the institutional theory will be used.   The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of how a certain industry discloses their sustainability report, and therefore it was decided to study the differences between two groups within the industry. More specifically, the differences between private companies and municipal companies owned by the local governments. To guide the research, the following research question was formulated:   What are the differences in the process of establishing a sustainability report between privately and publicly owned real estate companies in Sweden?   Through doing a qualitative study with a semi-structured approach, the analysis and conclusion was drawn from 16 interviews with different companies. The conclusion was that the process between the sectors was similar to each other. The companies conducted their process in a continuous structure on a yearly basis without any clear step-by-step process. One difference that was discovered was the involvement of the owner. For the private companies, the owner was a passive support and the main motivator for starting to produce a sustainability report. For the public companies, the owners were very much involved in the process and supportive throughout the report. The public companies did also have more cooperation between each other, where they exchanged ideas regarding the report. Private companies benchmarked other companies but did not have the same support from others.   The practical contribution of this study will be the new knowledge that is provided on sustainability reporting processes and the difference between to sectors. This thesis gives a better understanding of how to conduct a sustainability report and different steps that can be included. The study is oriented towards the real estate industry and therefore provide a valuable insight on different perspectives from the two groups. The highlighted differences can help improve the process by being evaluated or adapted by different companies.

Thesis (MTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 2003 / South Africa is a country that encompasses numerous population groups and cultures. The country has been embroiled in controversy since the beginning of the 20th century, notably for its human rights violations and abuse of the majority of its people; namely Blacks, Coloureds and Indians. The ruling parties since its inception as the Union of South Africa in 1910, until the demise of the National Party government in 1994, has ensured bias to the White minority population group. This favouritism was brought about politically and legislatively to protect Whites, reserve jobs and ensure segregation for the various population groups that were considered unequal, as it favoured Whites only. The country's first democratic elections in 1994 brought about a change of political will that warranted appropriate action, in order to address the imbalances of the past, for all those who were historically, previously disadvantaged. Programmes of affirmative action were required to redress these imbalances and provide necessary opportunities. The vast majority of South Africans, namely Blacks, therefore needed employment, housing and recreational facilities as previously they were not afforded many prospects. The researcher wanted to establish the state of the Black residential property market in the Western Cape, including the prospects for Black estate agents. Accordingly, an understanding of the political background of the last century was required. In order to implement Affirmative Action programmes in the real estate industry, a basic understanding of Affirmative Action was essential. The tasks and duties of estate agents had to be clarified and the position of the real estate industry with regards to the various population groups in the Western Cape was also deemed crucial. The researcher accordingly designed a questionnaire in order to conduct a survey to test public perceptions and attitudes. The researcher also concluded interviews with executives and principals representing the real estate industry. A focus group was utilised to discuss the results of the survey and they provided the researcher with qualitative data. The researcher combined this secondary qualitative data with primary quantitative data in order to develop a model which would assist the industry and prospective Black estate agents. The author believes that this model would be able to substantially benefit all the stakeholders in the real estate industry. Furthermore, the researcher is of the opinion that if this model and the recommendations are implemented, the residential market for the Western Cape would evolve naturally and Black estate agents would be in demand.

In this study you as a reader are going to get an understanding how Swedish commercial real estate companies met the problems during the Corona pandemic. The consequences that the pandemic caused and how companies acted during a recession. The study was made with a qualitative method with an abductive approach. In this study personnel in leading positions from six different commercial real estate companies were interviewed.  There are lot of theories about what kind of impact the pandemic will cause in the real estate industry. Will the result be empty premises with lot of vacancies, loss of rental income and how will the predictions look like in the future. Will the demand for office properties decrease when people realizing the comfort of working from home?  The study showed, that among the interviewed real estate companies most of them did apply for the state rent subsidy. The loss of rental income during the period has not increased more than a few percent. However, the insight of the importance of frequent customer dialogues and to work proactively has improved during the recession. Some future actions involves strategies to invest in properties in different segments and in various places. Overall, all of the interviewed companies predicts a transformation in the real estate industry but to what, is still a question.

Prudent usage of financial leverage by managers can significantly impact business operations and a corporate’s performance. Thus, the determination and the understanding of the influence of financial leverage on the profitability of a corporation are intrinsic and indispensable for not only maximising the value of a firm but also improving its financial performance. This study adopted a quantitative research method, in which the theories were tested by multiple regression analysis in line with the positivism paradigm and deductive measure. Moreover, ontology belongs to the objectivist perspective, in which the authors viewed reality as a mechanism from the outside and focused only on observable and measurable facts. The authors investigated the capital structure and profitability of the 18 largest listed real estate companies in Sweden from 2016 to 2020. Leverage essentially consists of total liability to assets, short-term liability to assets and long-term liability to assets. Profitability is defined as the rate of return on assets (ROA), which represents the company's degree of profitability relative to total assets from an overall business perspective widely used for financial analysts. In order to accomplish the trustworthy study in the regression model, control variables were also introduced that comprised company size, liquidity and solvency. The result of this paper reveals that financial leverage is irrelevant for determining ROA in the real estate industry in Sweden.

Fastighetsbranschen har generellt sett inte varit i samma digitala utvecklingsfas som hos andra branscher. Implementering av digitala teknologier har gått mycket långsammare. Sedan Covid-19 pandemins intåg har fastighetsbolagen behövt utveckla digital teknologi i en betydligt snabbare takt. Fler företagsledare framhåller att de satsar på digitalisering, men enligt tidigare studier är det lätt hänt att begreppet förväxlas med digitisering. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad fastighetsbolagen menar med begreppet digitalisering och varför de har valt att digitalisera. Studien kommer även att titta på möjliga effekter digitaliseringen kan ha inom fastighetsbranschen. Denna studie har genomförts med intervjuer av fem fastighetsbolag i Sverige. Resultatet visar att inte alla fastighetsbolag delar samma uppfattning av begreppet digitalisering. Fyra av de fem tillfrågade bolagen har samma uppfattning och strävar efter att uppnå faserna digitalisering och digital transformation. De ser nyttan i digitaliseringen som är att utveckla affären genom förbättrade digitala kundupplevelser. För att lyckas med digitaliseringen betonar de att digital transformation behövs. En annan uppfattning hade respondenten från det privatägda bostadsbolaget som likställer digitalisering med digitisering. Respondenten menar att digitalisering inte är något nytt, utan bolagen har hela tiden arbetat med detta som är att ständigt förbättra verksamheten genom tekniken. På frågan varför fastighetsbolagen valt att digitalisera är digital teknologi och förändrade digitala kundbeteenden de främsta externa incitamenten. Utifrån tidigare studier och respondenternas svar verkar digitalisering kunna komplettera fastighetsbranschens affärsprocesser. Digitalisering kan öka effektivitet och minska kostnader, öka transparens, påskynda transaktionsprocesser, minimera risker samt bidra till minskad klimatavtryck i branschen. / The real estate industry has generally not been in the same digital development phase as other industries. Implementation of digital technologies has been much slower. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, real estate companies have needed to develop digital technology at a much faster pace, which has further increased the pressure to perform digitally. More business leaders emphasize that they are investing in digitalisation, however it is easy for the term to be confused with digitization. So what do real estate companies mean by the term digitalisation? There are no previous studies that examine what real estate companies mean by the term or what incentives are behind it. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate what real estate companies mean by the term digitalisation and why they have chosen to digitalise. The study will also look at possible effects digitalisation may have in the real estate industry. This study was conducted with interviews of five real estate companies in Sweden. The results show that not all real estate companies share the same view about the term digitalisation. Four of the five companies surveyed have the same opinion and strive to achieve the phases of digitalisation and digital transformation. They see benefits in digitalisation which is to develop the business through improved digital customer experiences. To succeed with digitalisation, they emphasize that digital transformation is needed. The respondent at the privately owned housing company had a different view of the concept and equates digitalisation with digitization. The respondent believes that digitalisation is not something new, the companies have always worked with this, which is to constantly improve operations through technology. When asked why real estate companies have chosen to digitalise, digital technology and changing digital customer behavior are the main external incentives. Based on previous studies and the respondents' answers, digitalisation seems to be able to complement the real estate industry's business processes. Digitalisation can increase efficiency and reduce costs, increase transparency, speed up transaction processes, minimize risks and contribute to reducing the climate footprint in the industry.

Den digitala tvillingen i fastighetsbranschen har ett stort användningsområde. Den kan avhjälpa arbeteinom exempelvis energioptimering och luftkvalitet samt användas som kommunikationskanal ochvisualisera resultat. Användaren söker ett resultat och den digitala tvillingen byggs utifrån dessakriterier. Detta betyder att tvillingen ser väldigt olika ut beroende på vad som förväntas av den. Denhjälper dels till med att sänka drift-, underhålls- och administrationskostnader men gör det ocksåenkelt för användaren att hämta en stor mängd information om fastigheten från ett ställe. Något somblir särskilt aktuellt i värderingsprocessen av fastigheten. Eftersom information annars måste hämtasfrån flera olika källor och sannolikheten för felaktiga värden blir stor. Syftet med studien är att skapa en djupare förståelse för hur den digitala tvillingen definieras inomfastighetsbranschen samt undersöka hur värderingsprocessen påverkas av fastighetens digitala tvilling.Frågeställningen besvaras med hjälp av intervjuer med människor som har kompetens i området.Definitionen av den digitala tvillingen skildras beroende på respondentens arbete men kopplingar kandras till delar som är av större eller mindre relevans. För tillfället används inte den digitala tvillingensom hjälpmedel i värderingsprocessen men har potential att i framtiden avhjälpainformationshantering och datainsamling. / The digital twin in the real estate industry has a wide range of applications. It can assist in areas suchas energy optimization and air quality, as well as serve as a communication channel and visualizeresults. The user seeks a result, and the digital twin is built based on these criteria. This means that thetwin can look different depending on what is expected from it. It helps reduce operational,maintenance, and administrative costs while also making it easy for the user to access a large amountof information about the property from one place. This becomes particularly relevant in the propertyvaluation process, as information would otherwise have to be gathered from multiple sources,increasing the likelihood of inaccuracies. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how the digital twin is defined in thereal estate industry and examine how the valuation process is influenced by the property's digital twin.The research question is answered through interviews with individuals who have expertise in the field.The definition of the digital twin varies depending on the respondent's work, but connections can bemade to aspects that are of greater or lesser relevance. Currently, the digital twin is not used as a toolin the valuation process but has the potential to assist in information management and data collectionin the future.

Sedan årtionden tillbaka har begreppet hållbar utveckling varit en stor del av samhällsdiskussionen. Begreppet handlar om de tre dimensionerna ekologisk, ekonomisk och social hållbarhet. Genom åren har den ekologiska hållbarheten haft stort fokus och bidragit till utveckling av olika mätmetoder och verktyg för att uppnå uppsatta mål som världen antagit tillsammans, som att till exempel minska koldioxidutsläppen. Den ekonomiska hållbarheten har fått större utrymme i samband med den industriella revolutionens framfart där verktyg som BNP per capita har använts till att mäta ett lands ekonomiska tillstånd. Inom fastighetsbranschen finns olika certifikat som används för att påvisa den ekologiska hållbarheten samt olika lönsamhetsmått som mäter den. Social hållbarhet har på bekostnad av de andra dimensionerna hamnat i kläm och faller ofta mellan stolarna på grund av dess kvalitativa och svårmätta struktur. Definitionen av begreppet är bred och inte lika entydig som ekologisk och ekonomisk hållbarhet. Till följd av det uppstår det ibland oklarheter till begreppets betydelse, trots att den sociala hållbarheten får större utrymme i samhällsdebatten, inte minst inom samhällsbyggnad och i fastighetsbranschen. Syftet med studien är att kartlägga hur olika fastighetsaktörer definierar social hållbarhet och hur definitionen påverkar deras arbete. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har inledningsvis teoriunderlag kring begreppet hållbar utveckling tagits fram, både i allmänhet och inom fastighetsbranschen. Detta har gjorts för att uppnå en fördjupning kring begreppen ekologisk, ekonomisk och social hållbarhet och se hur de skiljer sig åt, både på definitionsnivå samt hur de går att mäta. Vidare genomfördes en intervjustudie i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex olika fastighetsföretag för att samla kunskaper om fastighetsbranschens sociala hållbarhetsarbete. Med resultatet från teoriunderlaget och intervjustudien som grund har perspektivet på begreppet klargjorts för att uppnå en kartläggning av fastighetsbranschen definition och arbete med social hållbarhet. Resultatet från studien visar att syftet med social hållbarhet delas av alla deltagande aktörer: att skapa områden där kärnan ligger i att skapa trivsel och trygghet utifrån ett långsiktigt perspektiv. Däremot skiljer sig definitionen av social hållbarhet åt mellan olika fastighetsföretag. Slutsatsen av studien är att företags arbete med social hållbarhet styrs av hur de definierar begreppet. För flera aktörer skiljer sig definitionen åt från projekt till projekt, där varje projekt har ett eller flera unika fokusområden. Beroende på definitionen arbetar företagen antingen ur ett välgörenhetsperspektiv eller med fokus på den egna verksamhetens påverkan på människor. Arbetet med social hållbarhet är dock högst aktuellt för företagen och alla företag arbetar aktivt med social hållbarhet i sin verksamhet. Beroende på om företaget är stadsutvecklare eller konsulter avgör detta vilka krav de kan ställa på sina kunder eller andra aktörer kring arbetet med social hållbarhet. Den svåraste utmaningen med begreppet är dock att den är kvalitativ och svår att mäta. Flertalet företag försöker dock hitta egna metoder och verktyg för att mäta social hållbarhet i sina projekt eftersom det inte finns någon universell metod. / For decades, the concept of sustainable development has been a major part of the societal debate. The concept is about the three dimensions: ecological, economic and social sustainability. Social sustainability has been forgotten at the expense of the other dimensions and often falls between the cracks due to its qualitative structure. The definition of the term is broad and not as distinct as ecological and economic sustainability. As a result, questions sometimes arise about the meaning of the term, despite the fact that social sustainability is given greater scope in the public debate and in the real estate industry. The purpose of the study is to map how different real estate actors define social sustainability and how the definition affects their work. In order to fulfill the purpose of the study, the theoretical basis for the concept of sustainable development has initially been developed, both in general and in the real estate industry. This has been done to achieve an in-depth study of the concepts of ecological, economic and social sustainability and to see how they differ, both at the definition level and how they can be measured. Furthermore, an interview study was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews with six different real estate companies to gather knowledge about the real estate industry's social sustainability work. Based on the results from the theoretical basis and the interview study, the perspective on the concept has been clarified in order to achieve a survey of the real estate industry's work with social sustainability. The results from the study show that the purpose of social sustainability is shared by all participating actors: to create areas where the core lies in creating well-being and security from a long-term perspective. However, the definition of social sustainability differs between different real estate companies. The conclusion of the study is that companies´ work with social sustainability is governed by how they define the concept. For several actors, the definition differs from project to project, where each project has one or more unique focus areas. Depending on the definition, companies work either from a charity perspective or with a focus on the impact of their own operations on people. However, the work with social sustainability is highly relevant and all companies work actively with social sustainability in their operations. Depending on whether the company is an urban developer or consultant, this determines what requirements they can place on their customers or other actors regarding the work with social sustainability. The most difficult challenge with the concept, however, is that it is qualitative and difficult to measure. However, most companies try to find their own methods and tools for measuring social sustainability in their projects because there is no universal method.

Bakgrund: Det underliggande sambandet mellan kapitalstruktur och dess påverkan på företagets lönsamhet och företagsvärde har det utförts tidigare forskning på inom många olika sammanhang och branscher. Kapitalstrukturen visar ett företags finansiering och avser fördelningen mellan eget kapital och skulder. Även fast det utförts mycket forskning på området finns en del motsättningar kring olika samband som exempelvis lönsamhetens relation till hävstången.  Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att analysera hur kapitalstrukturen påverkar fastighets- och byggbolagens lönsamhet samt företagsvärde i Sverige under perioden år 2012–2019. Studien har även som delsyfte att undersöka bakomliggande faktorer som har en inverkan på kapitalstrukturen. Forskningsfrågor: Hur ser sambanden ut mellan finansiella nyckeltal och kapitalstrukturen över tidsperioden år 2012–2019? Hur förhåller sig kapitalstrukturen till lönsamheten och företagsvärdet? Vilka bakomliggande faktorer kan tänkas ha haft en inverkan på kapitalstrukturen och varför har det i så fall sett ut som det har gjort? Metod: En kvantitativ metod har använts för att besvara studiens syfte. För att analysera data har flera paneldataregressioner genomförts, där data har korrigerats för att få ett trovärdigt resultat. Resultatet baseras på data från börsnoterade företag inom byggbranschen och fastighetsbranschen.  Resultat: Studien resulterade i totalt 16 statistiskt signifikanta samband, men där fyra av dessa kan ses som otillförlitliga på grund av autokorrelation. De mest framträdande sambanden gäller tillväxtens påverkan på skuldsättning, företagsstorlekens påverkan på lönsamhet samt riskens påverkan på både skuldsättning och lönsamhet. Även skuldsättning och lönsamhet uppvisar starka samband med varandra. Studien visar att tillväxten har både positiva och negativa samband till hur företagen förhåller sig till skuldsättningen. Företagsstorleken uppvisar uteslutande positiva samband med både skuldsättning och lönsamhet, vilket ligger i linje med tidigare forskning. Risken visar ett negativt samband med skuldsättningsgrad för båda branscherna. Författarna anser att påverkande faktorer är rådande ränteläge, skattenivåer, fastighetsbranschens unika tillgångssammansättning samt företagens syn på belåning. / Background: The underlying relationship between capital structure and its impact on the company’s profitability and company value has been widely studied in different contexts and industries. The capital structure shows the company’s financing and defines the relationship between equity and debt. Even if the field has been widely studied there is still some disagreements about different underlying relationships, for example the profitability’s connection to leverage.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze how the capital structure affect the real estate- and construction companies’ profitability and company value in Sweden during the period 2012-2019. This study also has a secondary purpose to study underlying factors which has an impact on the capital structure.  Research questions: How does the relationships appear between financial key figures and the capital structure during the period 2012-2019? How does the capital structure relate to profitability and company value? Which underlying factors can be supposed to influence the capital structure and what is the reason for this? Method: A quantitative method has been used to fulfill the study’s purpose. To analyze the data various panel data regressions has been implemented, where the data has been adjusted to gain a more reliable result. The result is based on data from listed companies within the real estate- and construction industry. Results: This study resulted in totally 16 statistically significant relationships, but where four can be seen as unreliable due to autocorrelation. This most prominent results are the growth effect on debt, company size’s effect on profitability and the risk’s effect on both debt and profitability. Debt and profitability also show strong connections. This study implies that growth has both positive and negative relationships with debt. Company size only shows positive connections to both debt and profitability, which is in tune with previous studies. Risk has a negative relationship with debt-to-equity ratio in both industries. The authors thinks that influential factors could be today’s levels of interest rate, levels of taxes, the real estate industry’s uniqe proportion of their assets and the companies’ attitude to debt.

Inom fastighetssektorn har begreppet social hållbarhet blivit mer populär på senaste åren.Begreppet har oftast försummats i många debatter när det talas om hållbar utveckling. Även om hållbarhet som begrepp har blivit framträdande inom många områden, är social hållbarhet den minst utvecklade av dimensionerna inom hållbarhet. Många fastighetsföretag använder ordetmen oftast finns det utrymme för oklarheter om vad arbete med social hållbarhet egentligen innebär.Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur olika fastighetsbolag definierar och jobbar med social hållbarhet för att analysera hur de olika definitionerna bidrar till olika social hållbarhetsförändringar. För att kunna göra det utgår studien från att titta på hur kommunala och privata aktörer inom branschen arbetar med frågor kring social hållbarhet idag. För att åstadkomma detta genomförs kvalitativa intervjuer med aktörer som har olika fastighetsinnehav och ägarstrukturer. Studien visar att social hållbarhet är ett brett begrepp med olika definitioner och arbetet med social hållbarhet kan skilja sig från aktör till aktör samtidigt har de en gemensam faktor och det handlar om människans välmående. Det finns dock en nackdel med att ha olika definitioner och det är att det skapar en viss otydlighet för många fastighetsaktörer och som följd arbetar aktörerna med social hållbarhet på olika sätt. Respondenternas huvudmål var detsamma i detta arbete när det kom till att arbeta med social hållbarhet i sin verksamhet: att utveckla platser där det primära fokuset ligger på att främja stabilitet och välbefinnande ur en långsiktig synvinkel.Med denna studie kan det konstateras att det saknas information om hur fastighetsaktörer definierar social hållbarhet och hur detta tillämpas inom företagen. Eftersom det inte finns någon "korrekt" beskrivning av begreppet då det är ett komplex begrepp som inte har undersökts noggrant, leder det till att det finns många alternativa definitioner som innehas av många individer. Just nu finns det inte heller något sätt att mäta värdet av den sociala hållbarheten, vilket behöver undersökas. Det skulle förbättra arbetet med social hållbarhet om det finns bevis på lönsamheten. / Within the real estate sector, the concept of social sustainability has become more popular in recent years. The concept has often been neglected in many debates when talking about sustainable development. Although sustainability as a concept has gained prominence in many fields, social sustainability is the least developed of the dimensions of sustainability. Many real estate companies use the word, but there is usually room for ambiguity about what work with social sustainability actually means. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how different real estate companies define and work with social sustainability in order to analyze how the different definitions contribute to different social sustainability changes. To be able to do that, the study starts from looking at how municipal and private actors within the industry work with issues around social sustainability today. To achieve this, qualitative interviews are conducted with actors who have different property holdings and ownership structures.The study shows that social sustainability is a broad concept with different definitions and the work with social sustainability can differ from actor to actor, at the same time they have a common factor, and it is about human well-being. However, there is a downside to having different definitions and that is that it creates a certain lack of clarity for many real estate actors and as a result the actors work with social sustainability in different ways. The responders main goal was the same in this work when it came to working with social sustainability in their business: to develop places where the primary focus is on promoting stability and well-being from a long-term point of view. The study also shows that there is a lack of information on how real estate companies define social sustainability and how this is applied within the companies. Since there is no "correct" description of the concept as it is a large subject that has not been thoroughly researched, it leads to the existence of many alternative definitions held by many individuals. Right now, there is no way to measure the value of social sustainability, if this could be obtained, it would be interesting to read further. It would also improve work with social sustainability as there is clear evidence of profitability.