Overseas property giants 'adopt China strategies'

Overseas real estate giants are rethinking their strategies as they move their operations to China, according to a top US property executive.

The change of thinking is needed for them to better involve themselves in the Chinese economy and real estate market in the future, said Rob Speyer, co-CEO and president of Tishman Speyer, a US-based real estate building and operating company.

"Looking into the future, we are ready to embrace the China market even more," Speyer told a forum hosted by Fudan University School of Management in Shanghai.

"Real estate is a quintessentially local business. You can go to major cities across the world, whether here in China, in the US, or elsewhere and the real estate market in virtually every city is dominated by local entrepreneurs who own, develop and manage buildings in those cities," Speyer said.

Aware that there is no universal recognition of a single building code in different property markets, the company has adopted the strategy of hiring locally to help it grow and apply its high standards.

Be it in China, India or Brazil, the formation of local management teams has enabled it to manage the construction of buildings in Shanghai, Hyderabad and Sao Paulo in line with standards applied to those buildings in the US.

From this year, Tishman Speyer is launching a management training program in partnership with Fudan University School of Management as a step to securing the best talent for its China team.

"The way we develop is so specific and so demanding that we will only take a number of projects that we know we can execute with our standard of excellence," Rob Speyer said.

One of the biggest real estate developers in the United States by market value, Tishman Speyer has been behind the birth of many iconic buildings and landmarks globally, including the Rockefeller Center and Goldman Sachs office building in New York.