Expanding Opportunities for Philippine Architects Through CREM

Abstract

Architects contribute to the cultural, social, economic, environmental, and technological aspects of society. However, architects face several challenges due to high levels of urbanization, lower financials for projects and the emergence of new professionals and contracts, that lessen the scopes of architects. Architects in developing nations face additional problems due to lower financial capacity, weak governance, and political instability. The vulnerable nature of the construction industry along with additional problems faced by developing countries paralyze the development of architecture practices in the Philippines. There is a need to adjust traditional professional practices to create more opportunities for Architecture Engineering and Construction professionals. This research focuses on how architecture professional practices in the Philippines create future-proof business models by integrating corporate real-estate management services.
The study creates a framework for Philippine architects to expand their business opportunities through adapting practices and techniques used by Dutch architects. Through a qualitative multiple case-study approach, the business model transitions between purely architectural firms to architecture-CREM practices of three Dutch architecture firms are analyzed using the Business Model Canvas by Osterwalder et al. (2010). After which, archetypes based on these three companies are created and then tested in the Philippine context through Expert Interviews. Feedback on the adaptability of each archetype’s business model and profile are discussed. The results indicate that the most adaptable architecture-CREM business models for the Philippines are those that focus on CREM activities within the Construction and Maintenance quadrants within the Project Lifecycle (Emmitt, 1999). While the strategies differ, the most important building blocks in the canvas present to be the Key Activities, Key Resources, Key Partnerships, Cost Structure and Revenue Streams.