A word from Our Moderator

A Word from our Moderator Paul Mason

The famous British economist Ronald Coase once asked the heretical question – why do we need companies at all? Why can't a bunch of independent suppliers achieve through the marketplace what a firm achieves, with its organisations, rituals and loyalties?

The standard answer in economics is that there are synergies and spillovers from spontaneous collaboration, which only happen inside the firm and not in a marketplace. And that some things only work at scale.

My most acute observation during the Facilities Management roundtable, is that businesses and employees alike are now being posed with an equally large question – what is the purpose of the office? None of our respondents think the office as an institution is over.

In fact, conversations across all key persona groups confirmed otherwise. But we are clearly facing a new economic challenge to the purpose of the modern office: what synergies does it actually create; how much collaboration does it actually facilitate; ultimately how much value does it add.

These questions have pushed their way from the periphery, to the centre of management discussions and is resulting in a seismic shift in the expectation of Facilities Managers.

Paul Mason,
Journalist, writer
and film-maker