Chart of the day: Here’s why landlords should be setting their sights on SMEs

Multinational corporations are too far and few in between.

While multinational corporations (MNCs) should remain as landlords’ focus, the skyrocketing number of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) present an alluring and largely untapped market for office space providers.

According to a report by CBRE, the growth of SMEs are by no means a replacement for mid and large sized companies. However, it would do landlords well to consider that they will have to be responsive to the future economy and adapt to shifting workplace dynamics to maintain competitiveness.

"MNCs and large enterprises might have large space requirements, but they are far and few in between. SMEs on the other hand have considerably smaller space needs but this is balanced by their large numbers," noted CBRE.

Moreover, needs of businesses shift in tandem with every stage of growth.

"Most startups are generally housed either in incubators or co-working space. depending on the size of their staff and specific office requirements, they will opt to locate themselves in either co-working space or serviced offices. For those that manage to scale up to being large enterprises and MNCs, they will have to move to more traditional, large floor plate type of offices," CBRE stated.

"Landlords stand to benefit by engaging companies early and follow up with them as they expand and respond swiftly to their changing office needs," it added.