Housing renovation is a common concern to owners, tenants and to society at large. In addition to the high economic costs, the implementation of housing renovation usually have a long-term impact on the society and the built environment. This is a theoretical paper that develops a system model for understanding sustainable housing renovation as a system phenomenon which has multiple sustainability goals, complicated dynamic processes, diverse actors, and a sophisticated institutional environment. It identifies the key challenges of a sustainable housing renovation system, namely the conflicting sustainability goals and the conflicting stakeholder interests. To address these two challenges, the paper suggests an innovation approach in which the process of innovation (linear versus organic) and the typology of innovation (product versus process and business versus social) toward sustainable housing renovation are discussed.

Stakeholder management is an important task for project managers in housing renovation. Compared with new construction project, a great challenge is managing the tenants living onsite before or during the renovation. This paper is a teaching case based on a real-life housing renovation of a Swedish real estate company between 2009 to 2016. The project confronted difficult stakeholder management problems. The case provides teaching materials that can be used by instructors for helping students and trainees to analyse and summarise the lessons learned from a troublesome stakeholder management process and to come up with suggestions that will ensure a smooth implementation of the housing renovation project. The case contains two main parts, namely the case description and teaching notes. It can be used by teachers and trainers, as well as university bachelor students and industrial practitioners in courses and training programs about real estate project management.

We outline how the industry can take an active part in an undergraduate course of real estate management to enhance student learning and break through the learning barrier. While it is beneficial to include industry-based guest lecturers, there are associated challenges for the teacher to uphold academic standards. These lectures provide the students with a live case to enhance the learning process. They inspire students to push themselves and are a natural way to break the learning barrier and develop higher-order learning.

Abstract Purpose – The paper aims to create an understanding of the gender structure in the real estate industry in Sweden. Therefore, interviews were made with younger female and male graduates. The purpose is to distinguish how these younger graduates working in the industry react to the gender structure. Design/methodology/approach –Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve graduate younger women and men working in the real estate industry in Sweden. As an input to the interviews a mapping of the gender structure was conducted, using annual reports of commercial real estate companies and public housing companies in Sweden, Findings – The paper provides empirical insights that there were not any greater differences in the gender structure between 2001 and 2008 and none of the respondents were surprised. The symbols of men and the hegemonic masculinity—men more often holding leading and technical positions while women more often hold supporting positions in the industry—are important to understand the gender structure. In the industry the hegemonic engineering masculinity is also apparent. Practical implications – The paper includes implication for the development of the gender structure, awareness is the first step, in order to retain talented women and men. Originality/value - This paper fulfils an identified need to study the gender structure of the real estate industry. Limitation- The limitation of this study might be the time period of the mapping; a longer time period might have shown a change in the structure and the amount of young female and male graduates interviewed. Keywords- Gender, Real estate, organization Paper type-Research paper

Gender theory started with understanding and explaining women’s role in society and now also includes men and masculinities. It has recently been adapted to family business research. This chapter will briefly introduce gender theory and its development, before reviewing how it has been used in family business research. Arguing that the family business context is suitable in studying gender phenomena, the chapter outlines several ways through which gender theory could yield new insights into the issues of how family business structures, settings and practices produce relations of power or asymmetry. A common approach so far to the study of gender in family business situations is to consider ‘gender as a variable’, which maintains the categorisation of women and men as a relevant and unproblematic variable. Many analyses of family businesses that also address gender, focus on feminist ‘standpoint positions’, giving voice to women’s unique experiences. Often in family business research, the dominant approach is to think of gender in terms of limited male/female distinctions rather than by reframing family business through critical positions, with the aim of reflection and sensitivity towards gender issues in terms of the socially constituted patterns that are produced through male/female, masculine/feminine distinctions. In the conclusion, the chapter suggests a possible methodology for capturing gendered processes and proposes how family business research could offer new insights into gender theory. 

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to clarify how annual reports of public housing and commercial real estate companies contribute in "doing gender" of the real estate industry in Sweden. How the issue of gender is dealt with in photographs, in two different types of organizations, with different corporate and business strategies, is important as they play a significant role in constructing the industry itself. Are there any differences in how they perceive gender, and what constitutes gender of the industry? Design/methodology/approach - Analysis of photographs in annual reports, 14 public housing companies and eight commercial real estate companies, in the year of 2011 Findings - The paper provides empirical insights about how "gender is done" in annual reports, men alone are shown more often as employees and both women and men are portrayed in stereotypical positions. Women are depicted more often as young and also presented in "token positions Research limitations/implications - Because of the chosen research approach, in studying only one year, a longitudinal study would be recommended for future studies. Practical implications - The paper includes implications for the development of gender symbols and images representing the industry, in how gender is done in public situations as in annual reports. This is not only important for the industry itself but also to stakeholders involved with the industry Originality/value - This paper fulfils an identified need to study how photographs shown in annual reports reveal gender structure

Housing renovation, in contrast to new construction projects, has to take good care of the tenants who are already living in the building. What are the theoretical and practical implications concerning the transformation from a technology-and-engineering-focused renovation approach to a more user-oriented one? What are the mechanisms of strategy change? Based on our case we argue that the mechanisms of strategy change are based on the interplay between external disturbance and internal renewal. External disturbance is the trigger of strategy change, but it does not, in itself, necessarily lead to strategy change, and particularly not for an innovative new strategy. The internal new competence is the source of changing from an old strategy to an innovative new strategy. The real estate industry needs to undergo a transformation from the rationalistic technology- and engineering-focused renovation model (TEF model) to a more inclusive approach. We suggest a user-oriented model (UO model) where user involvement is seen as integrated in the whole process of renovation.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing discussion on how the field of facility management is changing and the role a regional innovation system (RIS) can take place to support this change, with a specific focus on the role of gender and innovation. Design/methodology/approach The study builds partly on interactive research, and as a complement, qualitative semi-structured telephone interviews have been conducted. Findings The role of gender and innovations in facility management does matter due to the fact that if aiming at creating innovations, it is necessary to break free from established institutions, both formal and informal. Working with gender demands a norm-critical approach, and to be critical towards what we take for granted might create new solutions. Originality/value The paper contributes to the ongoing discussions how the field of facility management is changing and the importance of including gender in the innovation discussions.