INNOVATION IN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT IN SINGAPORE - A CASE STUDY OF REPUBLIC PLAZA

Abstract

Innovation has been widely recognized for its strategic importance and competitive advantages. There are many definitions of innovation, depending on the context in which it is used. Here, innovation is defined as something new to the adopting organization. Most of the innovation research is conducted in manufacturing. The findings have yet to be applicable to the property development industry. This research attempts to confirm that factors do exist to promote or inhibit the adoption of innovation in the property development industry in Singapore by using Republic Plaza as the case study. Innovation can be classified in terms of creativity, risk and newness. Such classifications include administrative and technical innovations, product and process innovations and radical and incremental innovations. The adoption or rejection of an innovation is dependent on its attributes such as cost, investment returns and perceived relative advantage. In addition, it is also affected by organizational factors. An innovation arises because of performance gaps which are due to changes in the internal and external environment. The innovation process can be explained by the individual-orientated and organizational-orientated models. In these models, feedback plays an important role in controlling expected performance and providing useful information to solve unanticipated problems. The eight-stage property development process is used to explain the development of RP from its concept design stage to its completion. The different role played by the major players of the process will also be discussed.