PROFILING CHARACTERISTICS OF 'HIGH-TECH' INDUSTRIAL PREMISES

Abstract

There has been much confusion about what constitutes a 'high-tech' industrial development. Market researchers till date, have yet to explicitly state what exactly constitutes one. This study aims to define high-tech industrial developments through the perceptions of occupiers of the spaces. Seven factors were hypothesized to determine whether a business space could be termed 'high-tech': building specifications, age, image, locality, tenants, amenities and high rental values. Through exploratory factor analysis, it was determined that tenants view a high-tech development as according to the seven hypothesized factors. Using structural equation modeling via AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures), in particular through confirmatory factor analysis, this research has confirmed that these seven factors indeed represent the underlying structure of a high¬ tech industrial development. However, there are two constructs which are essentially building specifications while the factor 'age' was concluded to be a non-significant factor. A comparative analysis of tenants' and practitioners' perceptions on high-tech industrial developments was also made. The results show that there is no significant asymmetry in the perceptions of both users and providers of the space. Although 'image' was an essential construct, both occupiers and providers placed lesser emphasis on it as compared to the building specifications that a development consists. A 'high-profile' industrial building such as Ubi Tech Park, should thus cease to be termed 'high-tech'. Alternative marketing terms should therefore be used to brand these developments. Keywords: high-tech industrial development, constructs, confirmatory factor analysis, high-profile industrial building.