As the shopping season ramps up, what does everybody want this year? Ultra-fast online deliveries, of course. Consumer expectations for on-demand shopping are on the rise. And to fulfil those demands quickly, so are dark stores. These micro-warehouses filled with goods for online shoppers are developing fast in established markets like the U.S and Europe, and also spreading to new markets in Asia Pacific. “We’re about to see the largest disruption to retail and the supply chain that we have...

Automation isn’t just reshaping how goods travel from factories to front doors. It’s also reshaping the logistics sector’s workforce. This is true of people on the warehouse floor working shoulder-to-shoulder with robots, but it goes all the way up to the c-suite, with increasingly needs for skills like data analytics and risks management. While skills needed are a reflection of an increasingly tech-driven sector, at the end of the day one of the most important skills is very human:...

From the blockage of the Suez Canal to the pandemic, there have been plenty of reminders about the fragility of global commerce in the last year. The events have been a wake-up call for manufacturers and logistics firms, which are trying to figure out how to address unpredictable disruptions to intertwined global supply chains. “Right now resilience is emerging as a lot more important than cost,” says John Gattorna, a leading supply chain thought leader and author. “Although if you get it...

Listen to MIT and JLL experts discuss how logistics and industrial real estate is changing with the times

Asia Pacific investment volumes hit $35 billion between July and September, compared to $26.1 billion in previous three months of 2020, according to JLL. It was China that took the bulk of the region’s investment, as the country’s economic recovery continues to outpace the rest of the world. In a quarter when most economies contracted, the world’s second-largest economy grew 4.9 percent. Domestic investors remain the predominant source of capital, but larger cities like Beijing have been...

Global investors are preparing to double down on Japanese real estate and deploy sizable chunks of the $40 billion of dry powder capital earmarked for Asia Pacific into the country. In this podcast, our host, Art Patnaude, has a dialogue with JLL’s Stuart Crow, CEO Capital Markets, Asia Pacific speaking to us from his home office in Singapore and Kenichi Negishi, Head of Capital Markets, Japan, joining us from Tokyo. The topic at hand - Why is Japan set to attract greater volumes of...

Corporate finance heads are increasingly turning to their existing real estate as a source of liquidity in the uncertain economic environment. Sale-and-leaseback deals – where companies sell their real estate, then lease it back from the new owner – have been on the rise in recent years. But there has been a greater focus on them in recent months as the global pandemic sent companies hunting for strategies that boost equity. In this podcast, our host, Art Patnaude, has a dialogue with...

Real estate investment markets are showing the first signs of resumption, following a global pause as investors assessed the full impact of the COVID-19. As economic green shoots appear in some markets, capital deployment is top-of-mind with investors eager to release approximately $40 billion of dry powder capital into the region. In this podcast, our host, Art Patnaude, has a dialogue with JLL’s Tim Graham, Head of Capital Strategies, Asia Pacific, speaking to us from his home office in...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been forcing corporate leadership to re-examine their real estate strategies, with many reconsidering the amount of space dedicated to the traditional office. Corporate giants such as Twitter, Morgan Stanley, and Barclays have all publicly questioned their future real estate requirements and the amount of space they dedicate to traditional office space. There’s a debate on whether offices will be relevant post-COVID. Some corporates have declared permanent work...