Title: Facilities management development in Europe

Authors: Vida Maliene, Keith Alexander, Natalija Lepkova

Addresses: School of the Built Environment, Faculty of Technology and Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. ' University of Salford, One Central Park, P.O. Box 7, Northampton Road, Moston, Manchester, M40 5WW, UK. ' Department of Construction Economics and Property Management, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Sauletekio al. 11, LT-10223 Vilnius 40, Lithuania

Abstract: Facilities Management (FM) uses different approaches and has distinctive priorities in very particular country. There are widely divergent interpretations of the FM concept as it is used in various countries. FM is generally understood in the similar way, but it may use different strategies. There is as yet no consistent definition of the scope of FM activities. The study reported here concerns one general question: why are FM definitions different? We investigate how the historical backgrounds of different countries influence the development of FM, and reveal how the individual law system, psychology and business environment affects FM in various countries.

Keywords: facilities management; FM definition; FM development; European Union; EU; global market; law systems; psychology; business environment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2008.021354

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2008 Vol.35 No.2/3/4, pp.171 - 184

Published online: 20 Nov 2008 *

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