China Resources Land and Longfor are competing fiercely to recruit such talents with high salaries.

Since the industry downturn, frequent changes in real estate executives have become a common phenomenon.

This is not only the case in the residential development sector, but also in the commercial real estate sector.

Since last year, the mobility of executives in the commercial real estate sector has become more frequent. According to incomplete statistics, there have been at least 39 personnel changes in the commercial real estate field in the first half of this year. In the third quarter alone, there were 22 personnel changes (excluding changes in supervisory board members, directors, and non-executive directors), involving 18 developer enterprises.

The movement of executives is the wind vane of industry changes. Through the changes of executives, we can kuitan the current competitive pattern of commercial real estate and the breakthrough ideas of real estate enterprises.

01 Three obvious trends in the changes of commercial real estate executives

In the past two years, news of the departure or new appointment of star professional managers in the commercial real estate circle has been heard from time to time. The changes of executives are driven by the industry shift and also involve personal choice factors.

It is normal for people to come and go in the workplace. However, in the past two years, the changes of commercial real estate executives have shown some unusual trends.

Frequent adjustments in the organizational structure of real estate enterprises, triggering personnel changes of executives

The increase in the mobility of real estate executives is mainly due to the adjustment of the organizational structure of real estate enterprises. When an industry enters the consolidation and contraction stage from the expansion stage in its heyday, the originally configured team often faces the risk of overflow, both for grassroots employees and executive teams.

At this stage, with the strategic adjustment of enterprises, the internal team changes will also become more frequent accordingly.

According to incomplete statistics, there have been at least 160 executive personnel changes in the commercial real estate field in 2023, half of which are internal transfers; in the executive changes that occurred in the first half of this year, the proportion of internal transfers is as high as about 60%.

Some are adjustments in the group's organizational structure, some are regional contraction and integration, and some are management changes.

Vanke conducted a major integration of the commercial sector at the beginning of this year, establishing a commercial business division. The commercial businesses of the original seven regional areas and InCity were merged into the commercial BG. At the same time, Sun Jia, the former chief partner of the Southern Region, became the chief partner of the commercial business division, and Ding Liye, the chairman of InCity, concurrently served as the chief consultant of the commercial business division.

Recently, Vanke continues to deepen the organization of the commercial business division: setting up functional departments and special task forces, Sun Jiawei as the chief partner of the commercial business division, and Yao Haibo promoted to the executive president of the commercial business division and the chief partner of the Shanghai company.

Functional departments of the commercial business division: Finance, Capital and Investment Department, Engineering and Property Department, Technology Application Department, Audit and Supervision Department, Operations Department, Investment Promotion Department, Organization and Collaboration Department 

Special task forces: Large Shopping Center (Mega) Task Force, Community Business Task Force, Historical and Cultural District Task Force 

Business units of the commercial business division: Northern Company, East China Company, South China Company, Central China Company, Shanghai Company, Western Company, Sunshine Business Division 

Gemdale Properties and Investment also carried out organizational adjustments to the group and the four regional/city companies this year. Among them, the Group Strategy Management Department and the Finance Center of Guangdian Real Estate were abolished at the group headquarters level. At the same time, the former deputy general manager of the Group Strategy Management Department was appointed as the deputy general manager of the Group Operations Center, and the former deputy general manager of the Group Strategy Management Department was transferred to the deputy general manager of the Group Operations Center, etc. To reduce vacancy losses and lease assets as much as possible, click here to learn more

In the past two years, many executives have chosen to leave their old employers. For example, Wu Linghua, the president of Shimao Group, resigned from Shimao Group this year and left the platform where he had worked for eight years.

In addition, we have also noticed that in the turbulent industry, not only ordinary employees want to find a safe haven, but also executives are "choosing the right tree to perch on". At the same time, stable state-owned enterprises and central enterprises hope to introduce capable people to help the company break through the difficulties. This has led to a "two-way pursuit" between the two.

The introduction of market-oriented talents, and the change in the employment trend of the commercial management sector of state-owned enterprises and central enterprises

The real estate market has been in a continuous downturn, and the phenomenon of talent overflow has become more serious. Since last year, news of freezing and reducing staff in state-owned enterprises and central enterprises has been reported from time to time.

However, for market-oriented management talents, state-owned enterprises and central enterprises have rarely opened their doors wide.

We know that the talent team of state-owned enterprises and central enterprises has always been relatively stable, and they attach importance to the cultivation of internal talents. The management is basically promoted internally. Even for external recruitment, they are more inclined to state-owned background enterprises with "equal status". Cases of market-oriented talents kongjiang the management are very rare.

In the past two years, the development business sector of state-owned enterprises and central enterprises has introduced a large number of market-oriented talents, especially product R & D talents with the background of benchmark private enterprises, and they are entrusted with important positions as soon as they arrive.

A similar trend has also emerged in the commercial real estate sector.

This month, Wang Jianhui, a former employee of Longfor and the former CEO of KWG Living Group, joined Yuexiu Group and served as the CEO of Yuexiu Services Group.

"The No. 1 in Commercial Real Estate" China Resources Land, for the first time this year, set up the position of "Chief Business Consultant" in Mixc Lifestyle Services Limited, and the person appointed to this position is Vuthy Penn, a heavy luxury tycoon from abroad.

According to media reports, Vuthy Penn previously worked in a Hong Kong enterprise. Before joining Mixc Lifestyle Services Limited, he served as the vice president of Hong Kong Zhuozhan Group and was in charge of the business operation strategy.

Judging from Vuthy Penn's previous work experience, his areas of expertise are the planning of heavy luxury projects, and the leasing of luxury goods groups and core independent luxury brands.

The rare recruitment of international talents by Mixc Lifestyle Services Limited also makes people full of imagination about the next strategic planning of China Resources Land.

The "exchange" of talents between benchmark real estate enterprises, and star professional managers are sought after

Excellent real estate enterprises and star professional managers often achieve mutual success and complement each other. Excellent talents help real estate enterprises grow, and the achievements of real estate enterprises also make professional managers shine. Their every move attracts great attention from the industry.

At present, the most influential in the mainland commercial real estate field are undoubtedly China Resources Land and Longfor Group. The management talents cultivated by these two real estate enterprises are highly favored in the industry.

Since last year, many executives in the Longfor commercial sector have taken up new positions, including Peng Peixi, the former general manager of Longfor Commercial West China Region 2, who joined CIFI Group as the president of CIFI Commercial; Wen Jian, the former general manager of Longfor South China Region, who joined Seazen Holdings as the general manager of the Sichuan regional company of the commercial management, etc.;

The executives of China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services Limited seem to be more popular.

Bao Wei, the former general manager of China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services Limited South China Region, was kongjiang as the senior vice president of Longfor Group last year and also served as the general manager of the commercial channel; Hopson Development Holdings invited Huang Meng, the former general manager of China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services Limited North China Region, to serve as the co-president of Hopson Business Technology Management, responsible for the front-end business operation...

The most talked about in the industry is Zhang Fang, the former vice president of China Resources Land, joining Kerry Properties. Zhang Fang has served in the commercial sector of China Resources Land for 20 years, participated in and witnessed the growth of China Resources Mixc, and is a veteran of China Resources Mixc. She is known as "the No. 1 zhaoshang person of China Resources" in the industry.

The "exchange" of talents between state-owned enterprises and central enterprises, private enterprises/foreign enterprises means that the talent flow in the industry is more sufficient and flexible. At the same time, it also reflects the enterprises' demand and emphasis on excellent talents in the increasingly fierce industry competition.

02 The competition in commercial real estate intensifies, and enterprises begin to differentiate

In mainland China, the commercial real estate business has been positioned as one of the "diversified businesses" of real estate enterprises for a long time, which is an icing on the cake.

In recent years, the industry has continued to be in a downturn, and the housing development business has shrunk year by year. However, the commercial real estate business, which was originally regarded as a sideline, has shown strong resilience. The performance growth has formed a sharp contrast with the development business, and the profit ability has also opened a huge gap with the housing development business.

Commercial real estate is also regarded by real estate enterprises as an important track for strategic transformation. Although the prospects are promising and there are many successful cases internationally, the current domestic commercial entities are in a state of saturation, and the differentiation and competition in the industry are intensifying year by year.

The commercial management has become a new growth pole, and there are already successful cases in the industry

In the era of stock, real estate enterprises are emphasizing business diversification and light asset transformation in order to cultivate the second growth curve of performance.

Some real estate enterprises that have transformed earlier have survived the cultivation period and entered the harvest stage. Diversified businesses such as commercial real estate have "counterattacked" and become the ballast stone for the stable basic market of real estate enterprises.

For example, China Resources Land and Longfor Group.

From the perspective of the profit structure, the profit brought by the operating business of China Resources Land has slightly exceeded the development business and has become an important profit source of the group.

In the first half of this year, China Resources Land achieved a core net profit of 10.74 billion yuan, of which the core net profit of the recurring business was 5.52 billion yuan, accounting for 51.4%.

The operating business and property management services of Longfor also contributed a profit of 6.8 billion yuan, accounting for more than 80% of the group's profit composition.

The shopping centers have made the greatest contribution to the performance of these two real estate enterprises.

The Mixc shopping centers under China Resources Land have become the leader of high-end commercial in China and the most important growth pole of China Resources Land. In the first half of this year, the rental income alone reached 9.48 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 9.7%.

The commercial complexes under Longfor also achieved a rental income of 5.32 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 6%.

This also confirms the important role of the commercial real estate business with stable cash flow in the real estate enterprises' crossing of the industry cycle.

In fact, in Hong Kong, China, where the real estate development is more mature, the management and operation of commercial real estate have long become the core business of many real estate enterprises. For example, Swire Properties, Kerry Properties, Shui On Land, and Henderson Land Development all rely on the property management to achieve long-term and stable development.

In the mainland, China Resources Land and Longfor Properties also have high hopes for the management business including commercial management. China Resources Land even stated that the second growth curve has been formed, and it will transform to the large asset management model in the future.

Enterprises have differentiated layouts, and commercial real estate has differentiated

In any industry, in the early chaotic stage, everyone rushes in, and everyone copies each other, and everyone can get a share. Once it matures, it will begin to differentiate. The top enterprises find their own xifen saidao and continuously consolidate their position in this saidao.

At present, the shopping centers in the mainland are approaching saturation, and the overall homogeneity phenomenon is relatively serious.

At the same time, the trend of positioning differentiation of top enterprises is becoming more and more obvious.

For example, China Resources Land mainly targets the high-end consumer market in core cities, and its core product is Mixc; Longfor Group mainly targets the middle-class, and its core product is Paradise Walk; Seazen Holdings mainly occupies the third- and fourth-tier markets, and its core product is Wuyue Plaza.

Through the employment trends of enterprises, we can also glimpse the differentiated strategies of real estate enterprises for commercial real estate. A typical example is that China Resources Land firmly follows the route of heavy luxury shopping centers. It has now laid out 13 heavy luxury Mixc, and for the first time this year, it has introduced a senior heavy luxury tycoon from abroad as an advisor, which is expected to bring a breakthrough in luxury goods resources and strengthen the operation ability of Mixc for heavy luxury brands.

Strategy implementation, talent first. The mobility of executives may bring a new catalytic effect to the development of commercial real estate.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Mingyuan Real Estate Research Institute", author: Yanzhi, and was published by 36Kr with authorization.