Social enterprise applications in an urban facilities management setting : a service delivery model

Mohd Tobi, SU

Abstract

This research aims to contribute to the area of new alignment in Facilities Management
(FM). By taking urban FM as the focus of the research, this research highlights how FM is
looking at a new way to deliver services to the community, which involves the
management of public facilities, infrastructure and its associated services. This new
alignment in FM gives new ideas to many researchers by using the urban FM concept to
explore many possibilities and putting it in a proper place to improve the current services
related to FM. The concept of urban FM moves away from the classical view of the
'traditional service provider' approach that involves the private sector such as in
privatisation, outsourcing, or even joint venture approaches. This study tries to look
beyond that by looking at the possibilities for having a flexible platform that could involve
public agencies or the private sector, or both together, as a new way of delivering services
to the public and the community. Therefore, it is important to understand the concept of
urban FM and its underlying philosophy in order to realise the inter-relationships with the
social enterprise principle, which could possibly offer a new approach to improve the
current service delivery.
In particular, this thesis outlines the enablers for a new service delivery model which meets
the needs of social enterprise applications in an urban FM setting, for the purpose of
managing community facilities operations. The research has thoroughly investigated the
activities related to urban FM around the world including the UK, and the same goes for
the social enterprise practices. It was done by looking at different perspectives to reveal the
enablers of the service delivery model so that it can be used extensively. Having this in
place helped the researcher to develop a strong base in identifying the initial enablers
before particularly seeking the enablers for a Malaysian setting. Looking at the main
themes; urban FM and social enterprise with the aim of building a theory, a thorough
review of the literature provided a strong basis before looking into current practices.
Case studies were conducted at several local councils in Malaysia to gain a better
understanding of the contextual factors in seeking the applications of the new service
delivery model. Although it was a new approach to apply this model for Malaysian
applications, having expert views on this to validate the findings helped to explain the
findings in an appropriate way. The contribution to knowledge in the field may be viewed
in terms of a critical examination about the urban FM concept and its relationship with
social enterprise principles, as well as demonstrating its potential success within an urban
FM setting. This study also adds to the current empirical evidence being studied,
particularly for the Malaysian context. Derived from that, this uncovered a flexible model
for delivering services in managing community facilities operations. This suggested a
'Ridley-Duff model, Type B' of a social enterprise organisational form as a suitable
company or agency, with combining the government and business aspect which suits an
urban FM setting in this context of study. Moreover, realising the benefits from the
'flexible model' provides added value to the contribution to the knowledge in this area,
which also can be taken for further research in other FM areas.

Citation

Mohd Tobi, S. Social enterprise applications in an urban facilities management setting : a service delivery model. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2011