JLL: Strategy & Competitive Environment Analysis - Consultant Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Jones Lang LaSalle's (JLL) competitive environment, a leading real estate services and investment management company. It utilizes PESTLE analysis to examine technological and environmental factors impacting JLL's strategies, including the importance of technology adoption, R&D investment, and adapting to infrastructure developments. Furthermore, Porter's Five Forces framework is applied to assess the intensity of rivalry, the threat of new entrants and substitutes, and the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers. The report identifies key challenges and opportunities for JLL, concluding with recommendations such as investing in R&D, diversification, considering environmental impacts, and strategic outsourcing to enhance its competitive position. The analysis aims to provide insights for JLL to navigate the competitive landscape and sustain its market leadership.

Running head: STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
Strategy and the global competitive environment

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 1
Abstract:
Competitor Analyses is a tool for external analyses of the environment of an organization. It
is also important for the purpose of formulating strategies on the basis of the strengths and
weakness of the competing firms. There are many tools that can help in analysing the
strengths and weakness of the competitors. This report highlights the competitor analysis of
Jones Lang LaSalle Company which is a well-known firm in real estate industry. For the
purpose of the accurate information, all articles and information used in this report are
referred from authenticated sources and journals.

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 2
Table of Contents
Introduction:..........................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of JLL external environmental factors:...................................................................................3
Technological:...................................................................................................................................4
Environmental:..................................................................................................................................4
Proposed Strategy to overcome the drawbacks of above analyses:....................................................5
Invest in R&D:..............................................................................................................................5
Diversification:..............................................................................................................................5
Considering the environmental damages:......................................................................................5
Outsourcing:..................................................................................................................................5
Porter’s Five Forces Framework:..........................................................................................................6
Rivalry:..............................................................................................................................................6
Threats of New Entrants:...................................................................................................................6
Threat of Substitutes:.........................................................................................................................6
Bargaining Power of Suppliers:.........................................................................................................7
Bargaining Power of Buyers:.............................................................................................................7
Competitor Analysis:.............................................................................................................................7
Recommendations:................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion:............................................................................................................................................9
Appendix:..............................................................................................................................................9
References...........................................................................................................................................12
Bibliography:.......................................................................................................................................15

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 3
Introduction:
Jones Lang LaSalle popularly known as JLL, is a USA based professional services and
investment Management Company working in real estate industry. The company is marketing
itself as JLL since March 2014. The global headquarter of JLL is located in Chicago and its
operational units are covering the regional market of America. The sub-headquarter of the
company is located in London which covers Middle East, Europe, and Africa Regional
market and also in Singapore which covers the regional market of Pacific Asia. The services
provided by the company include agency leasing, property management, the real estate
merchant banking, project, and development management, relationship services, value
recovery, sustainability services and consulting and investment services (McCarty &
Gottschalk, 2014). JLL Company is the largest publicly traded commercial real estate
brokerage company at international level after CBRE Group. Therefore, the firm also has a
number of competitors in its environment which affects the productivity and performance of
the company in short as well as in long run. Some of the main competitors of JLL Company
includes Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.
This report highlights the analyses of the external competitive environment of the company
by using some important tools of external environment analyses. Further, on the basis of the
study, some recommendations have been provided that can be used by the company to
enhance the capability to manage the competitors. At the end of the report, a conclusion has
been drawn to provide an overview of the report that can enable the reader to understand the
essence of the entire study (Rastogi & Trivedi, 2016).
External Analysis:
External Analyses of the company is conducted with the help of the PESTLE and Porter’s
Five Forces Framework as they influence the working of the company. These factors are
discussed below. Along with this, the company should also consider opportunities and threats
which have been discussed below in Appendix 1.
Analysis of JLL external environmental factors:
The main factors of PESTLE analysis that impact the strategies of the company can be
discussed as follows:

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 4
Technological:
More than 90 percent people of USA prefers to purchase the property after analysing all the
options provided to them by brokers. JLL can use this advantage by adding more pictures of
its assets on the official website so that customers can go through all the options available to
them. The USA is one of the leading countries in terms of technology and literate people.
JLL can use this strength in maintaining records of the vendors and suppliers, maintaining the
required level of stock, fast communication and for designing the projects online in an
effective manner. JLL can make effective marketing, advertising and promotional programs
to increase the customer awareness about the firm (Kolios & Read, 2013).
One of the major factor is that, the USA is the hub of technological advances where many
jobs and functions are being outsourced by the companies to the other countries which
reduced production cost and thus results in increasing the overall productivity of the firm.
JLL can also use this outsourcing function to develop the designs of the buildings and
infrastructure. By this way, the work can also be performed with the perfection (Njambi, et
al., 2016).
The investment in R&D department is low in the USA as a percentage of GDP in comparison
to other developed countries. It also impacts the processes carried out by R&D department of
the company. The department is not engaged in such activities that may provide more ways to
increase the customer satisfaction and thus to increase sales. Therefore, the company needs to
invest in its research processes related to customer preferences and their compatibility
(Kozlinskis, 2016).
Environmental:
New infrastructure development plan of the USA including high-speed road projects and
metro projects will also facilities higher development of the real estate industry. JLL is able
to take advantage of new and innovative environmental changes by commencing new
projects near to metro projects and roads. It will automatically result in increasing the prices
of the property. For this purpose, the company will have to consider the new economic
policies of the government (Taherkhani, et al., 2012). The development in the infrastructure
of the country will automatically result in increasing the prices of the property. The USA has
highly diverse climate conditions, geography and wildlife. This attracts a billion of customers
every year. The country has the educational and technological advancements that attract the
students and professionals too. The USA also has major visitor attractions that provides an

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 5
opportunity to real estate industry to increase the sales. It will also increase the rate of the
property because many people are migrating to such places and are willing to invest in
properties located near such attractions (Ho, 2014).
In order to take advantage of such increase in the number of students and professionals, JLL
can invest in the projects like hostels and hotels by proving to pay guest and tenant facility to
the persons who are not willing to live there permanently. For this purpose, the company
need to analyses the environmental conditions and also need to analyse the season and time in
which most of the visitors prefer to visit there (Gupta, 2013).
Proposed Strategy to overcome the drawbacks of above analyses:
Invest in R&D:
The managers of R&D department is required to concentrate more on the technological
developments which are preferred by the citizens of the country as well as the foreigners.
After analysing such advancements, same facilities should be provided to the customers so
that they can be able to compare the services with other companies. This work can also be
outsourced to the professionals of other countries JLL is a well-known firm in real estate
industry therefore, it will be easy to take grant for funds from the government for the purpose
of making the investment in the research and development projects. This will help the
company to overcome the financial burden because of making investment in R&D
department (Lai & Lin, 2015).
Diversification:
Along with this, the company is required to construct its buildings and societies near to the
international level colleges in the USA so the students from foreign countries may get attract
towards the facilities nearby their colleges.
Considering the environmental damages:
The company should also be concerned about the fact that at the time of constructing
buildings and apartments, natural resources like water, soil, plants may not get damages. It is
a well-known fact that at the time of construction, a company needs a piece of sphere land,
but the company also should take care that in case of unavailability of land, the company
should not adopt the alternate ways like cutting plants and forests (Bolivar, et al., 2010).
Outsourcing:
The company should outsource its function like developing and designing project planning
and infrastructure development plan to get the work done by professionalized knowledge.

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 6
Porter’s Five Forces Framework:
Rivalry:
The strength of rivalry among the competitors of JLL in residential development is
considerably low. The area in which the company is facing more competition is the
development of land. Because when it comes to selling the end units, developers often try to
ignore competing directly either by developing products in different markets and introducing
products at the different time. The developers sometimes also use the differentiation in
product types (Jaradat, et al., 2013).
The main factor is that the adequately differentiable product is not the subject to any kind of
technological obsolescence and perishability so that developers have sufficient time for
production and selling their product and also in the desired manner (Indiatsy, et al., 2014).
Threats of New Entrants:
To enter into the industry of real estate business, no any special authority or permission is
required to anyone. Therefore, there is no any obligation form the legal perspective that can
resist a person or organization to enter into real estate industry. Similarly, a person also does
not need any high expertized knowledge of technology that can prevent him to enter into this
industry (Enders, et al., 2013). The main barrier that may prevent an organization to enter
into this industry is the capital. An individual or an organization is required to have financial
stability and also should have the ability to raise finance from various financial resources. At
present, JLL has some competitors in the industry like CBRE and Colliers International
which are providing strong completion to the firm. The company is required to command its
activities in some key areas so that entrance of new firms cannot affect its customer base
(Mathooko & Ogutu, 2015).
Threat of Substitutes:
Real Estate industry is always high in demand because of two main reasons. The first one is
to utilize it for accommodation purpose and the second one is for making it a valuable
investment. Thus there are a number of competitive products that are being provided by the
Colliers International and other competitors. Such competition from other firms can be
treated by introducing product differentiation strategy by the company with the high quality
of management services. JLL can also take an advantage of the needs of those people who are
willing to take property on rent. The company can provide such accommodations with low
investment. There can also be some other strategies that can be sued by the company to deal

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 7
with the substitutes available in the industry. JLL is also required to develop its strategy and
should use the technological advancements to provide some unique features with its products
and services. It will not impact the profitability of the firm irrespective of the availability of
substitutes or variety of products (Omsa, et al., 2017).
Bargaining Power of Suppliers:
Bargaining power of suppliers in real estate industry is favourable for the JLL Company.
Although there are many organizations are providing same services, but still, the bargaining
power of suppliers is not so strong. It means the suppliers of the real estate industry are not
able to pressurize the price of property due to the availability of a number of buyers. There
are four main suppliers in the real estate industry which can be distinguished as the land
sellers (developers and government), capital providers, construction contractors and home
furnishing and building material manufacturers. This force from Porter's Model creates a
favourable situation for JLL Company as it does not need to pay more to acquire the property
for the purpose of further development (Binovska, et al., 2018).
Bargaining Power of Buyers:
The bargaining power of buyers depends upon the stage of industry cycle, government
regulations and laws related to the protection of consumer’s interests. It also depends upon
the financial condition of the developers. During the peak season of industry cycle, the
buyer's bargaining power is no more effective and JLL is able to sell its products and services
at high rates. But during the lean stage of industry cycle, the firm has to bear the bargaining
power of buyers up to some extent. But it is a well-known fact that market of real estate
industry can never get impacted to a great level because this is the only industry where prices
are regularly increasing due to increase in population. JLL Company can get benefitted to this
favourable fact of the industry (Tehran & Rahmani, 2014).
On the basis of above analyses by using Porter's Five Forces Framework, it can be said that
Jones Lang LaSalle has a number of strengths in favourable areas which can be used by the
management to bring stability and enhancing the business.
Competitor Analysis:
On the basis of the understandings form technological and environmental factors and Porter’s
Five Forces Framework, competitor’s analyses for JLL Company can be performed as
follows:

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The largest competitor of JLL Company is CBRE Group. It is the leading firm providing its
services in Real Estate Industry. The analyses of the capabilities, strategies, functions, and
objectives can be done by studying below mentioned table:
Current and
future
objectives.
The current objective of CBRE Group includes maintaining its position
in the real estate market and future objective includes the introduction of
new products and services with the help of technological advancements.
Current
Strategy
Provide unique services to the customers and lead innovation.
Resource
Profile
Resources are available in large number because of availability of
sufficient cash and capital.
Future
Strategies
Grab the opportunities prevailing the industry and taking advantage of
soft rules and regulations of the government of different countries.
CBRE is a well-reputed company in Real Estate Sector. It is currently working with the
objective of maintaining its sustainability in the real estate industry. For this purpose, it is
continuously providing attention to the training and development of its human resources as
well as making an investment in its research and development department. This makes it, a
leading company in the industry. The company is having sufficient funds available all time so
that it can arrange all resources within proper time frame according to the demands of the
customers. Along with this, the company also have effective operational strategies that are
assisting in the growth of the firm (Wachter, 2016). The company is working with the future
objective of becoming a real estate service provider by providing new and innovative
products with the help of proper utilizing of technological advancements. For this purpose, it
is continuously working on formulating the new business strategy that may cover all the
future objectives of the organization.

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 9
(JLL, 2018)
Recommendations:
On the basis of above analyses, it can be recommended that JLL needs to step out from its
comfort zone and should introduce some products that are not pre-launched or tested by any
other competitor. The company is required to frame its strategies after analysing the strengths
and weaknesses of its main competitors like CBRE so that strategy can result in increasing
the profit and productivity. The management of JLL should also study the current strategy
followed by the CBRE group which can help it to know the steps that need to be followed to
become the leader in the industry.
Conclusion:
On the basis of above study, it can be concluded that JLL Company is working very well in
the global real estate industry. There are a number of competitors available in its external
environment that is regularly impacting the performance of the company. Although there are
some favourable factors also exist in the environment that can be utilized by the company to
increase its profitability and productivity. The real estate market is a perfect competition
market, therefore JLL Company is required to take every step after analysing the impact of
such step.
Appendix:
SWOT ANALYSIS:
SWOT Analysis is a tool for strategic planning that can be used by the management of JLL
Company to perform the situational analysis of the organization. It is one of the important

STRATEGY AND THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 10
techniques to find out the current Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats presented
in the environment of the firm. It is a hugely interactive process that required efficient and
effective coordination among different departments of the organization including finance,
marketing, strategic planning, operations and management information systems.
Opportunities:
 JLL can take advantage of the decreasing cost of transportation and shipping charges
to decrease the cost of products of the company. This may affect the profitability of
the business and also helpful in gaining the trust of customers in long run.
 Changing behavior of customers can also develop new markets for the company as it
provides opportunities to create new revenue streams.
 JLL has an opportunity related to the interest of customers in making an investment in
the online platform. This interest of customers creates an online sales channel for the
organization. In future, JLL can take advantage of this opportunity by using big data
analysis in order to serve the customers in better way.
 Increase in customer expenses and economic uptick is a great opportunity for Jones
Lang LaSalle to make new customers and develop market share.
 Free cash flow is also an opportunity to invest in different product segments. If the
company has enough cash available in its bank account then it would be able to invest
in new technologies and in new products.
Threats:
 New technologies introduce by the CBRE, Colliers International, and other
competitors can be the serious threats to the organization for medium to long run.
 The company is also facing currency fluctuations in many countries due to change in
political conditions at international level.
 Increase in the cost of raw material can also be a threat to the profitability of Jones
Lang LaSalle because it directly affects the final price of the property.
 The increase in the number of competitors due to stable profitability is resulting in
imposing pressure on profitability as well as on sales.
On the basis of above SWOT analysis of JLL Company, it is clear that the firm is necessarily
required to take advantage of the opportunities with the help of available strengths. This
would help the company to increase profitability from operations and to give hard
competition to its competitors.

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