Abstract:
Buildings should be habitable, safe, durable, energy efficient and adaptive to use though it is expensive
to manage. The specialized team of Facilities Management (FM) is thus invited to create a comfort
built environment that strongly supports the core business of the organization. The emergent trend of
outsourcing FM services has become widespread topic in the field of built environment though it is
relatively new to the Sri Lankan context. Hence, this study aims to examine the attractiveness of the
market for ‘FM services’ in Sri Lanka as a primary step. Porters five forces analysis was developedat
the line-of-business industry level to analyse the existing market. A comprehensive literature review
was carried out on a broader perspective with the purpose of getting familiarise with the research
phenomena. In order to examine the attractiveness of the outsourced FM market two FM
professionals; one from an International FM company and the other from a Local FM company,
employed at the strategic level were interviewed. The research findings revealed that the market for
FM services in Sri Lanka is long been considered as a niche market with a slower growth and is still in
its infancy. Two companies, a local and a global company are dominating in the industry. The Porter’s
five forces indicated that average bargaining power of client; less bargain power of suppliers; less
substitutes; lower level competition thus there are few barriers to enter the market. However, it is
clear that the boundaries of the market have not been defined yet; hence the new entrants have the
freedom to define their own market share. This study urges to define the market for outsourced FM
services and further, FM companies can get the benefit of this analysis in order to formulate successful
business strategies to enter and sustain in the market.
