Correspondence: Zairul N. Musa, School of the Built Environment, Peter Jost Enterprise Centre, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. E-mail: Z.N.Musa@2007.ljmu.ac.uk

¹is currently Professor of Facilities Management and School Head of Business Development at Liverpool John Moores University. He is also a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and is a member of the FM Executive Group. He is an associate member of the British Institute of Facilities Management and a member of the Chartered Institute of Building. He is an editor for two leading academic journals in the areas of facilities management and leisure and retail property management investment. He also leads the Facilities Management Research Group at Liverpool John Moores University. He has published many academic papers in various journals and at conferences, seminars and so on.

²is currently registered as a research student at the Liverpool John Moores University. He is doing his PhD under the supervision of Professor Michael Pitt, and is a lecturer at the Department of Estate Management, Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, Malaysia. He graduated from University of Technology Malaysia in 1995 with a Diploma in Valuation and in 1997 with a Bachelor (Hons) of Estate Management from the University of Luton, United Kingdom. In 2000, he graduated from Greenwich University, United Kingdom with a Master of Science in facilities management. His research interests are strategic facilities management, commercial real estate studies and shopping centre management.

Received 30 October 2008; Revised 30 October 2008; Published online 14 January 2009.

Abstract

Today, the subject of shopping centres is more complex than ever. In many ways, their complexities are in terms of size, type and characteristics. Consequently, the formats of shopping centre have often been confused with their identities. This is due to the fact that the industry has grown and evolved so much that the existing classifications are no longer adequate. In today's world, the roles of shopping centres can be seen from different perspectives, that is, as a place of business, as a property and as an investment. Shopping centre managers need to understand these perspectives before developing their own objectives and policies in managing their shopping centres. Having an excellent management team is no longer enough if the management systems are not effective. This will raise further issues in the areas of managing properties and facilities or in managing tenant mix within the shopping centres. Shopping centre managers should, however, take these issues as a challenge in order to improve the existing systems. This paper attempts to provide an overview of shopping centres and their management systems to gain a general understanding of the background of shopping centres.