Identifying Critical Success Factors for Green Business Parks: Case Study of Singapore

Abstract

Green business parks (GBPs) are a promising way of achieving more sustainable industrial and business development. After a comprehensive literature review of the origin of GBPs and the current research, this study identified that the lack of project management strategies for such projects hinders the development of GBPs. Based on comparisons against conventional business parks, this study aimed to (1) identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for GBPs and (2) assess the criticalities of the CSFs and their impacts on project management goals. To achieve the objectives, 30 CSFs were identified from an intensive literature review. The results from a questionnaire survey of 40 experts in Singapore and postsurvey interviews indicated that the criticalities of CSFs in GBPs were different from those in conventional business parks (CBPs), and the top three CSFs with the largest difference in criticality between GBPs and CBPs were effective marketing of the business park, involvement of Green Mark Managers/Professionals, and planning guidelines for business parks. The results further identified that the top three CSFs for GBPs were strong top-management support, strong financial capability, and adequacy of design details and specifications. In addition, the results revealed that the CSFs had higher criticalities in project cost than project schedule and quality. The findings from this study not only fill the gap in the project management research on GBPs but also help practitioners identify specific adjustments to the development practices for CBPs. In addition, this study enables practitioners to customize their own list of CSFs in their GBP development projects based on the factors identified in this study, which will aid in efficiently achieving more sustainable industrial and business developments.