TOPIC ANALYSIS Student's Name: Date: Area of proposed study: THE IMPACT OF E-BUSINESS ON DEMAND FOR ACCOMMODATION IN CENTRAL LONDON FROM THE UK FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY 1, Introduction ‘The adoption of the Internet Protocol as a basis for communication among organisations has meant a massive reduction in the cost of computer com- munication between those inside the organisation and those outside. This has led to Internet-based communication via the Web now being a rela- tively low cost option for such communication. As a result, organisations operating within the Financial Services Industry (FSI) all operate intranet This makes it even easier than in the early 1990s to relocate back office functions, such as call centres, to low cost regions. Intranets might also be expected to encourage home working (teleworking), defined for the pur- poses of this study as working part or all of one’s time from home, within the industry. Much of the work of financial analysts and consultants is knowledge intensive and might be pursued more effectively at home. Indeed, in the early 1990s in the pre-Internet era this led to many manage- ment consultancy firms adopting hot-desking. Nonetheless, there remain issues, such as security, which might lessen the impact of e-business on the encouragement of home working. ‘The Internet and intranets could, potentially, have a large impact on the extent to which employees in the City of London financial services sector work in Central London (recognising that substantial activities are carried out outside the City itself in areas such as Docklands). 2. Research Questions ‘The proposed study would be concerned with the following research ques- tions:! 234,a) Will the development of e-business and, in particular, the development of Internet-based information services and company intranets really encour- age home working (teleworking) in the financial services industry? b) What is the likely growth in home working in the City of London FSI over the next few years? c) How will the development of e-business and, in particular, the develop- ment of Internet-based information services and company intranets affect the relocation of back offices outside Central London? d) Where will back offices be relocated? e) What are the factors encouraging greater growth of home working in the financial services industry? f) What are the implications of changes to the amount of home working in London and to the extent of relocation of back office functions by the London FSI brought about by e-business? 3. Prior Research in the Area* ‘There seems to be little published academic research on the social impacts of e-commerce or e-business. The literature, which appears to be mainly geographical, on the impact of information (and communication) tech- nologies relates to the pre e-commerce era. A typical, and useful, example is the paper by Longcore and Rees (1996) that considers IT-induced restructuring in New York’s financial district from the perspective of the impact on building construction and back-office location decisions. A more quantitative study by Sivitanidou (1997) of the impact of the information revolution in Los Angeles finds clear evidence of a decreasing attractive- ness of Central Los Angeles relative to the outer regions. Such findings might be expected to translate in the case of the City of London to a ten- dency to decentralisation into South East England. Michie (1997) consid- ered the impact of IT on the London Stock Exchange in the context of a historical study. Aside from the fact that this study deals with an important City institution it raises the issue of the conflict between the globalisation of financial markets and the need for them to be locally regulated. This may have implications for the location of intranet Web servers, etc. Two studies were founded on call centres: Richardson and Marshall (1996) and Bristow et al. (2000). These, however, are focused mainly on the implications of call centres for regional development outside London, the former with ‘Tyne and Wear, the other more general. They deal then with the obverse of the problem of interest in this topic analysis.* 235Much more academic research has been published on home working/teleworking. A fairly recent review was provided by Shin et al. (2000), while Lococo ef al. (2001) discuss some of the drivers of tele- working. Authors such as Vilhelmson and Thulin (2001) and Makridakis (1995) raise the issue of telework as the forthcoming form of work that will supplant existing organisational forms. The latter paper is particularly interesting given Makridakis’s long association with forecasting research. A number of other authors explore the organisational implications of tele- working, which are likely to be a major issue addressed by the proposed mail questionnaire. Thus Duxbury and Neufeld (1999) consider how tele- working affects communication within the organisation, while Ruppel and Harrington (2001) consider the interesting, from a City perspective, ques- tion of the role of intranets in information sharing. Lindstrom er al. (1997) provide a classification of telework that is likely to be useful in the pro- posed exploratory interviews. Another aspect of teleworking explored by Stanworth (1998) is its relative lack of success compared with the claims of its proponents; this is a possible issue with regard to the London FSI. In addition, the teleworking literature contains important strands dealing with teleworking from employees’ and from a feminist perspective. Since these are not so relevant to this topic analysis they are not presented here.5 A further literature that may well be relevant in assessing the impli- cations of the findings of the study proposed is that concerned with the modelling of the London office market, e.g. Daniels and Bobe (1993); Wheaton ¢7 al. (1997); Hendershott et al. (1999). 4, Value of the Research Academic value ‘There appears to be little published research on the impact of e-business/ e-commerce on industry. The FSI is a particularly interesting one in that it is: a) knowledge intensive; b) a major UK industry; c) comprises a number of very diverse sectors; and d) has particular concerns of security and regu- lation. As an industry, it also appears under-researched. The study would contribute to the body of academic knowledge. Although there has been more research on teleworking most of it is gen- eral rather than industry specific. Teleworking’s impacts on the FSI might be considered to be of particular academic interest. On the one hand, it is a wealthy industry with a large proportion of knowledge workers who 236