INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON MALL MANAGEMENT

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Shopping Mall Management In India: An Urgent Need To Fill A Vacuum- By Tong Kok Wing
Shopping mall development in India is a very recent real estate activity. Mall management must naturally follow through to ensure that a development is marketed and
managed to optimise returns for its owner. Unlike a residential development, such as a condominium or an apartment block, a mall that is developed, even if it is sold
on strata title, will have the shop spaces occupied by retailers who in turn must be able to cater to the needs and wants of shoppers. Thus, a mall development is a
multi-faceted and more complex business proposition compared to other types of real estate developments.
As mall development has its roots in the U.S., it would seem a good place to turn to for guidance and management expertise. Unfortunately this is not the case. In the
U.S., malls are often single or double-storeyed with huge surface car park surrounding the mall because of the easy availability of land, the population demographics
and life-style. The theory and practice of mall management there are also largely irrelevant and inappropriate for Asian malls. In India, like in many parts of Asia, land is
scarce and expensive. Thus, mall development by necessity must be multi-storey with car parks in the basements or on the upper storeys to make it more feasible and
viable. Also the Indian population demographics, shopping habits and preferences are more akin to those in Asian cities like Singapore and Hong Kong than the U.S.
Europe is also not a suitable model for Indian mall developments.
India is experiencing a “mall explosion” with a few hundred malls being developed simultaneously and due for completion around 2010. While it can be assumed that
the “hardware” for mall construction is available in India, there seems to be a very grave shortage in the “software” of mall development, marketing and management
expertise. One may try to turn to Singapore and Hong Kong to source such expertise. But, both Hong Kong and Singapore with their own continued development of
malls are facing serious shortages in mall management expertise. This situation is exacerbated since talents with such experience and expertise being attracted to
work in China, the Middle East, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. on very attractive expatriate packages.
Finally, unlike in the U.S. and perhaps Australia, in most parts of Asia, courses in mall management, which one can attend to earn a degree or diploma to equip oneself
with the necessary knowledge and skills, are not available. In Asia, most of us learn mall management on-the-job. This is certainly not a very satisfactory situation. As
we all know, even if one is able to gain the basics of mall management through a degree or diploma programme, as a mall is an evolving phenomenon, it takes years
of practical experience before one can profess to have the requisite expertise in mall management to be able to keep abreast of the needs and wants of shoppers and
retailers.
Mall management has been identified as a critical factor for the success of malls and the retail industry across the world. This is equally true to India, if not more so,
given its late start in the business. There is literally a vacuum in this area of expertise. Therefore, it is imperative that India must very quickly have a pool of trained
and experienced mall managers ready to ensure that the many new malls that are completed in the coming years will not prematurely go into physical and economic
obsolescence due to poor and inexperienced management. One way to address this urgent need is to bring in suitable foreign talent from Singapore and the region to
provide the management expertise and initiate a technology transfer through training workshops and on-the-job guidance.