The optimization of co-working spaces in Hong Kong

Abstract

The rise of flexible workspaces has been one of the driving factors of recent positive office performance, particularly in Hong Kong. As at May 2019, investors and operators have set up more than 120 co-working spaces in the territory. Not only Hong Kong, competitions for co-working spaces are observed to be intensifying all over the globe. There is little research focusing on the co-working spaces in Hong Kong. The aim of this paper is to allow co-working spaces operators to have a better planning and development of future co-working spaces, in order to improve their competitive edge. This can be done by identifying ways to optimize co-working spaces in Hong Kong which would allow co-working eco-system to be more sustainable and effective to the co-working users. To achieve this goal, both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were used. The dissertation firstly evaluates the relationship between the preferred attributes of different categories of co-working space users, followed by their satisfaction towards their flexible workplace by means of survey and semi-structured interviews with co-working space users. Results in the quantitative and qualitative analysis are found to be highly similar. There is a lack of communication and collaboration between co-working users resulting a less efficient co-working environment. It is also found that there is an imbalance between small enterprises/ startup companies and large enterprises resulting a less sustainable co-working eco-system. Ways to improve the sustainability of co-working spaces and the benefits of co-working users are suggested at the end of the dissertation.