Jones Lang LaSalle (2012): Integrated Services and the Architecture of Complexity (D)

This case describes the strategic and organizational challenges that Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) faced between 2008 and 2012. In 2008, in order to strengthen the firm's brokerage team, JLL merged with The Staubach Company, a real estate services provider with a first-rate brokerage team and great cultural fit with JLL. Staubach paid its brokers with a commission model, which accelerated JLL's decision to let go of its long-standing salary and bonus approach. The merger also surfaced two interesting business opportunities. First, local brokers were now empowered and motivated to open up their client relationships to the rest of the company, growing their business from just local transactions to the full array of services JLL provided. Second, local brokers became aware of a great number of mid-sized clients whose real estate needs were not as sophisticated as those of large corporate accounts but who required multi-service solutions in selected geographies. JLL thus created a group called Markets Corporate Solutions, which specifically targeted mid-sized clients. Toward 2012, with its organizational structure expanding to tackle opportunities for multiple types of clients in a myriad of geographies, JLL was facing challenges associated with managing internal and external complexity. Americas CEO Peter Roberts outlines the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for JLL. This is the final case in a series that also comprises cases A, B, and C, and collectively covers JLL's evolution between the years 1999 and 2012.