Empirical analysis of financial efficiency drivers of shopping malls in St. Petersburg

This dissertation investigates the financial efficiency drivers of shopping malls in St. Petersburg. The problem of shopping malls’ financial efficiency is one of the major issues for the modern retail market. There are many factors influencing the overall performance of the shopping centre, including external and internal factors, market trends, the ineffective structure of lease, wrong conception of a mall, poorly developed tenant mix, etc. To understand the core of the problem, a complex approach is necessary, including qualitative and quantitative methods. Therefore, the dissertation was conducted in the format of a consulting project and it is based on a decision tree approach. The basement for the analysis is real data of an international company – “Client”, which agreed to provide internal information for the dissertation. The client operates in the field of construction and development. In Russia, the company manages shopping centres, including projects in St. Petersburg. One of the projects generates lower results than was expected. In this dissertation, we analyze sources of the problem and give recommendations on how to optimize expenses and generate more profit for the company’s project.