Comments by the company representative and Management philosophy

I’m Kiyofumi Kawashima, the President of Exhibition Booth Design Japan Co., Ltd. We specialize in the design, layout, and installation of booths for companies exhibiting at Tokyo Big Sight and other exhibition venues across Japan. Until now, we have mainly done business with Japanese companies, but in the future, we will actively provide services to overseas companies as well.

We decided to provide services to overseas companies for two reasons. One is that overseas companies often struggle to maximize the effectiveness of their exhibits at exhibitions in Japan. We aim to solve this problem through our booth designs. Japanese exhibitions are a great opportunity to spread the exceptional products and services of overseas companies to the Japanese market, but they are not making the most of this opportunity. The reason is that the booths of overseas companies lack appeal. Many overseas companies often assume the following:

"We need a sophisticated booth like a showroom," "A brand logo design is enough for the sign," "If the agency serves customers in Japanese, we can bring it to closing," etc. Hundreds of companies participate in Japanese exhibitions, including many competitors. There are surely many competing companies exhibiting as well. In this situation, the idea that "if you serve customers at a booth like a showroom, you can sell" is wrong. Visitors make time out of their busy schedules to visit the exhibition. Unlike visitors from other countries, Japanese visitors are generally less proactive in entering booths. Therefore, visitors do not approach showroom-style booths that have little concrete appeal and only a brand image without knowing what is being exhibited. That's why the booth needs to have appeal.

What is being exhibited? What are the characteristics of the exhibited products and services? Booths that communicate this immediately to attendees receive lots of visitors. Our core skill is booth design with top-notch appeal.

If you visit a Japanese exhibition, you will notice that very few overseas companies effectively attract visitors It is likely that they are reusing the booth design from when they exhibited in their own countries. As a result, booths that are not suitable for Japanese exhibitions are created. We have staff who are fluent in English, so we will listen in detail to the products and services exhibited by each overseas company and propose a booth that is optimal for the Japanese market. As a result, the products and services of overseas companies are properly conveyed to visitors, and it becomes possible to obtain reliable results from exhibiting.

Next, I'll explain the second reason for starting services for overseas companies. This is because we want to solve the problem. There are very few booth decoration companies in Japan that can do business with overseas companies.Japan's inbound market, driven by the tourism industry, is growing rapidly. The trend of attracting many foreigners to Japan and developing the Japanese economy will continue in the future. We want overseas people to know that Japan has many attractions not only for tourism but also for business. Exhibitions are the perfect opportunity to do so. In order to take advantage of this perfect opportunity, we want overseas companies to expand their sales channels to the Japanese market by using our highly appealing booths.

Until now, many overseas companies that have exhibited in Japan have decorated their booths through their own local governments and advertising agencies, or foreign-capital event companies based in Japan.This approach often fails to deliver effective exhibition results. Such organizations are not familiar with specific Japanese industries and distribution, and do not have any suggestions on how to optimally promote products and services to the Japanese market, so they do not have the know-how to decorate their booths.Therefore, exhibitors should work directly with a booth design company like ours that can provide tailored design solutions. By doing business directly, it is possible to create booth decorations that are optimal for Japanese exhibitions and have an appealing effect, and it also leads to cost reduction by eliminating intermediate margins.

To address these two challenges, we are launching services specifically for overseas companies. If you request our services, our staff who have gained a lot of experience in Japan will provide detailed support. We will eliminate communication barriers, allowing you to focus on the key question: 'How can we attract customers in Japan?'

In a world that is even more globalized than it is now, we expect that many companies will exhibit at exhibitions in Tokyo, Bangkok, and Frankfurt. Currently, no Japanese booth design companies specialize in handling such requests. We will grow into a company that can meet such demands.

Our management philosophy isputting employees first.

Japan has a longstanding culture that "the customer is king." This view is that what the customer says is most important and you cannot go against what the customer says. While some companies have succeeded with this view, this is not our approach.

For a small company such as us, putting the customer first causes various difficulties. If employees are dictated by customers, it is hard to control time. This leads to overtime and decline in employee motivation. It also becomes difficult to control money and generate profits. Less attractive treatment weakens motivation. Employees with reduced motivation have a higher probability of leaving jobs. With the difficulty of hiring in today's society, loss of an employee can disrupt management. In this way, putting top priority on customers can lead to problems.

Conversely, what happens when we put employees first? Employee motivation rises because of improvement in the work environment and treatment. These employees autonomously act to satisfy customers. It goes beyond customers too. They are increasingly considerate of colleagues and value suppliers as partners. This resembles the concept of "being able to treat others kindly when you are personally satisfied."

People are the drivers of companies. Putting top priority on employee satisfaction naturally provides satisfaction to customers similar to water flowing downstream. The outcome is creating lots of profit and then returning the profit to employee. I believe fostering this type of cycle is ideal.