2005年度（2005.4～2006.3）　ワークショップ講演

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The 6th Workshop (June 2, 2005)

Guest speaker: Mr. Nobufusa Yamada, President and CEO, MOC Corporation
Theme: Going Public in the Banquet Planning Business - Starting a New Business as a “Lifestyle Concierge”

1. Personal Profile of Mr. Nobufusa Yamada
December 1963: Born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
April 1986: Graduated from Aichi Gakuin University, and joined CBC TV Movie Ltd..
June 1989: Started providing support to dining businesses
April 1991: Started a business planning wedding reception post-parties.
April 1994: Established MOC Corporation, financed by Nagoya Small and Medium Business Investment & Consultation Co., Ltd., took the office of representative director.
April 1997: Opened the Tokyo branch.
April 2003: MOC listed on Mothers, Tokyo Stock Exchange

2. Company Profile of MOC Corporation (http://www.moc.co.jp)
Capital: JPY 988.5 million (as of Dec. 31, 2004)
Employees: 592 (consolidated, as of Dec. 31, 2004)
Net sales: JPY6,529 million (consolidated, FY2004 (ended June 30, 2004))
Business activities:
(1) Support service for dining businesses, attracting customers and promoting sales
(2) Wedding planning and sales of related merchandise
(3) Sales of interior merchandise

3. Summary of the Speech
● Background to the Company Founding
The name “MOC” stands for “Material,” “Organize,” and “Communication.” The trigger for the company founding goes back to a furniture maker established by Mr. Yamada’s grandfather. Financed by a major manufacturer, it was a subcontractor for over 40 years, but went bankrupt in exactly the same year Mr. Yamada founded MOC. His grandfather’s company did nothing but fill the orders it received, but it managed to grow during Japan’s era of high economic growth. To Mr. Yamada, the furniture maker looked like a bunch of people who did not think. Seeing the anticlimactic end of his grandfather’s company, Mr. Yamada became aware of the risks in a business whose end customers were invisible and the advantages of a cash business. The important lesson he learned from this has helped his company grow and constitutes the basis of MOC’s philosophy, which ultimately aims to nurture human resources to foster the imagination to create new business opportunities.

● Financing
The company was started with ten million yen, four million of which was funded by Nagoya Small and Medium Business Investment & Consultation. Mr. Yamada visited that institution 200 times over two years to negotiate financing, repeatedly providing explanations. Recalling those days, he says that financiers see only the president, and that it is important to communicate earnestness.

Mr. Yamada kept after the parastatal institution until he obtained funding, even though he would have been able to finance the company from his own resources. He says that keys are who the financier is and what the funds are intended for. As a result of his persistence, others’ trust in the company grew. He recalls again that the recognition of his beliefs and corporate vision by third parties was an ingredient in his deep confidence in his success.

Mr. Yamada speaking to the group

● Development of MOC
MOC’s business involves matching consumers with enterprises (restaurants). To start with, Mr. Yamada focused on post-parties after wedding receptions, taking into consideration market size and efficiency. Before he commercialized his ideas, he narrowed down his list of suppliers, or restaurants, according to function and performance, classified the needs expressed by customers as either incidental or indispensable, and built a database.

The business model that MOC uses is a contingent fee system under which the company sends customers to the restaurants that best match their needs and collects a commission (20% of sales) from the restaurants. MOC’s strength lies in its matching system that utilizes a database with rich retrieval keywords. The matching system helps increase the satisfaction of both the customers and the suppliers.

MOC subsequently expanded its business. It now provides support services for party organizers under the name Gourmet Concierge, has several businesses in the wedding area - the wedding planning company Honey’s, an MOC-owned restaurant, wedding planner classes, a subsidiary, Primo Japan, that operates jewelry shops (engagement and wedding rings), the gift shop Vingt cing ans Style1 - and operates an interiors shop, LAUNE, in the lifestyle solutions business.

As a long-range strategy, Mr. Yamada plans to start new projects that target a new market, the baby boomers, often dubbed “active seniors” or “the rich,” in addition to strengthening the company’s core restaurant support business. In the wedding area, the company has already started operating in Shanghai, looking to enter the huge China market. The expansion of consulting services for dining enterprises, a central theme for MOC in its efforts to become a solution-based marketing company, is expected to produce greater profits in the future.

● Comments from the minutes takers
To a student who asked what was important in getting financing to start a company, Mr. Yamada quickly answered, “Perception.” In fact, his sparkling eyes communicate his outstanding strength and persuasiveness. He emphasizes the importance of quality human resources for corporate growth, and he himself has clearly grown rapidly as a businessman by absorbing skills from the environments and people he has encountered. Consequently, money and information that are “lonely,” are attracted to someone competent like Mr. Yamada and take shape as M&As. By taking advantage of its strength in customer support services, MOC, led by the charismatic president who has been organizing things since his youth, will strive to retain lifetime loyalty from both consumers and suppliers as a “Lifestyle Concierge.”

Mr. Yamada with the workshop participants

Hisakazu Koyama, Toshio Uesugi
Graduate students in charge of minutes

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