Carlson Wagonlit brings management services to Japan

Carlson Wagonlit’s Meetings & Events division has announced a new partnership with JTB Communication Design Co, which will see the company operating in Japan. CWT Meetings & Events will be providing strategic meetings management (SMM) services, aiming to increase efficiency across processes, suppliers and data. The key benefits are greater transparency of spend, cost reductions, improved compliance, risk mitigation and improved effectiveness of the company’s meetings and events. Kari Wendel, vice president of global SMM strategy & solutions at CWT M&E, said: “We’re seeing a lot of interest from our clients to include their operations in Japan as part of their global SMM programmes. “We have created, for the first time, a real centre of excellence for enterprise meeting strategies within the Japanese market. The partnership will support the continued advancement of our global capabilities as well as our clients’ strategies.” The implementation of SMM programmes by European and American companies with global operations in sectors such as IT, pharmaceutical, energy and insurance has accelerated in recent years. Asia Pacific remains amongst the least mature regions when it comes to SMM adoption, but CWT M&E’s new partnership aims to change that. Tadashi Machida, director at JTB communication design, said: “In the future, we will continue to support the provision of SMM programmes. We aim to contribute to achieving companies visions, solving business problems, and further strengthening their competitiveness.”