Building a successful World Trade Center

a World Trade Center is a node

• In a network, a node is a connection point, either a redistribution point or an end point for data transmissions

• A node has the capability to recognize and process or forward data to other nodes

What is a World Trade Center?

What is a World Trade Center?WTCA Network

The central management offices of World Trade Centersorganize a variety of trade information, trade education,exhibitions, trade missions and similar programs for their clientele to enhance their World Trade Center experience.

Through the WTCA, each World Trade Center becomes a branch office for all the others.

The WTCA is a network of over 300 WTCs in nearly 100 countries.

Membership in any individual center is an entrée to the worldwide business community of World Trade Centers.

What is a World Trade Center?Definition

In short, it is a Facility with a Purpose

While each WTC is unique, reflecting the local specificities, there are two common components to a World Trade Center :

• a physical facility (generally a landmark) with tenants,

and

• trade-related services that are offered to the tenants and the community

What is a World Trade Center?Mission Statement

and provides them with the services they need

to be successful

and governmentagencies involved in

international commerce,

A World Trade Center brings together, under

one roof,

local, national and international private

businesses,

A World Trade Center is a one-stop business “shopping center”

This concentration of trade-related agencies acts as a major attraction for business visitors who know that at the World Trade Center they will be able to contact many of their current or prospective business partners in one location.

What is a World Trade Center?Certification

Certification process to assurethat quality of services are homogenous

• Up to nine types of services can be certified→ Trade Information Services→ Display and Exhibit Facilities→ Business Services→ Trade Education Services→ WTC Club→ Conference Facilities→ Tenant Services→ Trade Technology Innovations→ Group Trade Missions

The certified WTCsare warrant for a

high standard network

100 certified WTCsthroughout the world14 of which are silver

What is a World Trade Center?… a Business Facilitator

Tenant Services Trade Technology Innovations

Group Trade Missions

Trade Education Services WTC Club Conference Facilities

Trade Information Services

Display and Exhibit Facilities Business Services

A World Trade Center offers the following services:

• General Information:– Information on market conditions, import restrictions, currency

exchange rates, prices, channels of distribution, …– Information on upcoming trade shows, incoming and outgoing

trade missions and seminars.

• Market specific data:– Trade statistics, business opportunities, invitations to tender,

market surveys and company lists with details on products, personnel, markets and volume of business.

• Technical data:– Details on foreign and local regulations such as customs taxes,

laws, insurance, shipping and air cargo rates and labor rates.– Specialized local information is key, because each WTC is in a

unique position to collect and is frequently called upon to provide this data.

What is a World Trade Center?Trade Information Services

A World Trade Center provides pertinent,up-to-date and reliable data

What is a World Trade Center?Trade Information Services - How to

Internal “sourcing”

• Trade Information Services can be offered to the members through hired personnel and use of WTCA partner CenTradeX

• CenTradeX combines the top sources of company data, such as Dun & Bradstreet

External “sourcing”

• Trade Information Services can be offered to the members throughpartnerships with local Government bodies (ex. Chambers of Commerce) or local investment authorities

• WTC Malmö has an agreement with the local Chamber of Commerce to provide such services and offered it’s 3,000 members a membership in the WTC Malmö association

• WTC Oslo has sub-contracted the services to the Oslo Chamber of Commerce.

Examples

and/or

Setting up Trade Information Services

What is a World Trade Center?Display and Exhibit Facilities

Nearly 100 WTCs haveDisplay and Exhibit facilities

The WTCA has alliances and a partnershipwith leading exhibit organizer

• Show room for local industries and service companies

• WTC network and partnerships capture international events

• Revenue source through management services

• Opportunity to increase number of Trade missions

• Suitable ground for organized Match-makings

• Short-term office space

• Telecommunication/Videoconferencing services

• Secretarial services & Copy/graphics capabilities

• Domiciliation services

• Legal & Book-keeping assistance

• Meeting and conference facilities

• Virtual Arena

What is a World Trade Center?Business Services

A World Trade Center can enhance its revenue and position within the local and international business

community by offering a range of Business Services

What is a World Trade Center?Business Services - Short-term office space

Short-term office space

offering

• Most WTC are operating a Business Center offering tenants both short and long term fully equipped offices

• There is a reciprocity agreement between all WTC to provide access to meeting room or office to other WTCs members. Terms vary from at no cost to discounted rate

Keywords• Flexibility

• Do what you are good at and let the WTC handle administration

• Access to the worlds largest business network

• Lately the need for open space solutions with just a work station is in demand by tenants who are tele-worker, consultants etc who enjoy having a base for meetings, access to printers or scanners as well as participating in organized breakfeast meetings

Trend

What is a World Trade Center?Business Services - Communication services

• Internet broadband

• Wi-Fi

• Business IP-phone system

• Secured data platform

• Server hosting

• Visio conferencing

• On-line color copying or scanning

• Virtual office

• Community platform

The WTC provides

What is a World Trade Center?Business Services - Secretarial services

• Reception

• Switchboard

• Post and package service through subscription with UPS and Federal Express

• Book-keeping assistance

• Legal assistance, company registration

• Hotel or travel reservations through WTC preferred rate suppliers

Administrative Services

What is a World Trade Center?Business Services - Domiciliation services

• Office registration

• Official high standard address

• Phone number and answering service

• Mobile office

• Membership in local WTC association

• Access to meeting rooms at discounted rate

The WTC provides

What is a World Trade Center?Business Services - Virtual Arena

• Taking Business Services one step further

• Lately the need for open space solutions with just a work station is in demand by tenants who are tele-worker, consultantsetc who enjoy having a base for meetings, access to printers or scanners as well as participating in organized breakfeastmeetings

Virtual Arena

Anders Berner will shortly be launchinga LinkedIn Group

What is a World Trade Center?Business Services - Headcount

Staff

• A staff of only 8 people is needed to run profitably a business center

• The personnel must be business-oriented and respond efficiently and with competence to all inquiries

WTCManager

- 1 -

Conference Center Support

- 1 -

Member& Partner Support

- 1 -Administration

- 1 -

BusinessCenter Support

- 1 -

Events, Education Seminars

- 1 -Technical Support

- 1 -

VirtualArena - 1 -

• International marketing

• Export documentation

• Shipping strategies

• Regulatory issues

• Trade finance

• Languages

• Regional or country market overviews

• Using online databases to conduct market research

• eCommerce

International business training is one of the most vital and popular services offered by the World Trade Centers to

the tenants, members and regional business community.They cover:

What is a World Trade Center?Trade Education Services

• During the day, a WTC Club creates an atmosphere conducive to the mixing of business, trade and cultural ideas. It provides its members with rooms of various sizes to accommodate private luncheons, formal receptions, professional meetings, seminars and press conferences.

• By night, a WTC Club can become a first-class facility for international functions, lectures, diplomatic receptions, trade and art showings, award presentations, …

• Reciprocity is an important feature of the WTC Club: members of other WTCs receive the same privileges as members of the host WTC Club.

A WTC Club fosters and promotes the expansion ofworld trade by encouraging communication among

key international trade executives

What is a World Trade Center?WTC Club

• They provide a convenient, professional location for business discussions, corporate training and similar events.

• They reinforce the central role a World Trade Center plays in the region’s international business community.

• They provide an additional revenue stream to the World Trade Center, and help promote and market the property to the international business community.

High-quality meeting and conference facilities arean essential component of any World Trade Center

What is a World Trade Center?Meeting/Conference Facilities

Key elements are:• Maintenance• Building amenities• Special events• Concierge services• Special marketing/publicity• Access to other WTC programs• Tenant communications• Security

Thanks to a strict tenant services program,World Trade Centers enjoy

a high-quality tenant base with minimum turnover

What is a World Trade Center?Tenant Services

• Help to turn innovative ideas into effective solutions and exploit marketable propositions for commercial or community gain.

• Boost business performance and profit by identifying improvements to processes and practices, raising levels of skills and knowledge and exploiting innovation.

• Staying ahead of the game thanks to techno.

• Trade Card (speeds up transit times and bank payments up to 3 weeks).

• WiseKey (encrypted security platform - geneva - swissbanks).

What is a World Trade Center?Trade Technology Innovations

• Group Trade Missions are ideally suited for small and medium sized firms who lack the expertise and/or resources to conduct their own export campaigns.

• A trade mission is a trade facilitator that creates positive business relations between people who would not otherwise meet.

• The heart of a trade mission is the matchmaking sessions, where participants sit down individually with prospective partners.

A trade mission program utilizes all the services within a Trade Center, and benefits from the network of reciprocal

services offered by other World Trade Centers

What is a World Trade Center?Group Trade Missions

What is a World Trade Center?WTCA OnLine

www.wtca.orgThe internet’s premier destination for businesses that want to succeed in international trade

One-stop resource for all WTC information– WTC locator– services on offer in WTCs– how a WTC can help a company achieve its

international objectives

Powerful market intelligenceExclusive partnerships with leading information and services providers ensure access to the best and most up-to-date information

What is a World Trade Center?Economics

Area (m²)

Revenue

Rent

Costs

Business Services

2.200

880

440

360

80

Trade Technology

Communication

100

200

20

160

20

Members & Club

200

175

40

85

50

Trade Education Mission & Match

350

280

70

Tenant Services

30.000

90

60

30Profit

TOTAL

32.500

1.695

500

945

250

World Trade Centers AssociationSuccess Stories – Trade Card

• Bringing goods to market faster and more profitably requires trading partners to collaborate to reduce lead time for order adjustments. Decisions, such as how to pack and where to ship, can be adjusted.

• By enabling real-time collaboration across an extended supply chain, TradeCardassures clients and trading partners have the time, visibility and technology to defer decisions without deferring overall timelines. All parties to a transaction are informed instantly once a decision is made.

• As a client adds partners, TradeCard'slocal "feet on the street" connect them into the network, providing agility to reroute supply when responding to import safeguards, political instability and other events.

• Basset Furniture delivers "customized products in less time, with less cost, by leveraging a value-network of suppliers and service providers through TradeCard" says an SVP at the company.

• "We have been able to improve order cycle time" says the CEO of skatewear company C1rca.

• "That is a huge selling advantage because we are first in the shop with new lines." "[TradeCard] is an important initiative...to become more agile and operate a smarter global supply chain" says Brooks Brothers' SVP Sourcing.

• A multienterprise network of Buyers, Suppliers and Service Providers.

World Trade Centers AssociationSuccess Stories - WiseKey

• Developed jointly with WTC Geneva,WiseKey is the premier security platform.

• Affiliated with US Verysign.

• Enables secured communication in the Euromediterranean project.

• WISeKey (www.wisekey.com) transforms traditional, analog and/or paper-based identification methods for individuals and organizations such as banks, stockbrokers, real estate agents and others requiring high levels of authentication, into electronic ID systems.

• WISeKey has been operating in the Swiss market since 1999 and is currently the leading Certification Authority in Switzerland. Its privileged position in Switzerland has resulted in its involvement in ground breaking projects, including a system that allows Swiss citizens to vote in public referenda via the Internet (the Canton of Geneva E-Voting) and the ITU global eServices initiative.

World Trade Centers AssociationSuccess Stories - WiFi

• The WTC of Sophia Antipolis tested a WiFi pilot in its facilities.

• The result was evident, easy to use for meeting participants and full flexibility within the building.

• Other WTC were informed of this promising new Internet access and the system was deployed to hundred WTCs and their local members.

In 1998, before the world knew about wireless Internet…

World Trade Centers AssociationSuccess Stories - VoIP

• Five years ago the WTC of Sophia Antipolis rescued a US owned VoIP IPBX developer

• The product was enhanced to meet the SMEs communication requirements

• State of the art tools were included

• Centralized software updates and low communication costs were main criterias

• The roll out was made through the WTC network

VoIP before everyone else…

World Trade Centers AssociationSuccess Stories - MatchMaking

• In 2006 the WTC of Poitiers in France reached a record level of 100.000 match-making meetings

• Their successful tool, Futuralia is now used throughout the WTC network positioning the WTCs as world leader in the field of connecting companies

For any specific information you are welcome to contact

anders.berner@wtca.org

Didyou

know?

WTCA organizes some10.000 Trade missions andmatch-makings world wide

per year