Watch the place grow

Business is slow to begin with. While you have already rented out the first few completed offices, more are still in construction. Moving in are several tech teams from Ashizawa Nanotech. Not the main company, but incubator groups that you deemed worth splitting off to give them room to grow. Their technology is not in direct line with the nanotech used to build the tower, but offer potential in other fields. Not having a hand in these independent projects, you’re unfamiliar with what they are actually researching and developing, but the board of directors were keen on their work and were more than happy to have a new space for them to build up in. As long as they pay the rent and don’t blow up your tower, you’re happy to have them on board.

Considering that these satellite companies are under the Ashizawa Nanotech umbrella, in the end it is still your company footing the bill for these office rentals, which means you’re not really making any profit just yet. However, having rooms filled also signals that this property is productive and that you have customers for the newly opened restaurants in the lower levels. If things go well, word will spread that this is the new tech center of the city and other companies will start moving in as well.

The first week of opening, things are full of optimism and confidence. You watch contently as the new workers come into the building for the first time. They are in awe of the majesty you’ve designed into your main lobby. The ceiling towers above, lighting the room from over their heads. The aquarium lines the walls with flourishing, colorful aquatic life. The marble floors are covered in fine, clean, intricately woven carpets. The first impressions of the new tower is a grand success!

As the day moves along, so do the workers, off to their projects in the work offices. The lobby is clear until noon, when the employees shuffle down in order to make their way to the lower level restaurants. An hour later they all shuffle their way back up in droves to complete their work for the day and several hours later, fill the lobby as they make their way home.

This cycle continues for the first few weeks but, to your concern, the numbers do not grow. The current residents appear to be content in the way things are set up, but that hasn’t done anything to increase office rentals. You had hoped that the space would fill up with more customers through word of mouth, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. You surmise that there is something missing in your equation for profits and decide that something needs to be done about it.

Fortunately, you are not without your resources. In addition to the large sums of money you may not currently have access to, you also have dutiful employees available for situations like these!

You make a call to Shinzo Murakawa, Ashizawa Nanotech CEO, long time trusted associate and family friend of your father’s. Although he is empathetic to your plight, he cannot spare his best people for your pet project. He does, however, send you a promising young business manager that is looking to up her stock in the company. Bringing your tower to prominence would be just the thing to add to her CV. Her name is Maxine Stockwell and she is a native to North America, but moved to Japan with her family when she was thirteen and has grown up in the culture. Unfortunately, as a visible outsider, she has had trouble getting her foot in the door for higher level business functions and leadership roles, so this is a great opportunity for her to really show her skills. Her records prove her to be qualified and capable, so you happily agreed to bring her in.

You meet with your new aide in your tower office the very next morning.

“Ms. Stockwell is here to see you!” your secretary announces through your intercom.

“Send her in,” you say as you tidy up your desk.

Stepping in on stiletto heels is a young woman who appears fresh out of university. Her eyes are covered by slim spectacles and her brown hair is neatly bundled into a ponytail. She holds a binder in her arm along with her phone.

“Ah, Mr. Ashizawa!” she says to you, with a polite bow.

“Ms. Stockwell,” you reply with an equally polite bow. “Welcome to Ashizawa Tower!”

“Thank you, sir! I look forward to working hard! Please treat me well!” she responds with another polite bow.

“Please, no need to be so tense. We will be working together very closely now, so you should relax. Just call me boss! Do you mind if I call you Maxine?”

Maxine nodded her head, then shook it, “Ye… no, not at all, um… boss!”

“Wonderful!” You look to the binder in her arm and note, “I take it you’ve already been doing your research on the tower?”

“Yes sir, boss!” Maxine nods, “I’ve already made a list of possible directions we could go to increase tower population!”

“Well, let’s hear it!”

“OK!” Maxine says with enthusiasm. She whips out her phone and opens up her list. “Firstly, we can gather intel from the current residents, see what is working and what needs improving!”

You nod, “That’s a sound strategy.

“Second, we could check out the restaurants for quality control and to find out if they are providing what the people want!”

You nod again, “Restaurants are open on the weekend when the public comes in for lunch and dinner. It would be a good idea to make sure they’re serving up what people crave.”

“Third, we could advertise! Create a commercial that will show off what the tower has to offer!”

“Ah, that would bring us to people’s attention for sure!” you agree.

“So, boss, what shall we try?”