A Winner of CRE

It is said that CRE, corporate real estate, has been often discussed in the Japanese market and some developers seem to use the concept of CRE as a business tool to win the property business. To be sure, Japanese business corporation has been historically a net buyer of lands, first because the land had been a good collateral for bank borrowing and second because this had been a sort of market practice among well-reputed firms. Over the past 10 years, some Japanese firms conducted a balance sheet restructuring via its outright sales of unused lands and sales-& leaseback of their headquarters; however, a few firms, if any, have considered which properties to be owned or leased from a perspective of CRE. CRE is a mixture of many elements such as business utility, facilities, tax and accounting, market reception if firms are listed, credit etc. I am wondering who can be a winner of CRE business. Developers, real estate services firms, consulting, trust banks, investment banks and property funds are among prime candidates as winner. For listed firms, more important is the market perception and impact upon a credit rating. My gut feeling is real estate background is a certainly plus, but with it only, brokers and developers might not dominate such interesting business.