Ouch, Tam thought. She's right. Nothing could stop Dai Nippon from restructuring the boards of directors of the companies in which it held a voting majority of shares. In fact, several Japanese firms had already taken over and reopened the manufacturing facilities of some of the very companies MITI's "targeting" had decked only a few years before, bringing in Japanese board members as part of the deal. What's more, Americans loved it. Governors were falling over themselves to attract Japanese joint ventures to their states.
"Does Noda-san understand the significance of bringing in MITI personnel?"
"There are many interests to be addressed . . ."
At this point I wandered in, together with Noda, to talk about setting up a meeting that afternoon. We'd been reviewing DNI's plans for a new program of real estate investment and construction, part of expanding the research or manufacturing facilities of the firms it was now in the process of absorbing.
I passed a pleasantry with Tam, then studied her, puzzled. "You look a little distressed this morning."
"I'm receiving an update on a change in our program." Tam glared back at Mori, then turned to Noda. "What's this about bringing in people from MITI?"
Noda smiled, but he looked a trifle uncomfortable. "Think of it as a temporary measure." He nodded toward Mori, then looked back at Tam. "We always like to operate by consensus. And that consensus among the fund managers who have joined us appears to be that our investments should initially be monitored by our own people."
"I thought this office was going to be in charge of determining who our people would be, not somebody in MITI." Tam fixed him coldly, then turned on me. "Did you know anything about this?"
"Bringing in honchos from MITI? News to me." I examined Noda. "I understood the management end of this was going to be directed by Dr. Richardson."
He was smiling again. "But it will be. She will continue to meet with the CEOs of the firms we intend to assist to provide our preliminary analysis of their operations, and she will be with us every step we take."