"The company pays for them to pursue further education. The field of study is unlimited, as long as it improves their personal qualifications and meets the requirements of the new positions that will open up during our expansion," Takuya Nakayama said, tapping the edge of the coffee table. "Then, we transfer them to positions that don't demand as much from the tides of the era. For example, logistics support, basic data entry, or even corporate culture promotion. Clear out the core development and operations positions and leave them for the young people who can generate direct benefits."
This was equivalent to paying for peace while simultaneously completing an internal blood transfusion.
Hayao Nakayama pondered for a moment.
"The board will have resistance to this subsidy budget."
"Just run the numbers, and it will be clear," Takuya Nakayama had long been prepared. "Keeping them in core positions while they slack off, or even form factional confrontations with young employees who have different concepts, creates hidden costs far greater than this subsidy, and might even create some uncontrollable risks. Settling them properly both preserves Sega's reputation for valuing loyalty and righteousness, and improves the overall operational efficiency. The directors are smart people; they can figure out this math."
He paused for a moment, then added a real-life example.
"Last month, a team leader in the Planning Department who had been with us for fifteen years messed up a progress schedule for a third-party collaboration because he couldn't grasp the new project management software. The young planners under him were full of complaints, but didn't dare to speak up. If I had fired him outright, what would the other veteran employees in the Planning Department have thought? 'When the rabbit dies, the fox mourns.' Instead, I transferred him to the archives to be responsible for organizing Sega's arcade design blueprints from past years. His salary was lowered by one grade, and I gave him a 'skills retraining allowance' under the guise of a special temporary expense, allowing him to take courses in archive management."
Takuya Nakayama spread his hands.
"Now, the archive room is in perfect order, and the young people in the Planning Department have taken the lead, doubling the speed of project progress. Everyone is in their rightful place."
This approach balanced human considerations with efficiency.
Benefiting from his foresight as a time-traveler, he knew clearly where future industry trends lay, ensuring that Sega could maintain moderate expansion for at least the next twenty years.
As long as the pie kept growing, these redundant personnel could be absorbed through transfers.
The office fell silent.
Outside the window, a cargo ship in Tokyo Bay sounded a long, low whistle.
Hayao Nakayama looked at his son sitting across from him.
Half a year ago, when this young man proposed bringing in PricewaterhouseCoopers, he had his concerns.
Now, it seemed, those worries were unnecessary.
With a perfect balance of firmness and flexibility, he had blended American-style efficiency assessments with Japanese human-relations savvy.
"Go ahead and do it." Hayao Nakayama locked the summary report in his drawer. "Sega now has the confidence to support your trial and error."
"As long as the reforms are implemented properly, Sega's vitality will continue to be unleashed." Takuya Nakayama stood up and straightened the hem of his suit.
The new week. Sega Headquarters in Ota Ward.
The boardroom on the top floor was packed, with people seated on both sides of the long mahogany table.
The low hum of the air conditioner echoed through the spacious room.
In front of each director lay a fifty-page bound report.
The cover was stamped with the logo of Sega's internal audit committee.
Takuya Nakayama sat at the front left, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.
Director Hoshino sat next to him, plugging the projector's cable into his laptop.
"Gentlemen," Takuya Nakayama began, his voice steady. "Over the past five months, we have implemented a dual-track audit system internally. The report before you today represents the results of this five-month interim period."
He didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.
The projection screen lit up, displaying a complex bar chart.
"This is a comparative model of the expenses and actual conversion rates for the Sales, Distribution, and Overseas branches over the past three years," Takuya Nakayama said, pointing his laser pointer at one of the red bars. "Excluding normal market fluctuations, we discovered that 15 percent of marketing expenses were lost during the circulation process. This portion of the loss did not convert into install volume, nor did it convert into third-party software sales."
The only sound in the conference room was the rustling of papers.
"I call this portion of the loss 'meaningless busywork costs'." Takuya Nakayama switched the slide, and several specific business flow nodes appeared on the screen. "For example, in order to align an internal monthly report that doesn't need to be released publicly, staff in the Second Finance Section have to spend three working days reconciling two sets of unrelated data. Or, for another example, the Planning Department is still using paper files to manage project progress, which leads to a delay of at least 48 hours in information transfer when multiple departments are collaborating on development."
With these details laid out on the table, the directors present could clearly see the rusted gears inside Sega's massive machine.
Director Suzuki pushed up his reading glasses and looked at the report attachment in his hand. "Takuya, why hasn't anyone raised these issues before?"
"Because in the past, performance evaluations only looked at results, not the process," Nakayama Takuya replied. "As long as the year-end profit statement was positive, no one bothered to look into how much manpower and resources were wasted along the way. Now that Sega's scope is getting larger, we can no longer manage a multinational corporation using the small workshop model of the Showa era."
Director Yoshikawa flipped to the second half of the report and saw the proposal regarding personnel adjustments.
"'Skills Retraining Allowance'?" Yoshikawa read the term aloud.
"Yes," Nakayama Takuya walked back to his seat and sat down. "Identifying the problems is just the first step; solving them is the key. For those employees who cannot keep up with the efficiency demands of the new era, direct layoffs would trigger uncontrollable negative effects. Public opinion and internal morale would both be hit."
He elaborated on the plan he had discussed with his father the day before.
"We will establish a special subsidy to encourage veteran employees to undergo professional development and transfer to new roles. We will move them from core development and operations positions into roles that don't require keeping up with rapid technological iteration, such as logistics, data management, and corporate culture promotion. This will free up space for young people who are proficient in using new tools and architectures."
As this proposal was put forward, a low murmur of conversation rippled through the meeting room.
In the past, the directors' impressions of this young Executive Managing Director had been limited to his ingenious ideas in game development.
Whether it was pushing through "Sakura Wars" against opposition, leading the project initiation of "Ghost in the Shell," or doing wonders with the "Toy Story" IP, all of these demonstrated his sharp market sensitivity and product control.
However, when it came to corporate management, everyone had adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
After all, making games and running a company were two different things.
Bringing in PricewaterhouseCoopers to audit the accounts a while back had caused complaints and grievances among the staff, and many directors had privately voiced their disapproval, feeling that the young man was being too ruthless and didn't know how to adapt or compromise.
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