Late last year China had ordered another several billion dollars worth of Boeing aircraft through him, this time nearly all 737 short-haul aircraft. This had been mentioned as a precursor to a far larger order, one now about to come to fruition.
When the enormous size of this deal first was mentioned, he’d nodded, then gone to his boss to ask about production capacity – could he sell this order? What would it do to other customers?
“Our job is to close business,” the Sales Vice President had reminded Lowe gruffly. “It’s manufacturing’s job to make the planes. Go close the deal.”
Relaxing after a late lunch, watching Chicago work in the afternoon sun, feet up on the desk, he awaited the final confirmation of that order.
His phone rang. “Lowe,” he answered, picking it up. Listening, he nodded and looked over to the screen of his PC. He navigated the mouse over a new email, clicked, and saw that he’d done just what his boss had told him to do.
“Yes, Sir,” he said simply. “Thank you. I’ll process this and get going on the remainder of the paperwork,” and he hung up the phone. He sat still a moment longer, looking out across the view. Finally, he said to himself, “Cool.” He downloaded, saved and then printed the email, and walked over to the printer to pick it up. Admiring it, he walked it into his boss’s office.
Firm orders for 250 jets of various sizes and ranges, and options for 600 more. The single largest order in Boeing’s history, over twelve billion dollars for the firm-order portion, over ninety-five billion for the option, should it be exercised in-full.
“Cool,” he repeated, thinking of the size of the commission check.
Down the street from the Boeing corporate offices sat the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the “Merc.” As Tim Lowe read his emailed order to his boss up the street at Boeing, a sudden flurry of trading at the Merc spiked the prices of basic livestock and grain purchases, for 30-, 90- and 120-day futures. Enough foodstuffs were purchased to feed a small country or two.
A few senior traders muttered to one another, then went on about their business, trying to figure out how best to profit from this run-up. It wasn’t explained by any weather of which they were aware, nor shipping, nor opposing belligerents anywhere they could think of.
The traders made their moves, hoping their gut instincts were right.
Across the country in Texas, emailed orders suddenly began filling the in-box of Bill Dyer, head of a large oil technology and equipment manufacturer. The orders were for larger quantities than he had ever seen of all types of oil field equipment, from derricks to drilling pipe to boring bits. Delivery was to China.
Dyer began reading the arriving emails and quickly found that he could not keep up. Once they all arrived, he sorted and forwarded them to the various units of his organization. Not sure he could handle this much business, he also picked up the telephone and called an old friend – and his oldest competitor. “I need to share some wealth,” he said when he call was answered.
6
Washington, DC
Wednesday, 10 April, 21:00 hours GMT (17:00 Local)
Premier Fang Wi Long, the leader of the most populous nation on earth, the People’s Republic of China, looked at the men seated at the large conference table.
At Fang’s request, China’s Minister of the Interior, Mr. Qiang en Lai, had assembled from around the world the senior executives of those companies that manufactured cars and light trucks in the United States. In attendance were the Chairmen of Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, KIA, Nissan and Ford, and the heads of their American manufacturing operations.
Joining these men were the CEO of the largest steel manufacturer in South Korea, the president of General Electric, the primary manufacturer American railroad locomotives, along with the president of his railroad division, and the president of BNSF, by mileage the largest private-sector railway in the world.
Fang was to meet with Michael Hopkins, the new American president, for a working dinner tomorrow evening. This afternoon he and Qiang were conducting business for his country. Big business.
The men were gathered at the Ronald Reagan International Airport in a conference room in the executive club of a major airline, a convenient and professional environment allowing each to arrive, meet and depart quickly and quietly.
For each of these men, Washington was a regular stop to meet with legislators and senior members of government departments having an impact on their businesses. Because this was a regular destination of the men, rumors were unlikely to arise.
They sat around a large conference table. Before them were coffee, water, paper and pens supplied by the airline.
Fang looked at his watch. It was 5:00 PM. The chance of word leaking-out prior to tomorrow was very small. He nodded to his Interior Minister to begin.
“Gentlemen. Thank you for attending,” Minister Qiang began. “We would like to reach many large business agreements with you today.”
The seated men betrayed no surprises. That much had been in the formal invitations causing them to attend. They were willing to listen.
Busy though these men were running multi-billion-dollar companies, the invitation, which included a hint at the size of the contracts to be let, caused them to attend. Hundreds of millions of dollars was a good number. Billions was even better.
“Before each of you are 3x5 note cards and a pen,” Qiang continued. “I would like to ask those of you in the automobile business please to write on the first card your estimate of your American-based manufacturing two-shift capacity, which I understand is your current production cycle, in annual units, aggregate of cars and light trucks – the vehicles that individuals, construction workers and families would purchase. This is public knowledge, but I would like to be sure we are working with the same – correct – numbers rather than what may be gleaned from your publicity departments, which we already have.”
The president of Ford Motor Company spoke. “Mr. Minister, why would we do this? As you said, you already have this information. Any deviance from published information likely would be confidential.”
“Mr. Jackson, if you would prefer to use published numbers that is your choice. I simply am asking for your agreement that they are correct,” Qiang replied.
Jackson thought about that but seemed unconvinced. He did not join his professional colleagues in writing numbers on note cards.
Fang noticed this and, preferring not to waste time, decided to make his interest evident. He nodded to himself and then turned toward the Korean steel man. “Mr. Park? We would like to order enough steel rail and fittings to double-track, with the normal number of sidings, approximately 10,000 kilometers of heavy, open-country, high-speed freight rail. So, 20,000 kilometers of rail, in all.”
Before Mr. Park Chong Ho could respond, Fang turned to the president of BNSF. “Mr. Board, we would like to hire your company to map, survey, grade and lay that track and necessary infrastructure, beginning immediately, with as many of your own employees as you see fit to bring along, and their families, the remaining to be supplied by China. We anticipate the track-laying project to require five years to complete. Further, we would like your company to maintain that track for the foreseeable future.”
The premier nodded to Minister Qiang, who handed a single sheet of paper to Board and said, “Mr. Board, this is the arrangement we recently made with an American oil company, an offer they have accepted. You will see it covers housing,