Woods said, ‘Mr. Parker?’
‘Mr. President, call me Donald.’
‘It’s good to speak to you again, Donald.’
‘Well I’m honoured. And I realize we’ve only got a couple of minutes so I’ll get straight to the point. As you know I own Nadbury, the twelfth largest American multinational technology company. Three years ago we were ranked as being one of the highest valued semiconductor chip makers. However, whilst other semiconductor companies have seen an average thirty-eight percent increase in chip sales, based on a seventy-three percent increase in the demand for smart cell unit sales, we’ve had to watch our sales drop by forty percent. As you can imagine these figures are significant, and as a result our company has taken a big knock when it comes to stock-performances on the Dow Jones. In short, we need to turn it round. But to turn it round we need something special to compete and not be undercut by larger corporations.’
‘And based on the information you’ve just given me… ’
Parker laughed. ‘What exactly do I want?’
‘Right.’
‘Cutting right to the chase, Mr. President. I want you and your government to head our campaign. I want our products to be bought by every college kid. Every school. Every Ivy League graduate. We want to bring awareness and make the future of tomorrow a place where it isn’t just a generation of what we can do for ourselves but a generation of what we can do for others. We are company with ethics right to the heart of who we are. We have mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. President. Conflict free. Which has been, to put it mildly, challenging. But it’s integral to who Nadbury are. In essence this equates to all our products being conflict free, unlike most electronic companies. You could say we are the Fairtrade of electronics. I love my country but I understand more than ever there should be no borders on probity. How can I say I love my children if my company is part of hurting someone else’s children? I don’t want to pick up my cell phone or use a computer which has blood on it. However, I am a business man and my company has taken some pretty big hits of late. Taking an ethical stance means we have to charge more for our products whilst our competitors can be more cost effective and reap the profits by using minerals from mines where children are forced to work and violence is an everyday occurrence. To get back on top we need a campaign that will make a difference and get people to buy our products. Not just for the company, but for the good and wellbeing of others. I realize this is just a quick briefing and I’d like to explain in further detail when you have more time. Though I’m sure the question you want to ask now is, what I am going to do for you…’
There was a knock on the door. Naomi Tyler. ‘Mr. President!’
Woods nodded. Waved away Naomi. ‘Listen, Donald, I have to go before one of my staff combusts. We’ll have to find a window to continue. I’ll get Joan to liaise with my staff for an appropriate time. I want to hear more about this.’
‘Mr. President, let me just tell you this. I have a lot of influence with senators up at Capitol Hill. If you help me with what I need, I guarantee you’ll get the votes in Congress you need to pass your gun reforms.’