Chapter 12 THE MULTINATIONAL 261 Facing the problematic future squarely, management candidly reported on the dangers that could develop down the road in its annual report for 1967: In the year ahead our operations may be adversely affected by conditions beyond our control. The fiscal situation in this country may well cause a decrease in federal spending for public works and foreign aid, as well as decreasing the amount of mortgage money available. This would hurt our construction and land activities, and the proposed increase in taxes would penalize all our earnings. Compulsory controls over foreign investments may deny us the Se BAe aig wait, Ses NI inet Stee sh re opportunities we have for promising new mining projects for our own account and construction contracts for others. Bad as the fiscal situation is in the U. S., in Peru it is relatively worse. This could have a severe impact on Marcona in the long run, although the present legislation by the Peruvian Government does not necessarily hit reportable profits since it is primarily in the form of an involuntary loan to the Government through compulsory prepayment of taxes. The devaluation of the British pound may hurt the Japanese economy. We cannot now evaluate the possible impact of all these forces, but we cannot ignore them. Facing such imponderables, Utah began the new year of 1968 by realigning top management to meet its need for seasoned leadership in its broadening worldwide endeavors. The current form of organization had been adopted in 1958 and remained virtually unchanged while the size and the complexity of the firm had increased substantially: gross revenues from operations had more than doubled, net income had increased from $4.7 million to $16.5 million, total assets had more than doubled, and the consolidated surplus had increased from $33 million to more than $84 million. Growth of this magnitude called for significant change to cope with present activities and prepare for those ahead. On February 13, 1968, Littlefield announced Wilson’s appointment as executive vice president in charge of company operations, reporting directly