Tokyo to Nova: Not Good Enough

According to the Asahi Shimbun, Nova has submitted a plan on how it would clean up its act only to be smacked down as being too vague by the metropolitan government of Tokyo.

According to the report, Nova's plan contained steps to better train its staff and ensure that there is a sufficient number of instructors. Tokyo, however, said that the plan lacked specifics and requested that Nova provide more details.

This is an interesting development. As described previously, Nova is supposed to improve things to METI's satisfaction only this time it is the government of Tokyo giving Nova the smack down.

It looks like Nova is in a sticky situation. Are they having problems hiring instructors? How many teachers do they need? If their cash flow is restricted for the next 6 months due to METI's punishment, do they have the means to hire more instructors, and is hiring more instructors enough to get Nova back on track? Given all the bad press about Nova recently, it's a given that prospective instructors would have their doubts about working for Nova.

If this is the case, I can't think of anything worse for Nova right now than the pool of applicants drying up.

Nova also held its shareholders' meeting this morning in which president Nozomu Sahashi apologized to shareholders. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, he also set up a committee of experts and lawyers to develop policies to avoid misconduct and improve the company.