It’s the way of the business world. When a global drug company takes over a biotechnology firm, it can be expected to streamline operations, decree new management structures, and impose its rigid Big Pharma corporate culture on the locals.

But something different happened when Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. bought Cambridge-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals for $8.8 billion in 2008. Yasuchika Hasegawa, president of the Japan-based buyer, made it clear that he wanted to retain Millennium’s talent and capabilities — and the access they could bring to cutting-edge cancer research.