[ti:]
[ar:]
[al:]
[offset:0]
[00:02.72]Look, we've got to do something. Doing nothing is not an option.
[00:07.83]Our margins will just get squeezed more and more.
[00:10.79]OK. What do you suggest?
[00:13.48]Personally, I'd recommend cutting the wage bill,
[00:15.97]either by laying some people off or by freezing salaries.
[00:19.40]Neither of which are going to be very popular options.
[00:22.18] No, but the alternatives are probably worse,
[00:25.41]reducing material costs will definitely have an impact on product quality
[00:29.75]and cutting back on advertising expenditure is only a short-term solution.
[00:34.35]It will hurt us in the long run.
[00:35.98]No, I see that. What about administrative costs or other overheads?
[00:41.39]Instead of cutting staff, we could try and do something about getting our energy bills down for example.
[00:46.62]I've already done as much as I can in those areas.
[00:49.69]I have thought about this a lot and for me, the only real solution is to tackle labour costs.
[00:55.77]It may be painful, but the advantage of it would be that,
[00:58.96]once done, we could get back to concentrating on selling.
[01:03.00]OK, I hear what you're saying, but I think it might create more problems than you think.
[01:09.65]I'm going to go away and think about it, see if there is an acceptable way of doing it.