The PlayBear Billionaire: A Bear Shifter Romance by Maria Amor Read Free Book Online Page A

action. He wondered at the fact that he had asked her to call him after she finished work for the day; he hadn’t done that before with a woman. He had carefully made sure all forms of communication were under his control—that any calls would come from him that his dates understood that he was a busy man and they couldn’t expect much. And yet he was looking forward to Daphne’s call.
    Alexander shook his head, taking a deep breath to clear it. The reports from his executives were important; he had to pay attention to them, he had to understand them and act on them. It wasn’t a matter of convenience. Oberon Industrial would take a hit if he couldn’t make a decision quickly. He opened the first of the reports, taking a sip of the whiskey he had left sitting on his desk, almost ignored.
    The bitter burn of it cleared his head—but he thought he would do much better with coffee instead of alcohol. He hit the call button on his phone. “Bring in my usual coffee order,” he said as soon as his assistant responded. He barely heard her affirmative.
    Alex knocked back the strong, intensely sweet Cuban coffee the assistant unobtrusively brought in and left on his desk, burying himself in the reports. There was trouble from the competition; the Lasko Corporation was undercutting them in manufacturing, something that had initially seemed unimportant—but now two quarters later was starting to affect the bottom line for Oberon.
    There were a few options: take the short-term hit of increased investment in advertising, explaining to the public that while Oberon’s products were more expensive, they were much more sustainable and eco-friendly than Lasko’s; cut back on costs through a small layoff and cut of overtime hours, with the expectation of maintaining productivity; or cutting back on production—which would on its own result in some layoffs, decreased overtime, lower overall pay for employees.
    There was also the option of sacrificing the high standards—of being less stringent in regards to their sustainability and eco-friendliness policies.
    He considered the choices in front of him. If he took on the cost of more advertising, it could correct the loss of revenue and that division of the company could improve—but it might not. The allure of a lower cost was a major drive of consumer interest, and Alex knew that as well as any executive.
    There would need to be a way to bring the cost closer to the competitions— otherwise , he thought, I could advertise until everyone knew everything they possibly could about Oberon Industrial’s products to no avail . He hated the idea of cutting back on worker hours, of putting people in a position to earn less; if he cut back on staff right away, the cost to manufacture would come down and they could afford a lower sale cost.
    If they cut back on production, there was the issue that while they could eliminate or cut hours for employees, they would be in a difficult position, labor-wise, when and if the products rallied—they’d need to hire again.
    Finally, he thought, there was the other cost-cutting measure. If he lowered the standards, he could save a great deal of money. But the bear in him—the animal that loved the deep forest, that needed the pristine acres of trees and streams, rocky hills and valleys—disliked the expedient of following the competition into practices that would disrupt ecosystems and displace and harm animals.
    Alexander started to form his opinion on the matter, taking the different projections into account. He composed an email to the executive who had sent him a report, to be acted on as quickly as possible.
    “I want to make a compromise,” he wrote. “I understand that we’re going to need to cut costs. I also understand that we have to get sales up. I think if we devote an additional 25% over our current budget to advertising the products, focusing on value rather than cost, along with a few specific and targeted cuts, we’ll come