What is the absolute advantage of cost?
Absolute cost advantage is the type of competitive situation in which the company is able to achieve and maintain the level of operating costs, which makes it very easy to compete on the market and achieve profits for each unit sold. This type of competitive advantage often includes the ability to effectively manage expenditures as raw materials, selection and maintenance of equipment used in the manufacturing process and virtually any other type of overhead costs involved in business operations. When there is an absolute advantage of costs, the company is able to permanently maintain low operating costs, which not only allows to compete on the market based on quality but also in price.
While many companies are able to achieve some cost benefits on a short -term basis, achieving an absolute cost benefit means not only achieving but maintaining this advantage over time. This is often managed by locking in the best possible price for items that are considered fixed costs and variable costs.For example, the company may be able to use an agreement to purchase volume to obtain and maintain significantly lower unit costs from raw materials for several years, although the standard costs of these materials would significantly increase in this time framework.
The benefits of the absolute benefits of costs for any business operation are considerable. One of the immediate advantages is lower operating costs, which in turn allow to generate additional profit from each unit produced and sold. Although market conditions require that production be reduced to be met temporarily lower demand, or if retail prices need to be reduced to compete with other providers for a certain period of time, there is still a great chance that at least a certain profit is made from each unit. This in turn means Company has a better chance of survival of economic decline than any competitors who have not reached this advantage and are more susceptible tofluctuating their operating costs.
In fact, achieving the absolute benefit of cost requires great work and attention to details. Companies usually have to work on this goal and pay attention to any aspect of the operation that can be tuned to offer the best return for the smallest amount of costs. Along with the cost of materials and the use of equipment in operation, during this phase, the essential identification of the best possible ways to manage work costs and assemble an efficient control team is essential. Once the absolute benefits of costs are achieved, it is necessary to constantly monitor each aspect of the operation and control of these costs to prevent this advantage from slipping from one period to another.