Regardless of economic conditions–recession or boom–organizations must continuously sharpen their competitive edge. This can be achieved through Lean Management principles focused on Cost Reduction, specifically targeting the elimination of non-value-added (NVA) activities or waste within value stream processes. Be Lean In the Lean Management philosophy, all activities in an organization are grouped into two categories: […]
Tag Archives | cost management
Forecasting Uncertainty
The impact of unforeseen crises—such as economic depressions, natural disasters, and black swan events (i.e. the recent COVID-19 pandemic—is immense. Crises can paralyze organizations and economies alike. These times are certainly anything but business as usual for almost all organizations. There are safety concerns everywhere. People have restricted movement, business activities slow down, and cash […]
Fit for Growth
A question faced by many business leaders in today’s dynamic, uncertain, and changing business environment is: Is our organization “Fit for Growth?” In most cases, unfortunately, the answer to this question is “no.” Reasons include the manner in which costs are managed and resources deployed. The fundamental question needed to be asked is: how to […]
5 Critical Success Factors for Successful Business Transformation
Business Transformations have become a necessity in the fast-changing technological and competitive business environment. Transformation is characterized by significant and risk-laden Restructuring of a company, with the objective of accomplishing Operational Excellence and changing its future course. Business Transformation is a priority for many top executives but it is usually a reaction to challenging circumstances […]
Target Costing: An Effective Approach to Pricing Products
Cost-based Pricing is fast becoming a relic of the past and being substituted by the concept of Target Costing. Target Costing is referred to as an organized process to determine the cost at which a proposed product must be developed so as to generate profits at the product’s anticipated selling price in future. In highly […]
To Survive COVID-19, We Need to Manage the 3 Cs – Costs, Capital, and Cash Flow
The entire world is facing the same crisis right now. As of the morning of April 2nd, there are close to 1MM Coronavirus cases worldwide, of which 75% are active cases. For almost all countries, the case growth is still growing exponentially on a day-to-day basis. With entire nations under lock-down, many industries and businesses […]
Strategic Cost Reduction Primer: A Systematic Approach to Transforming Costs
Cost Optimization Programs are hard to manage, sustain, and often tend to fall short of delivering the promised value. The failure could be attributed to many reasons—including lack of clearly delineated objectives, failure to account for operational difficulties, internal resistance to change, trying to cut corners from everywhere, not paying attention to planning optimal utilization […]
Flevy’s Definitive Guide to Operations
This is a guide to navigating Flevy to find the documents and other resources you need related to Business Operations. “Operations” is a broad, vague term. It can convey a lot of different meanings to different people. If you don’t find what you are looking for in this article, please email us at support@flevy.com. First, a very […]
Effectively Controlling Your Business’s Costs? 5 Frameworks on Cost Management
Managing and reducing costs is a critical for any organization’s survival. It’s a prerequisite for staying competitive. Below are 5 frameworks used by management consulting firms specializing in Cost Management. They cover initiatives that range from department-specific to enterprise-wide. Cost Reduction Opportunities (across Value Chain) https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/cost-reduction-204 This document identifies 45 cost reduction initiatives across the […]
