Reduce costs · Business objectives · Business Topologies

Common measures

Operating expenses
Cost of goods sold (COGS)
Gross margin
EBITDA margin

Questions to ask

What expenses provide little value?
Where are costs increasing unnecessarily?
What can be simplified?

Typical initiatives

Vendor negotiations
Supply-chain optimization
Waste reduction
SKU rationalization
Outsourcing

Frameworks that serve this objective

Primarily

Break-even Analysis The volume at which revenue covers cost — the floor every pricing and capacity decision sits on.

Also contributes

Value Chain Analysis A map of every activity the business performs, and where each one creates value — or leaks it.