Harvard Business Review

JUNE 25, 2013

They have systematically and significantly eroded barriers to entry and movement on a global scale. Thanks to the forces described above, we are more connected on a global scale than ever before. The cost and difficulty of coordinating activities across entities, on a global scale, is far lower now.

Fixed Costs 13

Fixed Costs Assets Scaling Education 13

Harvard Business Review

MAY 21, 2015

The costly and complex operations of transporting energy have made utilities natural monopolies, while regulatory barriers and the high fixed costs of building and maintaining regional electrical grid infrastructure have also kept much competition at bay. This story of disruption should feel familiar.

Energy 15

Energy Transportation Real Estate Software 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 8, 2012

Bharti's innovative business model converted fixed costs in capital expenditure to a variable cost based on usage of capacity. Through the outsourcing arrangements, Bharti dramatically lowered its costs while ensuring high quality for customers, since vendors had world-class competencies in their domains.

Balance Sheet 12

Balance Sheet Variable Costs Telecommunications Fixed Costs 12

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Historically, larger scale has offered hospital systems a number of advantages, including increased referral volumes, better access to capital, stronger pricing power, and classic cost economies. For instance, larger scale has enabled many hospital systems to lower their per-patient operating costs significantly.

Hospitality 9

Hospitality Scaling Revenue Fixed Costs 9

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 28, 2014

Unfortunately, Zuckerberg’s “platform” reference has elicited many comparisons of Oculus to Google’s purchase of Android , the company that would provide Google with its own smartphone operating system. Others, with expectations that people needed variety, refused to play Ford’s scale game (or failed trying).

Fixed Costs 9

Fixed Costs Software Transportation Scaling 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 7, 2015

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense for companies operating in the same space to continually compete. Activists look to see if opponents could be combined to form a more productive single entity, one that can capitalize on economies of scale and monopolize a given sector. Example: Acme Industries and Widget Co. Example: MineMe Inc.

Balance Sheet 12

Balance Sheet Revenue Cash Flow Reorganization 12

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 29, 2013

A fascinating business dynamic will unfold as health care providers in the United States shift from a reimbursement system that has historically paid for procedures performed to one that rewards population health — providing the total care of a community at a fixed cost and improving its members overall health.

Revenue 9

Revenue Nonprofit Operations Hospitality 9

Harvard Business Review

JULY 27, 2017

Third, corporate VCs and accelerators are costly and complex to operate, turning them into a slow and expensive innovation tool. And the fixed cost from “touchpoint-to-pilot” are immense. Could these experiences be replicated and scaled up at BMW?

Fixed Costs 8

Fixed Costs Variable Costs Administration Media 8

Zenefits

JULY 31, 2022

Managing inflating costs can be difficult for companies, particularly with high fixed costs like infrastructure or manufacturing. Survival in an inflating economy requires businesses to find ways to keep costs down while still meeting customer demands. Any of the above. Back to Vote.

Manager 52

Manager Onboarding Banking Process Improvement 52

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

A virtuous cycle is baked into their strategy: use these resources to achieve scale in ways that help achieve even more scale. Greater scale bestows greater competitive advantage. Adding a profile on Facebook has little to no impact on Facebook's operating costs. More usage funds more infrastructure.

Advertising 16

Advertising Variable Costs Scaling Media 16

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2013

Congestion, rather than raw usage, is the key driver of this phenomenon; given that the Internet Service Provider network is largely a fixed-cost asset. Like any fixed-cost asset, such as the Interstate highway system in the U.S., it is cheap to operate and expensive to upgrade.

Fixed Costs 17

Fixed Costs Revenue Assets Scaling 17

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2013

Congestion, rather than raw usage, is the key driver of this phenomenon; given that the Internet Service Provider network is largely a fixed-cost asset. Like any fixed-cost asset, such as the Interstate highway system in the U.S., it is cheap to operate and expensive to upgrade.

Fixed Costs 10

Fixed Costs Revenue Assets Scaling 10

Harvard Business Review

MAY 9, 2013

In every part of the industry, the open innovation model is changing the economics of advertising by switching significant fixed costs to variable costs and sourcing creative from more relevant and, many times, lower cost sources. Advertising Innovation Marketing'

Advertising 13

Advertising Variable Costs Media Fixed Costs 13

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

These businesses have powerful disruptive potential because they can provide consulting at a fraction of the cost of traditional models, largely because they do not need to carry expensive fixed costs like recruiting, training, consultant “beach” time, and expensive real estate.

Real Estate 12

Real Estate Small Business Fixed Costs Recruitment 12

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 31, 2018

By cutting the fixed costs of computing — avoiding the need to hire IT staff, servers, and hardware — even the smallest firm can satisfy large and unexpected computing needs. Flexible access to computing resources allows small firms to scale-up (or down) rapidly and to experiment with new products and features.

Scaling 14

Scaling Fixed Costs Software Education 14

AIHR

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

When to offer it: When your company must quickly fill temporary positions, scale its workforce up or down, access specialized skills without committing to a full-time hire, or outsource certain functions (such as IT or HR). Cost management: You must carefully weigh the costs of different employment types.

Insurance 98

Insurance Staffing Compensation Benefits 98