41. "Ford has a considerable variable cost problem right now, " said Stephen Girsky, analyst at Morgan Stanley. 42. The rule is conventionally stated in terms of price ( average revenue ) and average variable costs . 43. Decomposing Sales as Contribution plus Variable Costs . 44. They are " shifting away from fixed ( payroll ) costs toward variable costs , " he said. 45. These other methods generally have a higher fixed cost, but a lower variable cost than metal spinning. 46. The usual costing method makes use of time and material costs as variable costs and the fixed costs 47. And, by trimming variable costs , it tempts companies with high fixed costs to engage in destructive price competition. 48. In this context a variable cost is one that varies with the number of units the business sells. 49. It can be used to assess how different factors impact variable cost and total return in an investment. 50. Sara Lee has low variable costs , yet its products are relatively high priced compared with those of competitors.
