A contribution to the concept of cost to serve: case study of a food industry / Uma contribuição ao conceito de custo para servir: estudo de caso de uma indústria de alimentos

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2006

RESUMO

Cost management is a growing concern among companies, driven by lack of resources and fierce competition. Increased market complexity and, consequently, the wider range of products and services that companies provide to their customers have turned cost measurement into a great challenge. The task to determine a series of steps - from a commercial policy by segment to the definition of the sales price - lies basically on proper cost measurement under different views, particularly by customer. In this context, the basic assumption of this study is that the cost to serve may provide information to better assess customer performance. The methodology used in this study is a bibliographical, exploratory survey and includes a case study of a food company. The primary objective is to verify whether the cost-to-serve concept would improve the information required for customer management by providing more specific and detailed data and allowing for the identification of any discrepancies in profitability. Secondary objectives – to provide a conceptual approach and identify the steps and information required to measure cost to serve - were achieved with the bibliographical research and case study. As to the method to measure the cost of processes related to customer service, ABC was the only one that provided the correct measure. The case study showed a scattered profitability among the company´s users, similar to the theory addressed in the study, highlighting it with illustrative examples and operations. The results for margin to serve (in which 52% of the customers had a negative margin) are surprising, and show that in a company with a wide range of products and services, information on the cost to serve can be critical to allocate resources to customers based on a commercial policy. This is a single, specific study, therefore it should not be generalized. Some of the restrictions faced during data collection, such as customer insolvency or inventory level by product unit should be further improved in future studies.

ASSUNTO(S)

managerial accounting custeio baseado em atividades contabilidade gerencial management based on activities expenditure based on activities serviço ao cliente gestão baseada em atividades service to customer

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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