The strategic advantage of ABC lies in its potential to save บริษัทดูออล from mistakenly discontinuing Common due to price competition from บริษัทวนิลลา. While บริษัทวนิลลา might rationally price Common at $49.95 or even slightly lower, ระบบต้นทุนดังเดิมของบริษัทดูออล will tell ผู้จัดการของบริษัทดูออล that it can indeed compete with Vanilla in the long run. The focus on long-run competition is crucial to this argument. In the short run. cost-volume-profit analysis may show ผู้จัดการของบริษัทดูออล that it can match Vanilla’s price and still generate positive contribution margin, i.e., still cover all variable costs. But in the long run, all costs must be covered, and eventually ผู้จัดการของบริษัทดูออล will seriously consider discontinuing Common. So while traditional costing plus analysis of contribution margin leads บริษัทดูออล to the correct decision in the short run, in the long run the potential for serious error is still present.
Equally important, ABC can show ผู้จัดการของดูออล the high cost of a low-volume product like Special. This does not mean that ดูออล necessarily should discontinue Special, even if customers are unwilling to pay much more than $3,610 for it. (It may be essential to provide Special to satisfy customers who also buy large quantities of Common, or Special may involve a new technology that must be learned to maintain competitiveness.) Rather, it does mean that Dual’s management is in a better position to set prices and to evaluate products and customers if it has better information about the cost of Special.