a conceptual framework that many large corporations have used successfully is the experience curve (originally called the learning curve). the experience curve suggests that unit production costs decline by some fixed percentage (commonly 20% - 30%) each time the total accumulated volume of production in units doubles. the actual percentage varies by industry and is based on many variables: the amount of time it takes a person to learn a new task, scale economies, product and process improvements, and lower raw materials cost, among others.