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Improving profitability

Is it an appropriate comment to make that one way to improve profitability is to increase volume sold, because as gross profit increase, client will improve their profitability in the operating margin level, provided no incremental increase in fix cost with additional volume sold.

Of course this is on top of the option to increase price and cut down costs

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Top answer
Pedro
Coach
on Sep 27, 2021
Bain | EY-Parthenon | Former Principal | 1.5h session | 30% discount 1st session

How to increase profits:

  • Increase Revenue
    • Volume (only if contribution margin is positive)
    • Price
  • Reduce costs

But you have to understand this is very simplistic. There are many ways to increase volume, prices and to reduce costs ;)

Anonymous A
on Sep 27, 2021
Hi Pedro, when a case objective was to improve profitability, wasn't it supposed to increase the margin instead of the absolute profit?
Pedro
Coach
on Sep 28, 2021
Bain | EY-Parthenon | Former Principal | 1.5h session | 30% discount 1st session
That is a good clarification question to ask the interviewer. I usually consider profitability as related to ROE or ROA, i.e., making more profit with the same asset base, which is what I am doing above.

Now, if you consider only average margin, you have an additional option, which is to stop selling lower margin products. If you remove products whose contribution margin is below average margin, then your margin will go up. Unfortunately, your absolute profit will go down. I don't see why a company would want to do that...
Ian
Coach
edited on Sep 27, 2021
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success

Hi there,

Yes, absolutely you can!

Profitability (not profits) can be grown through price increases, prodeuct mix changes, absolute cost reductions, AND scale advantages (i.e. economies of scale from increasing volume)

Florian
Coach
on Sep 28, 2021
1400 5-star reviews across platforms | 600+ offers | Highest-rated case book on Amazon | Uni lecturer in US, Asia, EU

Hey there,

Yes, such an answer with proper explanation and justification (on top of price increase or cost reduction) would be considered insightful and creative, thereby lifting your evaluation upwards.

Cheers,

Florian

Deleted user
on Sep 28, 2021

Yes, that is correct - if you take profitability as equivalent to profit margin, you can increase it by selling more units exactly due to the reason you describe. 

4
Deleted user
on Sep 28, 2021

Yes, this is spot on!

0
Deleted
Coach
on Sep 28, 2021
Experienced interviewer | Roland Berger Project Manager| Cambridge University | Super intuitive approach

Yes profitability tends to increase when volumes rise. In addition to what you stated about average fixed costs per unit falling, you may also lower your variable costs per unit. For example, when you buy materials in bulk, you can get them at a cheaper price per unit (one example of economies of scale)

on Sep 29, 2021
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi!

It is true but I would make it more specific, i.e. go one-two layer down your structure and tailor your recommendation to the case and client.

Best,

Anto

Agrim
Coach
on Sep 30, 2021
#1 Awarded Coach | BCG Dubai Project Leader | Master Casing in only 3 Hours | 10y in Consulting | Free Intro Call

Your conceptual understanding is correct.

You might want to rephrase it in a simpler manner - the sentence is a bit convoluted right now.

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