Tommy, engineering manager at APC Systems, Inc., is struggling to maintain a competitive advantage in APC's marketplace. He wants to hire and retain the best staff that he can, but the best staff command high salaries. Tommy knows that high staff salaries, representing a business cost, erode his company's profitability. But he also knows that he cannot simply pass along these higher costs to his clients, because they will then start doing less business with higher-priced APC and more business with APC's lower-priced competitors. Tommy is struggling
A)to collaborate.
B)to be technologically innovative.
C)to provide quality service.
D)to be cost competitive.
E)to achieve zero defects.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Tommy's struggle to maintain a competitive advantage while also managing the cost of high staff salaries suggests that his main challenge is to be cost competitive. He cannot simply pass along higher costs to his clients without losing business to lower-priced competitors, indicating that price is a significant factor in the marketplace.

Tommy, Engineering Manager at APC Systems, Inc