Perception of cost behaviour in industrial firms with emphasis on logistics and its costs

Abstract

Results are presented from quantitative research as part of a project on cost variability and cost management systems. The main objective was to analyze principal findings stemming from determining perception of cost behaviour in practice of industrial firms. Special attention was paid to selected cost groups, especially logistics costs. The main part presents results verified through statistical inspection of dependence relations. Key discoveries comprise significant drawbacks for manufacturing enterprises and reservations they hold about overhead cost management. Additionally, it was found that the share of overheads remained relatively high. Furthermore, confirmation was made on the close differences between company size and diligence paid to managing variable and fixed costs. It was also confirmed that senior executives were uninformed about asymmetric cost behaviours or the influence of factors beyond production capacity. Logistics costs were identified from the perspective of the cost behaviour problem. Crucial findings are discussed in the final part of the paper. © 2018, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Belgrade.