SYSTEMATIZATION OF COST DRIVERS IN ENTERPRISE COST MANAGEMENT FROM TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The article attempts to substantiate the key approaches to the systematization of cost-driving factors from the enterprise cost management perspective (tactical and strategic) and offers a definition to a factor concept. The study presents the existing scientific approaches to the classification of cost drivers as well as an interpretation of cost-driving factors. Groups of structural factors within internal and external environment that affect enterprise costing have been identified along with revealing the character of such influence, i.e. whether they provide a direct indirect effect on the company expenditures. Given the tactical and strategic management objectives, the authors suggest systematization of all cost drivers into two groups. In particular, tactical management covers the following factors: output scale, product range, company cost management methods, qualification of personnel, and depreciation accrual. Within the scope of this study, strategically critical factors are represented by organizational business pattern of production, technology level, lack of brand awareness for domestic products, inflation rate, average salary range, low solvency, high costs for raw materials and energy, high tolls, import dependency, strong market competition, low demand, lack of government support, excessive tax burden, frequent changes in tax legislation, high loan interest rates, unfavourable investment environment, poor networking between domestic enterprises in complementary industries, small share of medium-sized businesses or small business alliances. In addition, in the frameworks of strategic cost management, the study offers to classify the cost drivers into the following groups: economic, market- or tax-based, financial and systemic. Apart from that, the relationship between individual cost-driving factors has been revealed. The findings argue that strategic cost management has a number of limitations associated with certain challenges to attain accuracy in forecasting change in factors for successive periods.