Activity‐based costing for logistics and marketing

Activity‐based costing (ABC) is gradually being utilized as more of a decision‐making tool than an accounting tool. This paper investigates how, after almost a decade of slow growth, ABC is gaining acceptance as a tool to determine the true costs of marketing and logistics activities. How ABC provides managers with considerable insights into how various products, territories, and customers play major roles in logistic and marketing activities and, consequently, drive total costs is discussed. The advantages of the ABC model in terms of providing the right information to marketing managers with regard to which products, customers, or territories are more important and which could be eliminated without affecting the overall objectives of the firm are presented. The paper concludes by identifying ABC's shortcomings and the promise it holds for the modern enterprise.