The impact of economic crisis on cost structure configuration

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of economic crisis on cost structureconfiguration of companies. For this reason, an empirical study in the form of online surveyhas been carried out in 82 Greek manufacturing companies. We received data from two periodsof great economic recession, namely during fall of 2013 and spring of 2015. Results indicatedthat companies most affected by the economic crisis, replaced fixed costs with variable ones.Cost structure configuration is the “tool” that companies used to limit the consequences of thecrisis in their profitability. Keywords: economic crisis, cost structure, fixed costs, variable costs. JEL classification numbers: M20, M21, M42