Bargaining may reduce the cost by as much as 5%.

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This bargaining strength helped force the cost-cutting on to the providers.

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One of the biggest reasons why Apple has managed to keep its margins high is through its tightly controlled supply chain, which gives it a greater bargaining power while negotiating the cost of its supplies.

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Last-hired, first-fired agreements are not debt, but they are contracts which cannot be cleared and depending on the strength of the collective bargaining agent, have a high cost of breach.

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And luckily, there are ample low cost (or no-cost) ways to boost our bargaining skills.

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Additionally, the company can utilize its substantial bargaining power with its suppliers, reducing the impact of industry-wide input cost increases and sustaining profit margins.

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Since 2006, HD increased its operating margin through efforts such as developing its supply chain management, which reduced cost of transportation and inventory, and developing a formal distribution channel which increased bargaining power over suppliers.

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The resulting prison-building boom, and rapacious bargaining by the prison-guards union, meant that state penitentiaries became the fastest-growing major cost in the state budget.

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