What is Cost Containment?

Cost containment involves tight control over expenses to ensure that the total amount of expenditures does not exceed the budgeted amount. An effective cost containment program requires the active oversight of management, as well as a budgeting process that yields reasonable expenditure targets. When engaged in cost containment activities, it is essential not to pare away too deeply at the structure of a business, since this will impair its long-term ability to compete. Cost containment is especially important for a government or nonprofit entity, which may not be able to easily increase its revenues to offset increased expenses.

Disadvantages of Cost Containment

While cost containment can be a useful management tactic for an organization, there are also several disadvantages associated with an excessive reliance on it, which are as follows:

Excessive focus on cost. Management focuses too much on the cost side of the business, rather than pursuing new revenue opportunities. This can result in a long-term decline in its prospects, since it could have branched out into new products and services if management had been willing to spend more money.
Reduced quality. A tight focus on cost containment can result in a gradual decline in the quality of the goods and services offered. This is especially likely when a business purchases lower-quality raw materials, which leads to poorer-quality finished goods. The outcome can be customer dissatisfaction, which eventually leads to reduced sales and lost market share.
Declining employee morale. A business that focuses intently on cost containment is more likely to cut labor costs, either through pay freezes, reduced benefits, or layoffs. This may result in lower employee morale, which in turn leads to decreased employee productivity and higher employee turnover. When employees leave the company, this results in a gradual loss of institutional knowledge.