Cost Behavior In Real Companies Identify The Different Types Of Costs (Essay Sample)

Student Name Professor Name Subject Date Cost Behavior in Real Companies Description of the Company The Whole Foods Incorporation is a large grocery retailing company having several outlets worldwide. The company has the largest supermarket chain considering the revenue it generates annually. The company operates by use of subsidiaries placed across the American cities. It currently has about 2778 supermarket chains across the different states. It has its headquarters in downtown Cincinnati. The company has steady market in 34 states, with the distribution stores including the departmental stores, convenience stores, supermarkets and even jewelry stores. Furthermore, Whole Foods Incorporation started out in 1980, by John Mackey and Walter Robb as a small natural foods store in Austin, Texas (Company Profile, 17). The Whole Foods Market Incorporation has been involved in food processing and distribution. In order to reach more customers and increase its supply efficiency, Whole Foods Market Incorporation integrated supermarket chains to aid in this process. The Whole Foods Market Incorporation started by acquisition of stores chains like Palo Alto (in California) as it expanded across the different states. Other stores acquired by Whole Foods Market Incorporation include Food for Thought, Allegro Coffee Company, Finer Foods, Wild Oats Market to mention a few (Management & Directors, 16). Costs that Would Be Incurred Whole Foods Incorporation incurs several costs in its chain, from the point of acquisition to the retailing section at the stores. These costs can be categorized as those revolving around Human Resources, Sales, Accounting, and Administration costs. In the Human Resource section, the costs incurred include that of labor acquisition and motivation costs for their existing staff (Hugos et al, 67). In the sales section, the costs include those of transport for the goods and staff to the various stores, and the packaging of selected items like sugar. For Accounting section, the costs include the VAT taxes payable to the state, the payment of services offered by the accounting firms handling this section, and also the acquisition of necessary equipment like computers and ETR (Electronic Tax Register) for the department. The administration cost encompasses the amounts given for the maintenance of the operating cycle for the company. These include the cost for acquisition of equipment and service (especially courier services). Classification of Costs: Fixed or Variable The fixed costs, in Whole Foods Market Inc., include Accounting, and Administration costs. These are standard depending on the agreement between the company and the entities offering the given service. The variable costs include Human ...