Activity$-$based costing

is a tool for identifying the activities that represent variable and fixed costs.

applies benchmarking techniques to develop cost estimates for the value chain activities of each major rival.

is a powerful tool for gathering competitive intelligence on a rival company's value chain, enabling analysts to classify a rival's primary and support activities.

involves determining which value chain activities represent primary activities and which represent support activities.

involves the creation chan accounting system that assigns a company's expenses to whichever activity in a company's value chain is responsible for creating the cost.