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Hello, Interesting thread. I assume this relates to increasing efficiency to ‘keep the wolves at bay’. The graph might well be hyperbolic with the X axis approaching the ‘marginal cost’ before a ‘step function’ kicks in ie increase staff/tooling one or both. However, the private sector, which is primarily profit driven, will also plot the inverse hyperbolic graph, the increase in ‘total’ profit as unit cost decreases. Martin mentions the ‘sweet point’ on the hyperbolic X axis, I would suggest that the ‘private sector’ ‘sweet point’ is further along the X axis close to the ‘step function’ point and therefore associated with a higher workload. Whilst cost is important it’s not the only tool in the private sectors’ armoury to increase profit cf market share. If the ‘public sector’ wishes to compete with the ‘private sector’ it will need to approach the ‘private sector’ targets such that a private sector predator would have to consider increasing the ‘price’ to achieve a profit, which would not be an attractive proposition although a short-term loss maybe acceptable for a medium/long term profit. This is Tiger Territory as unfortunately the playing field isn’t flat. Good Luck John Martin (fortunately retired) ------ACB discussion List Information-------- This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical community working in clinical biochemistry. Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual and they are responsible for all message content. ACB Web Site http://www.acb.org.uk Green Laboratories Work http://www.laboratorymedicine.nhs.uk List Archives http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html List Instructions (How to leave etc.) http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/