Choose operating actions by incremental contribution

The question to carry through

What changes because of this decision, and what capacity does it consume?

A useful operating comparison starts by separating costs that change with the decision from costs that continue anyway. A cheaper unit price can still require an excessive inventory commitment, while a low-margin order can use a bottleneck needed for more valuable work. Keep demand, cash requirements and available capacity as separate checks instead of assuming a positive contribution settles the decision.

Write a base case and an alternative using the same time horizon. Include disposal values, working cash, implementation costs and the opportunity cost of constrained resources where they matter. A prior payment that cannot be recovered is different from a future cost that can still be avoided. The best decision under the model is conditional on these assumptions; it is not proof that actual demand or delivery will follow the plan.