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Contribution margin is an important financial term that indicates how much profit a company generates with its products or services. The term is frequently used in business administration and indicates whether a company can cover its costs. The definition of the contribution margin is the difference between revenue and variable costs. It is available to the company to cover fixed costs and to generate a profit. Variable costs are those costs that are directly associated with the production or sale of a product or service. Fixed costs, on the other hand, remain the same regardless of production or sales. Fixed costs include, for example, rent or lease payments. The contribution margin is thus calculated as the difference between revenues and variable costs. The higher the contribution margin, the better a company can cover its costs and the more profitable it is. The contribution margin is an important indicator of a company's profitability and should therefore be calculated regularly. [1]
The contribution margin indicates the contribution to success made by products or activities – in other words, how much of the revenue remains after deducting the directly attributable costs to cover fixed costs and achieve a profit. A high contribution margin indicates a high level of financial performance and makes it easier for the company to generate profits. [2]
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The contribution margin is an important metric that companies use to determine how profitable their products or services are. The calculation formula is:
Contribution margin = sales revenue – variable costs
The contribution margin shows how much of the sales revenue remains after deducting the variable costs to cover the fixed costs and generate profits. It can also be used to determine how much revenue a business needs to generate to cover its fixed costs.
The calculation is done using the following formula:
Break-even revenue = fixed costs / contribution margin rate.
A business has fixed costs of €100,000 and a contribution margin rate of 40%. To cover its costs, it needs to generate a revenue of at least:
100,000 € / 0.40 = 250,000 €.
This means that with a turnover of 250,000 €, the fixed costs are exactly covered, but the company is still not making a profit. [3]
No, margin and contribution margin are not the same thing. Margin is the profit a company makes per unit sold. Contribution margin, on the other hand, is the percentage of a company's sales that are covered by margin. Most companies strive to achieve the highest possible margin. Nevertheless, one should not underestimate the importance of the contribution margin. If the contribution margin is negative, it means that the company has spent more money selling products than it has earned from the products sold. This can have fatal consequences, as the company could fall into debt and ultimately go bankrupt. To avoid negative effects of the contribution margin, you should always make sure that your company has a positive or at least neutral contribution margin. [4]
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A company with a high contribution margin often also has other positive characteristics, such as low debt or a good growth rate. However, the contribution margin does not necessarily have to be positive – there are cases in which companies have a negative contribution margin despite positive characteristics, especially in the case of rapidly growing start-ups or business models that initially sell their products below cost price in order to gain market share.
Companies with high contribution margins often have the advantage of being better able to survive economic downturns and achieve profitable growth over the long term. Particularly successful companies use their high margins to invest in innovation, expansion or strategic acquisitions.
Examples of companies with traditionally high contribution margins include:
However, there are also companies that consciously accept negative contribution margins over a certain period of time. For example, some e-commerce companies subsidize their sales in order to gain market share – a risky approach that is usually only sustainable in the short term with the help of investors. [5]
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[1] Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon – Deckungsbeitrag (Autoren: diverse Experten, 2018)
[2] Controlling-Portal – J. Erichsen (o.J.)
[3] Lexware Unternehmerlexikon – Deckungsbeitrag = Erlöse – var. Kosten (2022)
[4] WHK-Controlling – Wolfgang Kaminski, Marge oder ROI? (2019, whk-controlling.de)
[5] Handelsblatt – „Tech-Konzerne mit hohen Margen“ (Schlagzeilen-Analyse, 2021)
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