Which of the following actions can enable companies to gain a cost competitive advantage?
a. removing frills from products
b. increasing marginal customers
c. eliminating reverse engineering efforts
d. developing additional exclusive functional departments

The correct answer is A. Removing frills from products.

Explanation:

A company has a cost advantage (Porter), if its cumulative cost of performing all value activities is less than the costs of its competitors. The difficult thing is not to determine the competitive advantage in costs but rather how to maintain it without the competition being able to copy it. The cost advantage reaches its maximum performance if the customer is willing to pay a price for the added value of a product or service that meets their needs.

For a company, it not only represents a decrease in the price of the product, but a differentiation that allows it to compete in a different way in the market, offering simple and excellent quality products.