Opportunity cost
Generally speaking, when considering a contemplated action, opportunity cost is the rate of return expected if an alternative course of action were taken. The opportunity cost of investing in, say, a new business computer, could be the interest that would have been earned had the computer’s purchase price been used to purchase high grade bonds, instead. Opportunity cost, in a nutshell, is the effective "cost" to a company resulting from the unrealized revenues of an opportunity or action forgone. See also cost of capital.
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