Answer:
a decrease in the total amount of units produced while fixed costs remain the same (that is why they are called fixed).
Explanation:
For example, company A produces 1,000 units with a total variable cost per unit of $10 plus $10,000 total fixed costs. Company A's total costs = $20,000
If company A's production level decreases to 950 units, their total costs = $19,500. Therefore a 5% decrease in production units only decreases fixed costs by 2.5%.
Company A's total costs were evenly split between variable and fixed costs, but sometimes either variable or fixed costs are proportionally larger. If the fixed costs of company A had been 67% of total costs instead of 50%, the 5% decrease in units produced would have reduced total costs by only 1.7%.
So the larger the proportion of fixed costs, a change in the number of units produced will have a smaller impact in the total costs of the company.
