A company's strategic options for remedying cost disadvantages in internally performed value chain activities do not include redesigning the product and/or some of its components to eliminate high-cost components or facilitate speedier and more economical manufacture or assembly. changing to a more economical distribution strategy and collaborating with forward channel allies to identify mutual cost-saving opportunities. implementing the use of best practices for high-cost activities throughout the company. shifting to lower-cost production technologies and/or investing in productivity-enhancing equipment (robotics, flexible manufacturing techniques, real-time process monitoring). outsourcing certain internally-performed activities to vendors or contractors who can perform them more cheaply than they can be performed in-house