"All of these businesses can get bigger market share and be the lowest-cost producers," he said.

He wants it to be the lowest-cost producer of all its products, from milk to pasta to plastics to glue.

"You end up with a price based on the costs of the most inefficient producer rather than the lowest-cost producer."

The mission was simple: to be the lowest-cost producer with the best service.

Alcoa, by far the lowest-cost producer, has been one of the few to remain solidly profitable.

And the United States is almost certainly among the lowest-cost producers of basic commodities.

That way, entrants could enter and drive down prices to the level of the lowest-cost producer.

With a 48 percent share of a market estimated at eight million units last year, Bell's volume makes it the industry's lowest-cost producer.

The Chinese are among the world's lowest-cost producers of textiles.

With American steel makers now among the lowest-cost producers in the world, they can compete effectively, some economists argue.