In the process, though, it fractures the product life-cycle for systems built by those private companies, raises overhead costs on remaining work, and in general make the companies less competitive.

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Their financial statements told them whether the entire business made money in the month, but on the months that they lost money, they were stumped: did they underbid their jobs, or spend too much money producing the work, or was their overhead too high?

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Frank also cites an American Bar Association ethics ruling suggesting law firms should only bill clients their actual cost plus a reasonable allocation of overhead, including the cost of outsourced legal work.

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Only after the damaged train cars have been removed can Metro-North begin the work of rebuilding the damaged tracks and overhead wires.

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Smart businesses of all sizes are finding and hiring the exact skillset they need for a project, for ongoing work, or even a few hours without having to worry about overhead, payroll taxes, benefits or future layoffs.

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The cloud enables white-collar workers to work anywhere, allowing smart companies to seek locales with low taxes and overhead.

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Employers benefit from lower overhead, greater productivity, and heightened morale from a labor force that no longer sees work as a mere place to go, but as an integral part of a life lived on their terms.

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Here is a list of things that did not work on my Megabus: the introductory safety video, the Wi-Fi, the overhead lights and the power outlets.

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