The Role of Target Costing and Cleaner Production in Achieving Competitive Focus Strategy A Case Study in the Men's Clothing Factory in Najaf Governorate

Competitive focus one of the most important and rapid developments in the business environment in general, and in the manufacturing environment in particular, especially in the field of production and product design, or the provision of services that the men's clothing factory in Najaf Governorate manufactures for the customer, in comparison with competitors. The problem addressed in this study is that the accounting system implemented in the men's clothing factory in Najaf Governorate applies traditional systems and theories when determining production costs without linking the cost to its causes. This has led to high production costs. Furthermore, the increasing quantities of competing products imported from various manufacturing units have resulted in the loss of the factory's competitive focus strategy. The results of the study showed that the use of both target costing and cleaner production in the men’s clothing factory in Najaf Governorate contributes to reducing costs by linking costs to their causes. In addition, it determines the profit margin for manufactured products in order to achieve a competitive focus strategy compared to competitors. The study recommended that achieving integration between target costing and cleaner production enhances the automation of production processes and supplies the product to markets at the lowest cost based on the flow of production value stream and cleaner production, in contrast to the traditional systems and theories applied in determining the production cost applied in the study.