You axe it if you can use the same resources (people, capital, time) to produce something with a higher absolute margin (or better, future cash stream, which is

You axe it if you can use the same resources (people, capital, time) to produce something with a higher absolute margin (or better, future cash stream, which is the real measure of value for a company). So you don't axe it but keep the costs in, idle. You could even discontinue the product, restructure the company to fit, and give back the cash to shareholders if the contribution that product was giving is less that they can make elsewhere (on a risk adjested basis). At least in theory... in practice cutting the costs to fit is very difficult...