An opportunity cost is an important concept to understand in business. It is the cost of a decision – what you miss out on when you make a choice or take an action. Put simply, it’s the benefit of the best alternative that we have to forego when we choose something else. In other words, the “cost” of any action isn’t necessarily what we spend to make it happen – it can also be what we don’t get as a result of our choices. Understanding opportunity costs can help us make better decisions for our businesses, by weighing up the benefits and drawbacks of each potential course of action.