If a company has a resource that could be used for something else, the cost is the profit that could be derived from the best alternative use of the resource. (Enter only one word per blank.)

Opportunity.

Explanation:

Opportunity cost is defined as the forgone alternative of doing a particular activity. For example if I can go to a movie or work and I decide to go to the movie. The opportunity cost is the wages I would have earned had I gone to work.

In this scenario if a company has a resource for example a car that can be used to either transport inventory of the the sales team out for sales activities. The opportunity cost of taking a sales trip will be the cost that would have been saved by picking up the inventory.

Total economic cost is the sum of the cost of doing something and the opportunity cost of forgone alternative.