同学你好，该知识点来自沪江网校《BEC商务英语初、中、高级连读【签约 双旦特惠班】》的课程，想要更系统的学习，欢迎进入课程学习。不仅可以和更多的同学一起学习，而且还有老师、助教随时的学习指导和知识点解答哦。

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A big firm with economies of scale may have a significant competitive advantage because it can produce a large output at lower costs than can a smaller potential rival一个具有规模经济的大公司可能具有显著的竞争优势，因为它可以以比一个较小的潜在竞争对手更低的成本生产出大量的产品
it can produce a large output at lower costs than can a smaller potential rival在这一句中是将it（a big firm）和a smaller potential rival作对比，比较了他们以低价生产大批货物的能力，其实后面所表达的意思是than a smaller potential rival can produce a large output at lower costs，这里为了避免重复，省略了produce a large output at lower costs，将句子进行到装，把助动词can提前，所以can不能被删去哦~
祝学习愉快！