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Production

The process of transforming resources into usable goods and services is production.  Producers are the individuals or businesses that combine resources to make goods and services.

Production processes can be very complex or very simple.  A Lemonade stand is a business that produces lemonade and represents a very simple production process.  Ford Motor Company is a business that produces Ford cars and trucks and represents a very complex production process.  Producers use natural resources (land, lumber, mineral deposits--things from nature), human resources (people), and capital resources (buildings, equipment, machinery, roads, and other manufactured and constructed things) to manufacture their goods and services.

Producers make choices also.  They must decide what to produce and what resources to use to produce their goods and services.  Producers must pick the correct combination to produce their goods and services so that they make a profit from the sale of their item produced.

This page last updated on 06/25/00.

Dr. Cynthia Sparks is the Supervisor of Social Studies for Chesapeake Public Schools.  She is also an Adjunct Faculty member for the University of Virginia, Troy State University, and Old Dominion University.