ABSTRACT

Introduction This chapter is concerned with the aspects of products which come within the definition of business information used throughout the book. The content is from the point of view of the person making decisions with direct commercial implications, rather than from the point of view of a product designer or technologist. Information for sourcing is covered, partly because purchases can have important commercial implications for the purchaser, and partly because the related sources are considered as ‘business information’. The documentation of technology and industrial property (sometimes ‘intellectual property’) is treated very selectively; only types of source with a vital role in commercial decision making are considered. Although the term ‘products’ is normally used for the sake of brevity, it is almost always intended to include services also.