ABSTRACT
Organizations are created to achieve a goal, mission or objective but they will only do so if they satisfy the requirements of their stakeholders. Their customers, as one of the stake-holders, will be satisfied only if they receive products and services that meet their needs and expectations. This chapter examines the various ways in which requirements are expressed as needs, wants, expectations, desires, preferences, intent, demands and constraints. Requirements become demands at the point when they are imposed on an organization through contract, order, regulation or statute. When an organization scans the environment to determine why people buy one product or service over another competing product or service, they are attempting to reveal customer preferences and opportunities for developing new products and services. The language used differs depending upon whether we are addressing demands, requirements, constraints, objectives, wants, intents or desires; the direction they are coming from; and how they are responded to.
