ABSTRACT
This part contains only a very small proportion of the extensive work that has been published on this topic world-wide. All these papers examine by various means the cost implications of design alternatives through the use of product models. Outside the market economies, where product element values (prices) are fixed by institutional means, the task is relatively simple and straight-forward, the main requirement being a large computer to hold all the data. In a competitive environment however the large variability involved has resulted in a statistical approach to modelling in all except the earliest work. In contrast with the papers concerned with new models in Part Two, these papers fall well short of the standards of rigour. The main reason for this seems to be that useful product elements are difficult to identify and the relationships sought are extremely weak. The pity is that this is seldom made clear in the papers themselves.
