ABSTRACT
One of the essential aims of management is to maintain and enhance wherever possible the value of the resources involved in the production of the goods or services involved. Management performance can be measured in various ways, ultimately, however, management achievement must be measured against the value of the resources employed. The process of evaluation consists primarily of measurement and comparison. In many realms of management the resources employed are homogeneous (similar in form and nature). Measurements can readily be expressed in the universal medium of exchange (and comparison), money. Land and buildings are seldom homogeneous, they are heterogeneous. Indeed, in the case of recreational land management, more often than not, the more heterogeneous the better. In some cases, this means that a particular site can be so distinct, even idiosyncratic, that the value associated with it is so ambiguous that the valuer bases the value on the next best use which can clearly be identified and evaluated: thus introducing the concept of opportunity cost.
