Definitions

Abstract

In any enterprise there are some features of the productive process that are amenable to change, and are in fact changed rapidly and frequently, and others that are less easily changed. The most stable element is usually the fixed plant. Next to this, the whole complex that is covered by the term ‘organisation’ is the element that in fact, and frequently by necessity, conforms most closely to a stereotyped form, while conditions in the industry may alter fairly substantially. Fixed plant and organisation both change gradually, but over a sufficiently short period of time the change is inappreciable. The short period for an industry is one in which the fixed plant and organisation of all, or nearly all, the firms can be assumed to remain constant.