57 Examples of the Factors Of Production

John Spacey, November 23, 2022

Factors of production are productive elements that can be used to create goods and services. The primary factors of production are land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship. Most goods will use all four factors in some way. However, it is also possible for a good to be based on a single factor. For example, a consulting service that is mostly based on labor. The following are examples of each factor of production.

Land

Physical land and the resources that come from it. For example, a hotel that produces value by being on a beach or a forestry company that harvests value from forests. In this context, land is an extremely expansive concept that includes oceans and waterways.

Beaches	Data Center Land
Farmland	Forests
Metal Deposits	Mineral Deposits
Oceans	Office Land
Rare Earths	Residential Land
Rooftop Space for Solar Panels

Labor

The productive effort of people. This is influenced by factors such as talent, skills, knowledge, capabilities and health.

Carpentry	Construction Work
Consultants	Customer Service Representatives
Design Work	Dock Workers
Engineering Work	Farming Labor
Government Employees	Pilots
Research Work	Teaching
Workers on a Production Line

Capital

Capital are human built things that make us more productive. This can include tangible capital such as a hammer and intangible capital such as software.

Aircraft	Bridges
Buildings	Computers
Data	Houses
Manufacturing Machines	Mobile Devices
Roads	Robots
Rockets	Ships
Software	Solar Panels
Tools	Tractors
Vehicles

The items above are only capital where they are used to produce goods and services. For example, if you run a business out of your home, your house is used as capital.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the process of creating value with the other factors of production. You can't explain productive output without it as one firm or country may produce more than another with less labor, less land and less capital. The following are common examples of entrepreneurship.

Brands	Business Development
Business Models	Business Partnerships
Business Processes	Business Relationships
Business Services	Corporate Culture
Customer Experience	Designs
Marketing	Negotiation
Organizational Structures	Policies
Procedures	Sales

Notes

Energy and materials are secondary factors of production that are obtained from land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship.

Overview: Factors Of Production
Type	Capital
Definition	Productive elements that can be used to create goods and services.
Related Concepts	Capital » Tangible » Intangible »