factors of production

Resources required for generation of goods or services, generally classified into four major groups: (1) Land (including all natural resources), (2) Labor (including all human resources), (3) Capital (including all man-made resources), and (4) Enterprise (which brings all the previous resources together for production).

These factors are classified also as management, machines, materials, and money (this, the 4 Ms), or other such nomenclature. More recently, knowledge has come to be recognized as distinct from labor, and as a factor of production in its own right.