The term input is used to refer to all those implements that serve a certain purpose and that can be referred to as raw materials, specifically useful for different activities and processes. The recourse to certain inputs always has to do with productive activities that are aimed at the realization of another more complex good and that implies a greater production process. When the input is used in combination with other more or less complex inputs for the production of other types of products, they are no longer considered as such since they have lost their essential characteristics.
There are different types of inputs that can be useful in different types of situations or activities. While some inputs are useful for a single type of activity, others may be components of various manufactured products. Obviously, the more unique and difficult to obtain the input, the higher or higher its price, which will also increase the costs of the final product. This happens, for example, with inputs such as certain natural resources that are difficult to access, exclusive food products, etc.
Inputs are the essential part of every production process and not having them is one of the main reasons why an industry can be stopped. The main causes of the lack of inputs can be the scarcity of inputs in certain regions (which makes obtaining them in other parts extremely expensive), the rise in prices, the presence of external factors that can contribute to their scarcity, etc. .
In many productive environments, labor is also considered a vitally important input since it is responsible for linking all the productive processes between the primary product and the finished product. At the same time, labor can present the same problems as other material inputs in terms of access, maintenance, etc.
