what goods and services are in demand ? are there enough suppliers that cater to these needs?
Answers
Economists use the term demand to refer to the amount of some good or service consumers are willing and able to purchase at each price. Demand is based on needs and wants—a consumer may be able to differentiate between a need and a want, but from an economist’s perspective they are the same thing. Demand is also based on ability to pay. If you cannot pay for it, you have no effective demand.
What a buyer pays for a unit of the specific good or service is called price. The total number of units purchased at that price is called the quantity demanded. A rise in price of a good or service almost always decreases the quantity demanded of that good or service. Conversely, a fall in price will increase the quantity demanded. When the price of a gallon of gasoline goes up, for example, people look for ways to reduce their consumption by combining several errands, commuting by carpool or mass transit, or taking weekend or vacation trips closer to home. Economists call this inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded the law of demand. The law of demand assumes that all other variables that affect demand (to be explained in the next module) are held constant.
Dr Carter, director of DPSS Consultants, first outlined his Seven Cs of Supplier Evaluation in a 1995 article in the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. He later added three new Cs to the model.
The 10 Cs are criteria for assessing the suitability of a potential supplier. Use them as a checklist when deciding who to approach, and who to avoid. They are:
Competency.
Capacity.
Commitment.
Control.
Cash.
Cost.
Consistency.
Culture.
Clean.
Communication.