(a) What is production? (b) Explain the different activities involved in industrial, commercial and service occupations.

Answer Details

(a) What is production?

Production is the creation of goods and services to satisfy human wants. It covers all the activities involved in changing raw materials into finished goods and in making services available, up to the point where the goods and services reach the final consumer. Production is not complete until the goods or services get to the consumer.

(b) Activities involved in the three occupations

Industrial occupation: This is concerned with the actual production and processing of goods. It is divided into:

• Extractive: obtaining raw materials directly from nature, such as mining, farming, fishing, lumbering and quarrying.
• Manufacturing: converting raw materials into semi-finished or finished goods, for example turning cotton into cloth or crude oil into petrol.
• Constructive: assembling and building fixed structures such as roads, bridges, houses and ships.

Commercial occupation: This covers trade and the aids to trade that help to distribute the goods produced. It includes buying and selling (home and foreign trade), transportation, warehousing, banking, insurance, advertising and communication. These activities make goods available to consumers where and when they are needed.

Service occupation: This involves the provision of direct personal and professional services rather than tangible goods. It includes:

• Direct/personal services rendered to individuals, such as those of doctors, teachers, lawyers, hairdressers and musicians.
• Commercial services rendered to businesses, such as those of accountants and consultants.