Constraint

A factor of production, a shortage of which prevents an organiza­tion from achieving higher levels of perfor­mance. A constraint results from the impact of a limiting factor (or principal budget factor). which must be eliminated or reduced before the constraint is removed. For example. at various times a shortage of skilled labor, materials pro­duction capacity, or sales volume may constitute a limiting factor. Constraints are also brought into the statement of problems in linear programming.