Stocks are the quantifiable stores of a system
Stocks are the repositories of quantifiable things in system. Stocks are changed by flows.
A stock is the foundation of any system. Stocks are the elements of the system that you can see, feel, count, or measure at any given time. A system stock is just what it sounds like: a store, a quantity, an accumulation of material or information that has built up over time.[1]
See also:
- Flows change the levels of stocks over time
- Systems Thinking perceives the relationships and structure of complex systems
Thinking in Systems – Meadows (2008), § “Part One: System Structure and Behavior” / “One: The Basics.” ↩︎