AllBusiness.com defines a limiting (constraining) factor as an "item that restricts or limits production or sale of a given product". The examples provided include: "limited machine hours and labor-hours and shortage of materials and skilled labor. Other limiting factors may be cubic feet of display or warehouse space, or working capital." The term is also frequently used in technology literature.
The analysis of limiting business factors is part of the program evaluation and review technique, critical path analysis, and theory of constraints as presented in the novel The Goal.