A term applied to each “product line” of an organization employing product line management (PLM). An SBU is a more or less distinct line of business (for example, in a hospital, knee replacement surgery or alcoholism rehabilitation) which has a specific market, resource requirements, and management demands. The hospital operating under PLM acts as though it were managing an array of more or less independent SBUs, rather than thinking of itself as a hospital. Thus it would, for example, advertise each product line separately, staff it more or less independently, and expect each product line to be profitable.