Linked product / stock management is an add-on for stock on individual choices, and for treating a configuration as a set of real products in the shop.
A choice can hold its own stock count, or point at a product that already exists. Linking is also how you build a composite product: when the customer adds the configured item to the cart, the linked products can be added with it. That is the usual path if an ERP or warehouse already tracks those SKUs.
In this section
Two ways to manage stock
Keep a count on the choice, or link it to a product in the shop — for stock, for the cart, or both.