The top and bottom quarks plays a central role in the quest for new physics. The complementarity
between studies of electroweak top quark production and bottom quark production is therefore
intuitively clear and pointed out in the literature. The tension between the LEP measurement
and the Standard Model prediction of the forward-backward asymmetry $A^b_{FB}$ is still one of the
unsolved questions in the field and may be interpreted as a first manifestation of New Physics in
the heavy quark sector. The process $e^+ e^− \to b\bar{b}$ at the ILC offers a unique opportunity for a final
word on the tension. Polarised beams allow for a large disentangling of the coupling constants or
form factors that govern the $Z^00 /γ b\bar{b}$ vertex.