Business management

• Marketing Department


  • Deciding what to produce and sell
  • Conducting market research
  • Advertising and promoting products
  • Deciding how much to charge for each product
  • Deciding upon the best way to get the product to the customer
• Activities of Marketing Department

  1. Carry out market research to help decide on the best marketing mix and then select best product, price, place and promotion

  2. Research and development of new products to maintain a competitive edge

  3. Decide the best channel of distribution

  4. Choosing appropriate sales promotions
• Operations Department


  • Manufacture new products
  • Distributing products
  • Ordering and storage of raw materials from suppliers
  • Using different methods to ensure high quality products are produced
  • Managing stock levels
• Activities of Operations Department

  1. Choose a supplier to ensure the business gets the best value for money

  2. Order stock for resale to ensure the business never runs out of stock

  3. Keep stock records to ensure consistent stock levels

  4. Check deliveries against delivery note to ensure deliveries are correct

  5. Decide on method of production

  6. Implement methods to improve quality of products
• Finance Department


  • Receiving and processing requests for payments (bills)
  • Arranging for the payment of employee wages
  • Preparing budgets
  • Preparing final accounts
  • Carrying out financial analysis using ratios
• Activities of Finance Department

  1. Deal with banking issues

  2. Send out invoices to ensure payment from customers

  3. Pay staff wages

  4. Prepare sales/cash budgets for management

  5. Prepare final accounts

  6. Prepare ratio analysis for management
• Human Resources


  • Recruitment and selection of staff across the organization
  • Arranging training for staff
  • Advising on terms and conditions
  • Reviewing employee pay structures
  • Maintaining HR policies
  • Maintaining employee records
• Activities of Human Resources

  1. Advertise vacancies to attract good applicants

  2. Prepare person specifications/job descriptions

  3. Organise training courses to allow staff to keep up-to-date

  4. Assist with staff appraisal to review/set targets for employees

  5. Issue verbal/written warnings to employees who are not working to standards
• Market


  A meeting place for buyers (consumers) and sellers
• Marketing


  A management process which involves finding out what consumers want and satisfying consumer requirements profitably
• What marketing involves


  1. Carrying out research to find out what products customers want

  2. Researching and developing products for the market

  3. Deciding on suitable packaging for the products

  4. Deciding where to sell the products

  5. Setting a suitable price for the products so that a profit is made

  6. Advertising, promoting and selling the products
• Importance of marketing


  • Ensures that organisations produce what people want
  • Makes people aware of the products available
  • Helps organisations to introduce new products
  • Important to non-profit making organisations as well as profit making organisations
• Market share


  A firm's percentage of all the sales in the market
• Market growth


  More difficult in an established market where there is a great deal of competition than in a market which is growing, offering more potential for products to develop
• Objectives of marketing


  • Target new markets or market segments
  • Increase income and revenue or profitability
  • Increase or maintain the market share
  • Improve the image of products or the organisation
  • Improve existing products or develop new products
• Market research


  Provides managers with information about what customers want and need and what will influence them to buy a product
• What market research is used to find out

  • Consumer wants regarding existing products
  • What makes consumers buy a firm's products
  • Consumer reaction to new products
  • Consumer wants to help in the development of new products
  • Information about the company's competitors
• Importance of market research

  • Indicates the size of the market and potential growth of the market
  • Provides information about where the best place would be for selling the product
  • Provides information which can help firms develop marketing plans
  • Helps firms find out why some products are more successful than others, and how to make their product more successful
  • Helps firms avoid costly mistakes
  • Gives firms ideas about how to promote or advertise their products
  • Takes some of the risk out of launching new products or redesigning products
  • Allows firms to decide on the target market
• Types of market research

  • Desk research
  • Field research
• Desk research


  Use of secondary data - information from a previously published source
• Advantages of desk research

  • It already exists, therefore it is relatively inexpensive to obtain and use
  • It is quick to obtain, as the information is readily available
• Disadvantages of desk research

  • Data may be out of date
  • The information may also be available to competitors
  • The information may contain bias
• Field research


  Use of primary information - new information which can be found out
• Methods of field research

  • Surveys/questionnaires
  • Test marketing
  • Focus groups
  • Social networking websites
  • Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS)
• Advantages of field research

  • It is more reliable as it has been gathered first hand and the source can be verified
  • It is more likely to meet the needs of the organization
• Disadvantages of field research

  • It is more expensive to use as the data has to be collected and processed
  • It takes time to gather the information
• Factors to consider when choosing market research method

  • Cost
  • Time available
  • Alternatives
• Importance of marketing


  • Helps organisations meet customers' needs
  • Makes customers aware of what products are available
  • Must combine a successful mix of the right product, sold at the right price, in the right place, using the most suitable promotion
• Reasons and methods of marketing for different types of organisations

  • Charities - advertising and promotion to encourage donations, targeting particular types of donor
  • Publicly funded organisations offering a service - produce documentation to attract customers, focus more on the product/service provided, less investment in marketing
  • Publicly funded organisations offering a service - only viable if customers continue to use the service, marketing may be in the form of prospectuses or positive publicity
• publicly funded organisations offering a service

  • kidney machines for the local hospital
  • schools
  • hospitals
• publicly funded organisations offering a service

  • They will produce documentation to attract customers by showing that they are offering a reliable, high quality service compared to other, similar organisations
  • Their customers do not always have the choice to go elsewhere for the service in the same way as customers in a shop, so they tend to focus more on the product/service provided
• Marketing


  The process of promoting and selling products or services
• Types of organisations


  • Publicly funded organisations offering a service
  • Privately funded companies offering a service
  • Privately funded companies offering a product
• Publicly funded organisations offering a service

  • The organisation will only be viable if the customers continue to use the service on offer
  • There is not be such a large amount of money invested in marketing as these organisations are not profit-making and do not tend to have a budget for marketing
  • Marketing may be in the form of prospectuses or positive publicity through local newspapers – for example, exam league tables
• Privately funded companies offering a service

  • Marketing helps the company to provide what people want, and make customers aware of new products or services on offer
  • Marketing may be carried out differently as the company is providing a service, and these products often cannot be easily illustrated – for example, bank services
  • Sales personnel may need some specialised training
  • If the company is a chain or a franchise, it may benefit from national advertising, but local businesses will market themselves on a much smaller scale
  • Marketing is important to maintain or increase the market share available to the business
• Privately funded companies offering a product

  • These companies are dependent on customers buying their products to make a profit
  • Without marketing, consumers will not be aware of the products or companies and may buy competitors' products
  • Privately owned companies usually have a large budget for marketing and often have a marketing department
• Market segmentation


  The process of dividing the market into different groups of consumers with distinct needs, characteristics, or behaviours who might require separate products or marketing mixes
• Factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Disposable income
  • Marital status
  • Social class
• Market segmentation


  • It can assist with developing products that are appropriate to customers and highlighting gaps in the market
  • Setting appropriate prices
  • Ensuring that products are sold in the appropriate places for the target customers
  • Ensuring that appropriate promotions are offered to the target customers
• Marketing mix


  The combination of the four elements (product, price, place, promotion) that an organisation uses to market its product or service