LO2 Flashcards
Finance
All businesses need to pay the bills. The finance department record all of the money earned and spent by the business to keep track of cash flow and how much profit/loss is being made. They are also responsible for setting budgets and identifying where financial efficiencies can be made. Role of the finance department include:
Preparing accounts, eg invoices, management accounts, financial accounts for shareholders and Inland Revenue
Preparing wages and salaries
Obtaining capital and resources, eg money for expansion or to pay for resources such as equipment and materials.
Support/IT
Support function required by all businesses – and this does not mean just doing keyboarding or filing. A lost order, badly typed letter, important message that is not passed on or wrong date scheduled for a meeting can cause problems and may lose customers.
Nowadays, even the smallest businesses needs o use ICT and what to do if something goes wrong. A number of crucial business tasks now carried out on computer and the importance of the data stored in the system means that any system failure can cause significant problems
Human Resources
The human resources of a business are its staff. Businesses need to look after their staff because if they are well trained and committed to the aims of the business, the organisation is more likely to be successful. The roles of the HR department include:
Recruitment, retention and dismissal
Working conditions
Training, development and promotion
Employee organisations and unions
Health and safety
Marketing
Marketing is all about identifying and meeting customer needs. This is achieved through market research and development of products to specific requirements of target customers. The role of the marketing department includes:
Identifying customer needs
Conducting market research
Planning promotion/advertising
Market segmentation
R&D
R&D concerns new product developments as well as improvements to existing products or product lines and can also involve product design as well.
Improvements to existing products are often ongoing as a result of market research or customer feedback. Activities include:
Technological developments
Scientific research
Design features
Performance of product
Operations management
The business operations function is concerned with providing customers with the goods or services that they ordered. The day-to-day running of the business. It is the responsibility of the operations department to convert raw materials in to finished goods or services.
Operations then ensures that these goods or services arrive on time and to the right quality.
Customer services
Customer service concerns how a business looks after its customers. It is typically a team effort and not just the responsibility of employees who deal with the public directly.
Providing good customer service is a vital part of managing a business. Most customers have the option to go elsewhere if the quality of customer service is lacking. Customer service roles include:
Answering questions about a company’s products or services
Processing orders and transactions
Resolving issues
Handling customer complaints
Sales
The sales function is responsible for selling the goods or services for a business. A sales team works together to make sales, increase profitability and build and maintain relationships with customers to encourage repeat purchases and brand loyalty
Selling products and services using solid arguments to prospective customers.
Performing cost-benefit analyses of existing and potential customers.
Maintaining positive business relationships to ensure future sales
Procurement
The procurement department purchase raw materials and stock for th business.
They also ensure that all items are checked on delivery and refer any problems back to the supplier. The procurement department roles include:
Sourcing (Finding the suppliers)
Negotiation of price, delivery times, quality, etc.
Contracting suppliers
Monitoring suppliers’ performance
