Introduction
A business organization is a network of connected components that must operate efficiently as a whole to accomplish its business goal. Different functional departments handle different tasks for a business to run smoothly. To provide professional goods and services to consumers or commercial clients, businesses and organizations are established. Depending on its objectives, a company’s various departments may have different purposes or functions. As your professional career progresses, it is beneficial to comprehend various business functions and how they operate.If you are searching for the four main functions of business this article will give you some information about it and also about the production or operations function.
Four main functions of business
Some businesses create these business functions as departments within their organizations, hire subject-matter experts, or contract out specific duties to other organizations to handle on their behalf. These four interrelated functional areas will be present in the majority of business organizations.
The functions include
- Marketing function
- Finance
- Human Resource
- Production or Operations
Marketing
This is the process of promoting your company to the public in a way that will draw the clients you hope to reach. The process of getting products and services into the hands of customers to meet their needs and wants as well as those of producers is also referred to as marketing.
For this, the marketing manager must make wise choices involving the four Ps, which are:
- Product: This entails making sure that products and services satisfy the needs of the customer, including by offering a variety of sizes and colors, differentiating the product, and mapping out the product’s position.
- Price: The act of marketing a company’s goods using pricing techniques. Various pricing tactics can be employed depending on a variety of elements, including the level of demand, production costs, and the availability of substitute products.
- Promotion: Ensuring that the products of the company are known to the public. This is frequently accomplished through extremely expensive TV and Internet advertising in mass media, or more affordable strategies that rely on closer interactions with customers, like guerrilla marketing, direct selling, and social media.
- Place: Ensuring that consumers can purchase goods and services in places that are convenient for them. Marketing managers need to make sure they choose the right channel for distribution.
Finance
Involves primarily creating a successful business to finance the business goals. Investing, financial, and dividend decisions are essentially under its purview. A company should keep in touch with the financial markets, including the institutions and the major investors. Business-related tasks like funding, budgeting, accounting, and financial oversight are handled by a finance and accounting department.
To meet all legal requirements, financial managers must make sure that financial documentation is recorded and reported accurately. To avoid willful understatement or overstatement of profits, bookkeeping is essential. Other business functions must assist the finance department to:
- Have employees who are competent in accounting, finance, and related fields.
- Make sure that funds are allocated according to plans for things like budgets for training and development, promotions, and daily expenses.
- Keep track of how well each department is using its budget.
- Make sure the business is profitable by using data from the marketing department, such as sales targets.
Human Resource
Everything about the management of people falls under the purview of this division. The HR department’s function in people management is likely to deal with workforce planning, hiring and selection, training, letting people go, and outsourcing human resources. Increasing the efficacy of human performance in any organization is its main goal.
Together, the marketing, operations, and finance departments and the human resources department can:
- Ensure they have enough resources, that is, not too few to cause business process disruptions or too many to drive up costs.
- Develop people in each department to become professionals in functional areas by setting up training and development programs.
- Oversees the resolution of employee complaints and disciplinary issues for all business divisions.
- Ensure adherence to labor laws, such as those governing health and safety at work.
Production or operations function
The manufacturing divisions of a business produce goods or provide services to customers through production departments. It is the responsibility of the production department to transform raw materials (inputs) into finished products (outputs).
The production department performs numerous tasks. Some of this department’s most frequent duties are listed below:
- To generate revenue for the company, the production division creates products for the company that is then sold.
- Designing the company’s goods or products falls under the purview of the production department.
- By introducing adjustments and innovations, the department enhances the company’s products.
- To ensure that the materials required for production are always available, the company’s purchasing department and the production department collaborate.
- Additionally, the department sees to it that all of the production-related machinery and equipment is regularly serviced and maintained.
Operations refer to the procedure of offering customers services. The four functional areas are closely related in large businesses, and each department is given the resources it needs, making it simple to identify its roles.
Conclusion
The four primary functions of a business are typically marketing, operations, accounting and finance, and human resources. They can be referred to as divisions or departments. Each department is led by a person with specialized knowledge and training in that division of labor.
