Introduction to Business

This document provides an introduction to the concept of business and explores the roles of HR, marketing, and finance functions in organizations. It also discusses the importance of collaborative working practices and the role of financial management and reporting in Marks & Spencer.

INTRODUCTION TO
BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Role of HR, Marketing and Finance functions...........................................................................1
Understanding of collaborative working practices.....................................................................2
Role of financial management and reporting in an organisation................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Business is defined as an entity which is engaged in commercial, industrial and
professional activities. It refers to the efforts which is done by individuals to produce and sell
products and services. For this, business plays an important role as it is creative and competitive
and also contribute its efforts to shape the society (Dyllick and Muff, 2016). In this report the
role of HR, marketing and finance is described within organisations and also understand the
collaborative working practices. At last, it demonstrate the role of financial management and
reporting in Marks & Spencer which is a British multinational retailer headquarter in
Westminster, London, UK and deals in high quality clothing and other products.
MAIN BODY
Role of HR, Marketing and Finance functions Human Resources:
It is a process which has many functions and also perform various tasks like other
department managers perform. The specialists of human resources are responsible for
recruitment, interviewing, training, screening and many more. They also manage employee
relations, benefits and other related functions. Roles of HR are mentioned as: Staffing: It include hiring and recruiting workforce for specific job and this function
include various stages such as, development of staffing plan, policies, recruitment and
selection (Tucci and et. al., 2016). It is performed by Marks & Spencer as they focus on
their workforce and capabilities which helps in achieving success and fulfil the goals of
both individual and organisation. Development of workplace policies: This function define the policies and norms which
helps in ensuring the fairness and consistency in an organisation. For instance, it is
adopted by Asda, they believe that employees should perform under these policies and
some of the policies which are followed by company are vacation policy, dress code,
ethics and values and discipline because of these policies company maintain their image
in business environment. Marketing:
This department plays an important role in marketing and promoting of products and
services as they have direct contact with customers (The Role of Marketing, 2019). Thus, it is
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important to analyse that marketing is not limited in selling of products and services, it is a wide
concept and its roles are as follows: Market research: Marketing department conduct research before developing and
launching a new because it helps in eliminating the risk factor (Mendling and et. al.,
2017). Marks & Spencer perform this before launching their product in market because it
increases the chances of success of product. Increase sales and profitability: This function is also performed by marketing
department as it defines the methods and techniques which helps in increasing the sales
and profitability of products and services. For instance, in Sainsbury's they use new and
unique marketing techniques which helps in increasing the overall sales and profitability
of an organisation.
 Finance:
This function is related with raising money for all the departments of business and its
operations. It is also useful in decision making about how the money should spent and also
involve acquiring and use of funds in effective and efficient manner (Van Grembergen and De
Haes, 2018). Roles of finance department are as follows: Use of funds: This function is performed by Marks & Spencer as optimum use of
available resources are important because it helps in saving funds and reserves. It include
estimate of working capital which is the amount of money required to establish and set up
the business.
 Budgeting: It is a process in which planning is done to spend the money and this plan is
termed as budget. It is done by TESCO, because it helps in determining the appropriate
requirement of money and it is important to make budget as it keep balance in expenses
and income.
Understanding of collaborative working practices
Collaboration defines working together and group efforts in order to address the problems
and get desired result. It is a practice which involve developing relationship with employees to
combine and manage the efforts of workforce. It include the improvement of quality and scope
of services and provide administrative services. Collaboration is important in many ways which
are discussed as under:
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 Increased efficiency: Collaboration is important in order to complete the important task
and meeting the deadlines on specified time period. By involving many people helps in
dividing the work in efficient manner but at the time of dividing work, manager of Marks
& Spencer should determine that formation of group is depends on bonding of employees
which leads to improve the efficiency of work and employees.
 Enhance employee retention and job satisfaction: Collaboration add value to team and
also helps in developing bond and healthy relationship among employees which tends to
retain best talent in organisation and also provide satisfaction to employees regarding
their job (Erasmus, Strydom and Rudansky-Kloppers, 2016). For this, manager of Marks
& Spencer need to feel the team spirit by which employees continue working for business
and also involve them in decisions of company as because of this, employees feel that
they are important for organisation.
Role of financial management and reporting in an organisation
 Financial Management:
It is an important part of an organisation as it define the sustainability of company in
business environment with or without finances so, effective management is important for long
run of company. It defines the effective planning, organising, directing and controlling of
financial activities (Quinlan and et. al., 2019). Few roles of financial management are as follows: Financial planning: For planning the financial resources are responsible for planning the
financial activities in an organisation. Managers of Marks & Spencer use available data
and information to determine the needs and economic situation in order to develop
budget for an organisation. Capital management: It is the duty of financial manager to analyse the requirement of
capital in organisation and also determine the structure of it to make selection about the
source of funding of capital needs. Financial manager of Marks & Spencer also perform
this, to determine the structure of capital and manage their capital to use the funds in an
appropriate manner.
 Financial Reporting:
It defines the standard practices which helps in providing stakeholders an appropriate
picture of the finances of company as it include the revenues, expenses, profits, cash flow etc.
which provide deep vision regarding the financial information. This report is used by manager,
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owner, investors, government and others who take important decisions for company. Roles of
financial reporting are as follows: Identifying trends: Financial reports helps in determining and analysing the trends of
business environment by tracking and overlooking all types of reports and annual data
which helps in identifying trends which include past and present (Dyllick and Muff,
2016). Financial managers of Marks & Spencer always analyse the current trends before
making any prediction as it helps in empowering the weakness which need improvement
as it is beneficial for company.
 Progress and compliance: It is analysed that the information which is provided by
financial report is accurate and helps in making progress of organisation (Tucci and et.
al., 2016). To maintain their speed and progress in business environment, Marks &
Spencer always use financial reports which helps in identifying the opportunity and
improve the efficiency of company.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded that to run and operate a business, each and every department plays
an important role as when each department completer their task on time then it leads to increase
the efficiency and effectiveness of company. For this, collaborative working is important for
achieving success and growth as it helps in increasing efficiency and retaining best talent in an
organisation. In addition to this, basic knowledge is provided for financial management and
reporting as both helps in providing relevant information and insight in order to take suitable
decisions and actions.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Dyllick, T. and Muff, K., 2016. Clarifying the meaning of sustainable business: Introducing a
typology from business-as-usual to true business sustainability. Organization &
Environment. 29(2). pp.156-174.
Erasmus, B., Strydom, J.W. and Rudansky-Kloppers, S. eds., 2016. Introduction to business
management. Oxford University Press Southern Africa.
Mendling, J and et. al., 2017. Challenges of smart business process management: An
introduction to the special issue.
Quinlan, C and et. al., 2019. Business research methods. South Western Cengage.
Tucci, C.L and et. al., 2016. When do firms undertake open, collaborative activities?
Introduction to the special section on open innovation and open business
models. Industrial and Corporate Change. 25(2). pp.283-288.
Van Grembergen, W. and De Haes, S., 2018. Introduction to the Minitrack on IT Governance
and its Mechanisms.
Online
The Role of Marketing. 2019. [Online] Available through
<https://www.business2community.com/marketing/role-marketing-0797941>./
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