Introduction to Management: A Case Study on Travis Perkins

This essay provides an overview of management, its role in achieving business objectives, and the importance of human resource management. It also discusses the background and operations of Travis Perkins, its management structure, advantages and disadvantages, marketing mix, and HR functions.

Introduction to
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Management is a process of planning, decision making, organising and leading the
human resources. It plays a very crucial role in the achievement of the objectives and targets of
the company. It also assists in making expansion and growth of the business organisation by
optimum utilization of the available resources. Human Resource Management is an essential
part in the functioning of business operations. It is prepared to maximise the employee
performance towards the strategic goals of employer. The business can gain a competitive
advantage by effective and efficient management of people. The management structure is a
system which prepares a framework of how activities are to be performed in the
organisation(Aungsuroch, Gunawan and Fisher, 2022). It also helps in assigning the roles and
responsibilities among the employee's in the organisation. Marketing strategy can be defined as
framework for reaching prospective customer's and attracting them for purchasing the products
from the business. It contains the messaging of the company, analysing the data and targeting
customer's according to the demographic. The essay will be on Travis Perkins which is a British
builder's merchant and home development retailer. The company was founded through the
merger between Travis & Arnold and Sandell Perkins in the year 1988. The headquarter of of the
business is situated in Northampton, UK. The essay will discuss about the background of the
organisation and the areas in which it operates. The management structure which is currently
prevailing in the company is also examined along with the advantages and disadvantages. The
essay also covers the 4Ps of the marketing mix on the selected business. The overview of the HR
functions of Travis Perkins along with the recruitment and selection procedure, employee
relations and talent development is also discussed in the essay.
MAIN BODY
The business began in 1797, when the Benjamin Ingram company of joiners and
carpenters was founded at location of 33, Beech Street in the city of London. The company later
on merged with Perkins which form Ingram Perkins in the year 1850. Then, the business merged
with Sandell Smythe & Drayson in 1970 which formed Sandell Perkins. Lastly, the organisation
merged with Travis & Arnold in the year 1988 to form Travis Perkins. The company Travis
Perkins came into existence in the year 1988 on the base of merger of two companies. The
organisation is a leading name in the construction industry from the last few years. The Ceo of

the business is Nick Roberts and chairman is Jasmine Whittbread. It is listed on London Stock
Exchange and is a essential constituent of the FTE 250 Index. It is headquartered in
Northampton, UK. It mainly performs its business operations in the UK. The company is
involved in a wide range of operations such as general building materials, kitchens, bathrooms,
timber, plumbing, heating and hiring of tools and equipments. It supplies large number of trade
quality products with an option of contact free delivery to the customer's(Bretthauer and Savin,
2018). There are various subsidiaries of the organisation like Toolstation, Keyline, BSS,
Benchmark and CCF. The organisation mainly operates through four divisions which are
Specialist Merchanting, General Merchanting, Consumer Merchanting and Plumbing and
Heating. The company is the leading partner to the construction industry and is considered best
in the field in the distribution of building materials in the UK and Europe.
The management structure is defined as group of roles, responsibilities and rules that
outlines the manner in which the activities are to directed to achieve the objectives of the
business. Travis Perkins follows divisional structure in its organisation due to the large number
of business units. The main purpose of using and focusing on this structure is forming the
leadership team on the basis of projects, products and subsidiaries. It is very essential for the
company to follow the structure since it deals in thousands of products and has various lines of
business. By using the divisional structure, the organisation structures itself in such a way that
each business unit operates as individual company with its own manager. Travis Perkins
segments its workers on the basis of markets and products. The company uses this approach in
making decisions in a clustered way in the various divisions. This helps in reacting to local
conditions in a quick manner. It also benefits the business since it has many products, markets
and region where it runs its operations. The company makes sure that each unit is equipped with
its separate resources to work independently. There are clear routes defined for the performance
of the tasks and assignments which makes the employee's clear regarding the work to be
performed. The organisation focuses on employing effective management in its business which
is the reason for its success in the market. The divisions are created for the purpose of making
independent units which perform their work properly. Travis Perkins is a big organisation which
has various product lines and operates in many countries around the world. The managers or the
head of the divisions are responsible for the profit or loss of their division(Gibson, Williams and
Hancock, 2021). The organisation monitors the performance of each business unit so that it can

make strategies and policies for the achievement of objectives and goals of the business. Travis
Perkins has developed various divisions which focuses on completion of their given task. It
keeps in consideration that the units does not interfere in each others work which facilitates
smooth operations in the organisation as a whole.
There are various advantages in using the divisional structure in the organisation. Travis
Perkins receives the benefit of more accountability and transparency in the business operations.
This is because the different divisions have their separate management groups which manages
the activities. The company is able to track the actions which has provided the results to the
business. The divisions which are created works in the best interest which provides more
transparency in identifying the individual which deserves appreciation for positive results.
Another benefit which the organisation receives is gaining an competitive advantage in the local
market. It gives the managers the freedom to make essential decisions within their jurisdiction.
This assists in making quick changes in regard to any variation and discrepancy(Hathaway,
MartinezVazquez and Thayer, 2021). The company is able to target the customer's of a specific
region. It helps in developing products and marketing policies for the targeted segments of the
society. The next benefit which is received by the Travis Perkins is enhanced culture of the
organisation. It allows room for the new and unique perspectives at different levels. The
company is promoting a unified culture with the formulation of different segments. This creates
different values from the various employee's which reflect in the work. The another advantage
which is provided by this divisional structure is increase in the offerings of the business. This
helps in building the market share with the usage of various product alternatives and greater
geographical availability. Travis Perkins is optimising the quality of the things it is offering in
the market. This is performed with the by developing each business unit on the basis of the
products, services and other things. This helps in increasing the focus of the workers on the
assigned task. They do not concentrate on the work of other employee's in the organisation.
There are certain disadvantages as well of using this divisional structure in the business(Joshi
and Paresh, 2022). The first one is involvement of high cost for using this in the business
operations. The company is gaining a lot of revenue but also there is huge cost involved in the
implementation. Travis Perkins is facing problems in its cash-flow system due to the
inefficiencies of cash for the day to day operations. It involves recruitment of individual from
various fields for formulating the different business units. Another con which comes to the

organisation is the factor of economies of scale. It has been seen that creation of various units
often affects the quality of product due to the economies of scale. The next disadvantage which
is being faced by Travis Perkins is competition in the market. The different divisions treat each
other as competitive rivals rather than part of the same company. The separate and independent
targets can lead to politics in the organisation which adversely affects the operations of the
business. The senior management of the company allocates the budget based on the performance
of the divisions or units which can lead to gaps between the departments. The next disadvantage
which the divisional structure creates is development of silo mentality in the organisation. The
units develop their own policies and agenda which discourages the change or alteration. The
generation of silo mentality make the workers isolated in terms of physically and mentally. This
makes the bond of the department strong in itself but distract their activities from the objectives
of the whole organisation(Khalil, 2021).
There are mainly four Ps of marketing mix. It is a strategy which analyses the range of
factors which are essential for the marketing of the product. The businesses can easily identify
what is needed by the customer's in the market. The marketing mix on Travis Perkins is
conducted for better analysis of the essential factors. The first factor is Product which is offered
by the company in the market. The organisation is involved in a variety of product lines such as
preparing general building material, landscaping material, plumbing & heating, kitchens,
bathrooms, timber and also hire tool. It helps in catering to a large number of customer's in the
market. The distribution channel also depends on the nature of the products or services which the
company offers. The second element is Price which is the rate at which the products are given to
the consumers. It is the amount that the customer's are willing to pay for the goods and services.
The company gives the products at an affordable price which attracts a lot of customer's in the
market. It is very important to decide the price in order to maintain the position of the market.
Travis Perkins pay large attention on the price range for the retaining its consumers. The
business gives discounts on its products to remain competitive in the market. The next is place
which is also an essential factor for the business(Khan, 2020). It is related to the place where the
product is available to the consumers. The company has identified key locations for its
operations which is helping in attracting the large number of individuals. The organisation
focuses on using premium locations which gives it a big advantage. The business executives of
the Travis Perkins aims at getting the products in front of the customer's who have more chances

to purchase the products. The fourth factor is promotion which involves advertising of the
products and services in the market. The target of this is to communicate the message of the
organisation to the consumers and convincing them to buy the products from the company. It
also involves maintaining public relations and development of overall media policy which is
essential for introducing a new product in the industry. Travis Perkins uses a variety of social
media platforms for promotion of its goods and services. This help in spreading awareness in
regard to the policies and products among the customer's. The company collaborates with various
influencers and organisation's for making good image in the industry. The business realises the
value of acquiring customer's and retaining them for a long period of time. It aims at launching
events and campaigns for increasing the engagement of the customer's. There are various steps
which have been taken by the company in order to maintain the customer base in the
market(Randrup and Jansson, 2020).
Human resource departments are considered essential part of the many organisation. The
Travis Perkins has developed HRM department for properly managing the human resources of
the company. It performs the function of estimating the right number of individuals for properly
executing the tasks and assignments. It also identifies the different positions for appointing the
right people. The first function of HRM is recruitment and selection. This is considered a very
crucial part in the management of people. Travis Perkins pays attention on the process of hiring
the candidates. It involves focusing on attracting and retaining the best talent in the
industry(Parker, 2019). The HR managers of the company play a very essential role in building
the future of the company. The HR department identifies the vacant position in the organisation
and prepares a recruitment strategy for the purpose of selecting. There is a proper process which
is followed by the company. The HR managers creates internal and external postings, implement
the screening of the incoming candidates resumes and conducts the initial interviews. Travis
Perkins gets the best candidates after the completion of the process of recruitment and selection.
The next function which is performed by Human resource management is maintaining employee
relations in the organisation(Shivakumar, 2018). It play an essential role in building strong
workers in the company. They conduct activities that helps in making the employee's work with
each other as well as the managers in the business. It also builds cross department teams for
increasing the cooperation among the workforce. The social interaction element is also increased
in the organisation with the help of the human resource management. The employee's are given

the required freedom to express the views and interact with each other. This ensures that the
employee's are not strangers. The third function is talent development(Subramani, Dhinagaran
and Prasanth, 2020). This is an essential aspect which is performed by the human resources
managers in the company. It is a process of integrated organisational systems which is designed
to attract, develop, engage and retain the employee's in the business. Travis Perkins pays
attention on this factor. The company develops a framework which helps in increasing quality of
employee's, developing skills and regularly motivating towards the work. The organisation aims
to achieve motivated and productive workforce who stay will the business for a long period of
time. It helps the company in improving the performance of the business which is very essential
towards achievement of targets. It makes the organisation competitive and prepares itself for
becoming stronger in facing the challenges and issues in future. It also helps in driving
innovation within the business. The talented employee's somehow find ways to harness the
abilities with the help of new tools and equipments. This makes them skilled in solving problems
with the assistance of new and fresh ideas. The productivity of the overall organisation improves
by the increased skills and knowledge. Travis Perkins forms teams on the basis of creativity and
talent which helps in effective and efficient utilization of resources. The process of talent
development reduces the turnover rate since it makes the employee's feel valued and
satisfied(Toepler and Anheier, 2020). The company is enjoying the benefit of focusing on the
talent development since it is able to produce good results in its business. Travis has paid
attention on the role of HR for the proper functioning of the business. This is the reason that it is
really successful organisation in the field of building and construction industry.
It can be concluded that from the above essay that the Travis Perkins is a successful
organisation in the field of construction. The structure of the company is very essential in
running the operations of the company. The company follows the divisional structure which is
proving to be very good for the business. The organisation is able to divide its activities and
products in different divisions. This has helped in completion of all activities and tasks within the
specified time period. The essay has also covered the advantages and disadvantages of the
divisional structure on the working of the business. The marketing mix on Travis Perkins is also
discussed which is an essential part of the business. The company has been focusing on all the
four factors which are product, price, place and promotion. It can be said that all these elements
play a very crucial role in managing the overall business. The company needs to form strategies

and policies to maintaining a strong position in the market. This will assist in the achievement of
targets and goals of the business. It has been seen that the HRM is very important in the success
of the organisation. Travis Perkins must focus on increasing the skill and knowledge of the
employee's in order to enhance the quality and productivity. This will help in making better
decisions and form policies accordingly(Wangwacharakul, Berglund and Harlin, 2020). The
main HR functions such as recruitment and selection, employee relations and talent development
should be given the required importance. This will prepare an effective and efficient workforce
which is very essential in becoming the organisation successful in the market. The company
must address all the existing issues so that it can prepare for any worse situation. This will help
in gaining the competitive advantage in the industry in which it is operating.

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