AstraZeneca Business Functions: A Comprehensive Analysis Report

This report provides an analysis of the business functions within AstraZeneca, a leading international pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company. It examines the roles of marketing, finance, operations/productions, and human resources, detailing their specific functions and activities. The report highlights the interdependencies of these functions and emphasizes the importance of their combined efforts for overall business effectiveness, efficiency, and long-term growth. It uses examples from AstraZeneca to illustrate how integrated business functions contribute to innovation, brand image, and customer satisfaction, ultimately leading to the company's success. The report concludes that the coordination of these functions is essential for addressing organizational challenges and driving the development of a firm.

GRADUATE
CHALLENGE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Role Of Marketing:.....................................................................................................................1
Role of Finance:..........................................................................................................................1
Role of Operations/Productions:.................................................................................................1
Role of Human Resources: .........................................................................................................2
Importance of business functions working together:..................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................2
.........................................................................................................................................................2
References........................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Business functions are the measures which are taken by the administration of an
organization. These actions assist business in sales and income generation which results in
growth. Major functions includes are marketing, finance, operations/productions and human
resources (What Are Business Functions?, 2020). AstraZeneca is an international leading brand
which mainly deals in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products. It is founded in 1999 in
UK. The following discussions is done on the various business departments and functions of
AstraZeneca.
MAIN BODY
Role Of Marketing:
Functions of marketing includes identifying customer needs, brand promotion, product
management, unique pricing, selling products, analysing competition, distribution of products
and innovation (Bennett, 2019). In context of AstraZeneca, marketing is carried out by
communicating with customers, they arranges events and conferences engaging doctors and
promotion through print ads.
Role of Finance:
Functions of finance includes cost controls, budgeting, cash flow management, strategic
planning, risk management and profit planning. In case of AstraZeneca, financing is done
through procurement and utilization of funds, treasury and risk management, estimation of
overall cost, capital budgeting and comparing the revenue generated every year (Fearon, van
Vuuren, McLaughlin and Nachmias, 2020).
Role of Operations/Productions:
Functions of operations/production includes stores management, product planning,
designing, technical assistance, purchasing support, manufacturing support and TQM-total
quality management. In context of AstraZeneca, production is carried out by location and layout
strategy, managing quality, supply chain management, inventory management and process and
capacity design.
1

Role of Human Resources:
Functions of HR includes employee development and engagement, compensation,
recruitment, payroll, workforce planning, employee relations and benefits. In case of
AstraZeneca, HR functions are carried out through performance development, employee
relations, administration, recruitment and training and development (Kouzes and Posner, 2018).
Importance of business functions working together:
All business functions are in relation to each other, if one function is working improperly
then it can negatively effect other domains as well. All are interrelated as these functions are
having a final common task for a business that is sales and revenue generation. There is a
necessity of combination of all the functions because it leads to overall effectiveness and
efficiency, improvement of geography of an organization and management of technology. For
example if HR don't provide proper training and development to it's employees then it will be
tough for the finance function in estimation of cost and revenue which can finally lead difficulty
in production and marketing functions. So to overcome these problems, it is mandatory to
combine all the departments of business together (Hayter, Lubynsky and Maroulis, 2017). In
context of AstraZeneca, they combine all the domains so that their customers like their products,
innovation in familiar medicines, helped in prosper of brand image and long-term growth.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that combining of business functions plays important role in development
of a firm. Management all of them detaches crucial organisation's problems. In context of
AstraZeneca, it's management of combining business roles has demonstrated that it is mandatory
for the growth of brand. Today AstraZeneca is a leading brand in medicines because they
concentrated on all it's business roles and coordination among all it's functional domains.
2

References
Books and Journals
Bennett, D., 2019. Graduate employability and higher education: Past, present and
future. HERDSA Review of Higher Education, 5, pp.31-61.
Fearon, C., van Vuuren, W., McLaughlin, H. and Nachmias, S., 2020. Graduate employability,
skills development and the UK’s Universities Business Challenge competition: a self-
determined learning perspective. Studies in Higher Education. 45(6). pp.1280-1297.
Hayter, C.S., Lubynsky, R. and Maroulis, S., 2017. Who is the academic entrepreneur? The role
of graduate students in the development of university spinoffs. The Journal of
Technology Transfer. 42(6). pp.1237-1254.
Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z., 2018. The student leadership challenge: Five practices for
becoming an exemplary leader. John Wiley & Sons.
Online
What Are Business Functions?. 2020. Available through <https://bizfluent.com/info-8345380-
business-functions.html>./
3