British Airways: Marketing Function and Departmental Relations

This report examines the marketing function within British Airways, emphasizing its crucial relationships with other departments. The analysis covers the interconnectedness of marketing with Human Resources, Finance, Production, and Research & Development. The report highlights how marketing and HR collaborate to build the brand, with HR focusing on employee engagement and marketing on customer-facing strategies. It also explores the integration of marketing and finance, emphasizing the financial dimensions of marketing plans, including budgeting and profitability analysis. Furthermore, the report discusses the collaboration between marketing and production, focusing on how market research informs product design and procurement planning. The vital role of marketing and R&D in new product development is also emphasized, showcasing how customer insights drive product innovation and service improvements to meet evolving customer needs. The report underscores the importance of cross-departmental coordination and continuous analysis to achieve organizational objectives and adapt to changing market dynamics.

Relationship of marketing function to other functional area of British Airways
Marketing department has to work with the other functional department in order to achieve the organizations objectives. It is important to see
how marketing department is connected to other departments, as after conducting market research it is important to come up with the plan to
execute the same. A proper coordination is required to be implemented cross other departments so as to achieve success and regular analysis is
needed, to carry out the functions effectively and efficiently and corrective actions can be taken at the right time. In short, marketing department
needs to work harmoniously with the key people in different functional departments. A quick view of the same is given below.
Marketing and Human Resource
Nowadays, Marketing and HR are working together to create brand of
the organization. Working together HR finds best people to promote
and builds the brand while marketing creates and delivers the brand
message to employees and customers. This can be done through
building teams, using social media, providing more training, creating
company events. British Airways is aware of this advantage and has
already implemented it in the business in the form of team meetings
having leaders from each department and discuss the objectives and
strategies. The two has been working together to recognize employee
performance and share about the company and brand. There exists a
strong relationship between the two departments as they play a vital
role in achieving business objectives.
Marketing and Finance
All marketing plans include a financial dimension. Many of the
marketing decisions are taken as investment decisions. It is involved in
decisions related to introduction of new product and services, product
promotion, advertising, price and distribution channel. In British
Airways, promotional activity is undertaken only after proper financial
plan is set up which includes capital requirement, cash flow, financial
policies, establishing credit policies for different types of client etc. As
per the market research, marketing plans are carried out for which
budget is estimated based on its financial performance and positioning.
Budgets need to implement strategies and marketing plans, also
budgeting and profitability analysis is key aspects of marketing planning
and control.
Marketing and Production
Marketing and production department are interdependent to each
other. Based on market research new product are designed, demand is
forecasted and the availability of time and the production facility is
then designed to achieve the demand as because of changing
preferences, production facility needs to be changed. In British
Airways, aircraft are designed as per the needs of the customers. It
regularly analyses the customers and segment them on needs and
wants and provide different product and services to meets the needs of
every customer. Marketing activities involve evolution and sales
forecast, product portfolio management and productions department
involves production efficiency, production capacity planning.
Marketing and Procurement
Marketing research regarding the acceptance of new products is an
importance input for efficient planning of procurement activities such
as evaluation of raw material and sources of supply. Marketing
planning requires input from procurement plans in order to introduce
new materials and anticipate changes production activity. British
Airway's marketing team is working closely with its procurement
department to get a clear picture about the number of suppliers
available to the demand of the required raw material, whether the
material is available easily or not, how much will it cost. If proper
procurement plan is not carried out it will be difficult to meet the new
product development requirement and marketing planning as a whole.
Marketing and Research and Development
The major link between marketing and R&D is the new product
development. Marketing and R&D is required at each stage of product
development as marketing provides customer insights and R&D
provides product design and customer preferences changes with time
that can be long and short. British Airways is continuously working to
meet the needs of the customer based on the information gathered by
marketing team and how its R&D department is using it to design
product and services. It is working to provide quality product and
services to all types of customers.