Report on the Significance of Business Functions in Organizations

This report provides an overview of the importance of various business functions within an organization. It highlights the significance of marketing, finance, human resources, and operations, explaining their respective roles and interdependencies. Marketing is presented as crucial for customer engagement and sales, while finance ensures effective fund management. HR is emphasized for its role in talent acquisition and development, and operations are linked to efficient production. The report underscores the need for coordination among these functions to enhance overall productivity, using examples of Apple and McDonald's to illustrate how these functions interact and contribute to business success. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of integrating these functions for increased efficiencies and organizational effectiveness.

GRADUATE CHALLENGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Importance of business functions.....................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

Importance of business functions
An organisation is formed for commercial purpose of selling goods and services to
customers for which it undertakes different business functions that are discussed below:
Illustration 1: Business function
(Source: Business Organisation and Environment, 2019)
Marketing is defined as activities and practices undertaken by an organisation for selling
and promoting its products and services in target market. Role of department is to conduct detail
market research about needs and requirements of customers, prepare strategies (marketing mix),
set objectives and achieving set objectives. Importance of marketing lies in the fact that this is in
direct contact with target audience which allows them to know tendency of their behaviours upon
which all strategies related to promotions are built (Business Organisation and Environment,
2019).
Finance function is concerned with effective management of funds of an organisation and
keeping a check on flow of funds in and out of firm. Role of finance department is collecting,
recording, preparing financial statements and control credit policies of company. The department
raises required funds from various sources evaluates each of the alternatives and invests ideal
money in most productive way.
HR plays a crucial role of bringing talented workforce in organisation. Employees
training and development, motivational strategies and maintenance of employee relations are
functions performed by HR of a company. This department is significant because right people
are put to right job which ultimately helps in increasing the productivity of company.
Operation function is related to manufacturing of goods and services and its ancillary
activities. Product development, quality goods, planned production, inventory control,
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distribution are important roles that this department play in an enterprise. Operation function is
important because this is concerned with conducting day to day and production activities in most
cost effective manner upon which profitability depends.
No function is performed in isolation. Coordination amongst all functions increases the
overall productivity of a company (Brewster, 2017). Marketing activities makes potential
customers aware of products and induces them with different offers for purchasing it that helps
in increasing sales.
Finance department very effectively makes funds available for other functions like
promotional campaigns, purchasing of inventory. Marketing and human resource are interrelated
in the sense that HR department provides skilled workforce which can perform the activities such
as market research, prepare marketing budgets and design campaigns etc. (Marketing and its
relationship with other business activities, 2019)
For example, Apple's marketing efforts has generated tremendous sales and profitability
for company in last few years. This provided finance department abundant funds for its
expansion and it is currently the biggest company in terms of cash in hand in the world
(Evaluating Apple’s marketing performance, 2016).
McDonald's production department efficiently coordinates with finance department
regarding need of funds for purchasing raw materials, equipment etc for which the former
provides funds. This ensures continuous delivery of products to target audience (8 Things
McDonald's Can Teach You About Business Success, 2016).
At last, it can be concluded proper integration of these functions and coordination
amongst them raise efficiencies.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Brewster, C., 2017. The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy.
In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.
Online
8 Things McDonald's Can Teach You About Business Success. 2016. [Online]. Available
through <https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/271098>
Business Organisation and Environment. 2019. [Online]. Available through
<http://textbook.stpauls.br/business_organization/page_11.htm>
Evaluating Apple’s marketing performance. 2016. [Online]. Available through
<https://mpk732t22016clusterb.wordpress.com/2016/10/05/evaluating-apples-marketing-
performance/>
Marketing and its relationship with other business activities. 2019. [Online]. Available
through<http://www.sanandres.esc.edu.ar/secondary/marketing/page_14.htm>
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