Individual Report on IKEA: HR, Marketing, Finance and Collaboration

This report provides an in-depth analysis of IKEA, a multinational conglomerate specializing in furniture and home accessories. It explores the roles of key business functions, including human resources, marketing, and finance, within the organization. The report details the responsibilities of the HR department in managing the workforce, the marketing department in promoting the brand, and the finance department in managing financial resources. Furthermore, it examines collaborative working practices at IKEA, highlighting partnerships with designers, suppliers, and stakeholders. Finally, the report discusses the role of financial management and reporting in making financial decisions, managing capital, improving debt management, and tracking real-time insights. The report concludes that effective operations management and collaboration give a competitive edge to organizations.

Introduction to
Business Studies
(Individual Report)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Describing the role of HR, Marketing and Finance functions within organizations..............3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................4
Develop an understanding of collaborative working practices..............................................4
LO4..................................................................................................................................................5
Demonstrate knowledge of the role of financial management and reporting within the
organisation............................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business is a widely spread activity which involves number of actions and processes that
helps one entity to run there functions successfully and accomplish the determined objective.
Business entity has several operations which supports it in accomplishing the prescribed goals in
the most systematic manner and by focusing on keeping the operations smooth and sufficient
(Ghauri, Grønhaug and Strange, 2020). The present report is developed on IKEA a large
multinational conglomerate which designs and sell readymade or ready to assemble furniture’s
home accessories and kitchen appliances. The company was founded in 1943 and headquartered
in Netherlands. The present report will be discussing the role played by human resource
marketing and finance functions within the organisation. Moreover, a thorough understanding of
collaborative working practices is also presented and lastly the role of financial management and
reporting for the organisation is also elaborated.
LO 1
Describing the role of HR, Marketing and Finance functions within organizations.
Operations within an organisation are the small segments and sectors that are the actions
taken by management and employees for functioning the business bye by using an active
process. There are several different types of operations which exist within an organisation in
regards to their structure and culture human resource, finance, production, marketing, sales,
research and development and many more. From these different operational functions three
major functions are discussed below in context with IKEA that are human resource, marketing
and finance function. These functions are not only discussed but their roles within the entity are
also elaborated (Farooq and et. al., 2017).
 Human Resource Department- Human Resource refers to the employees and workforce
of an entity who are responsible for conducting and executing all the plans as well as
strategies developed by the management of the organisation. Basically the employees are
denoted as human resource and considered as one of the most important and essential
asset of the organisation. Human Resource Department of IKEA like every other
organisational department has the most basic role to perform that is to fulfil the
manpower requirement of the entity and manage people in the most efficient manner.
There are many other rules which are performed and executed by the Human Resource

Department of IKEA beginning with recruitment and selection of staff, rewarding and
appraising people, performance management etc.
 Marketing Department- The second most significant and value adding function which
exist within an organisation is of Marketing department. Every business needs to be
promoted and requires to develop the presence in market. In order to do so marketing
activities are conducted and performed in regards to spreading awareness in market about
the brand, its offerings and most significantly about its accessibility. Similarly IKEA also
have its Marketing department which undertakes different activities to perform their role
of being the company’s promoter and established. The marketing department of IKEA is
responsible for conducting advertisement and promotional activities on behalf of the
entity and make sure that the people are well aware and informed about the presence of
the organisation within the appropriate targeted market (Maresch and et. al., 2016).
 Finance Department- Money is considered as a vital resource for an organisation to
conduct their business operation and run there respective activities within the competitive
environment in the most powerful manner. Finance department of an entity like IKEA is
responsible for a key role which is of regulating the funds and making the most
appropriate and effective use of money available by making investments in profitable
areas as well as allocating required amount of money in all different segments of
organisation for completing and running their business activities.
LO2
Develop an understanding of collaborative working practices.
Collaboration means working together on the single project or on the single activity by
involving and engaging the efforts of to a more people for completing the project or the process
in the most appropriate and effective manner. In today’s work environment and workplaces
collaborative work practices and collaboration is a natural process which occurs and stated
important for success and goal achievement of the entity.
Collaborative working practices are therefore represented as those actions and activities
which are performed by integration of two or more individuals or even combining the work of
different departments (Infante-Moro, Infante-Moro and Gallardo-Pérez, 2019). Collaborative
work practices are the supporters of the organisation that offers unique work ideas and practices

by taking innovative approaches for fulfilling the common goal and contributing towards
ultimate objective of the entity by using the most efficient and cost effective processes.
IKEA is a large brand with number of operations and units offering large number of
products to the customers. The company work innovatively as it offers new designs and products
every time to customers in collaboration with various designers by developing their collection
from waste and recycling goods. Very recently the organisation have with the climate and clean
air coalition a new collaboration that is being developed with the world surfing league.
Some of the other parties with IKEA have developed a collaborative work practice are its
suppliers, stakeholders and employees. While talking about the suppliers of the organisation
IKEA deals with number of wood, shelves and sanitary products and have engaged with several
number of suppliers in order to procure raw materials for their products in order to change them
into finished goods for making sales in the market.
The stakeholders of the organisation are its customers, employees and owners basically
the parties that interest Hindi power structure and ownership that is decision making of the
organisation. The company works collaboratively with the stakeholders in order to procure or
capital from the external environment, make use of the money for manufacturing the end
products and selling them in the market according to the need and preferences of people
(Alvarez, 2016).
LO4
Demonstrate knowledge of the role of financial management and reporting within the
organisation.
Financial management is a vital and basic activity which takes place within an
organisation that revolves around the process of planning, organising, controlling and monitoring
all the financial resources available within the organisation and which is going to be added to the
financial resource balance of the entity. The financial management practices and reporting
activities plays a significant role in developing and managing a balanced structure of the
organisation where every penny is distributed and invested in the most beneficial and highly
returning areas.
The financial management and reporting practice is a key factor within an organisation
which is conducted and it also takes place in IKEA. The entity also have to allocate all its

resources and funds in the right place at the right time for gaining utmost benefit and return from
the money invested and circulated with the purpose of increasing the funds of the company. The
role of financial management and reporting practice within IKEA is unique and as follows:
 Financial decisions and control- One of the basic role which is played by financial
management practice is in regards with making financial decisions and exercising control
over all the finances and funds present within the entity under capital and financial
resources. The financial management practices which are used involves number of
techniques like ratio analysis, profit and loss analysis, financial forecasting and many
more.
 Capital Management- The financial management team and financial manager holds the
responsibility of estimating the capital requirements of the entity on regular basis and
determine their capital structure and composition for making the best choice of sources of
funds for raising the required amount of money. Hence this is also a major role which is
performed by the financial management practices of IKEA (Zhang and Chen, 2017).
 Improving debt management- Debt of an organisation cripple the progress of any
company irrespective of their industry in which they are and the market where the
company is established. The financial management and reporting practices of it helps the
entity in improving their debt management system and plays a crucial role in keeping
track of current assets and all the liabilities that are attached with the entity for balancing
out the situation and gauge the liquidity of IKEA.
 Real time tracking- Another value-adding role which is played by the financial
management and reporting practice that is undertaken and performed in IKEA by the
management is tracking the real time insights and gaining access to more centralised
system decision making by avoiding any potential barriers in maintaining financial
fluidity and liquidity for the longest period possible (Kolk, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that operations management and collaboration
of different departments and business functions with one another offers a unique competitive
edge and position to the organisations in regards to their competitors within the industry. A basic
and very important practice that is conducted within an organisation is of financial management

and reporting which helps the entity in keeping appropriate track of all the money and capital
raised and procured by the entity for conducting their business functions.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alvarez, J. L. ed., 2016. The diffusion and consumption of business knowledge. Springer.
Farooq, M. S. and et. al., 2017. Acceptance and use of lecture capture system (LCS) in executive
business studies. Interactive Technology and Smart Education.
Ghauri, P., Grønhaug, K. and Strange, R., 2020. Research methods in business studies.
Cambridge University Press.
Infante-Moro, A., Infante-Moro, J. C. and Gallardo-Pérez, J., 2019. The Importance of ICTs for
Students as a Competence for their Future Professional Performance: the Case of the
Faculty of Business Studies and Tourism of the University of Huelva. Journal of New
Approaches in Educational Research (NAER Journal), 8(2), pp.201-213.
Kolk, A., 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1),
pp.23-34.
Maresch, D. and et. al., 2016. The impact of entrepreneurship education on the entrepreneurial
intention of students in science and engineering versus business studies university
programs. Technological forecasting and social change, 104, pp.172-179.
Zhang, J. and Chen, J., 2017. Introduction to China’s new normal economy.