Virginia Fawcett
Operating a business encompasses many rather distinct areas including marketing, HR management, finance, and operations management. In order to build a successful organization it is necessary to have knowledge and skills in each of these fields. The most important aspects of marketing are marketing mix and factors influencing the marketing strategies. In order to understand the principles of the operations management it is also important to analyze the aspects that affecting it. In addition to this, understanding of business cycles is very useful as well. Financial aspects of a business are of primary importance for a success, whereas HR management should be discussed from a position of its effectiveness and its role in the modern business operations. This paper will discuss all of these areas. Besides, it will include the discussion of my expectations of the course and plans for the future as well as an analysis of the role of business in the modern society.
The Role of Operations Management
Understanding of operations management is essential for any successful business is the thing that you can often see in poster presentation ideas. One of the most important points in this area is determining the influence on operations management. The main point is that companies operate in a very dynamic environment, which involves regular modifications, changes, activities and progress.If a manager of a company fails to adjust to the changes, he/she will lose the customer base because they usually choose products that can satisfy their ever-changing needs. The list of influences on the management of operations includes quality expectations, technology, legislation, corporate social responsibility (CSR), cost-price competition, technology, globalization, government policies and environmental sustainability.
Globalization can be both a negative and positive influence on a business. For example, it can bring such benefits as new clients, access to innovative technologies and more efficient production processes. The business can relocate operations to another country that can offer cheaper labor and thus increase its profitability. At the same time, globalization intensifies the competition between businesses. Introduction of a new technology allows the operations department to increase the efficiency of production processes. This usually leads to an increase in the competitive advantage and reduction in the production costs. The quality expectations of the consumers affect a business because if its products are not good enough, it can force the customers to change their preferences and purchase products from a competitor. Moreover, a business sets certain quality requirements for its suppliers in order to be able to satisfy the needs of the customers. However, the increase in the quality should also be controlled because it can cause an increase of the prices. Cost-based competition denotes the attempts of a business to offer its customers the most attractive prices for a type of a product. CSR is a business’s initiatives for evaluating and taking the responsibilities for its impacts on the environmental and the social welfare.
Business cycle is a term that describes the fluctuations of demand for a certain product. If demand increases, a company has to increase the supply in order to satisfy the needs of its customers. However, the demand cannot be stable for a long time. For example, the demand for tour packages increases in the summer and declines in the autumn.
Marketing
Marketing is also an important aspect for a business. It denotes the management process that provides creation of a product from a concept to the finished good sold to the consumer.It involves the coordination of four factors named 4 P’s of marketing. The first element is determination, choice and creation of a product. The second element is identification of a product’s price. The third element is choice of a distribution channel for reaching the consumers. The fourth element is creation and introduction of a promotional strategy. For instance, Apple designs its new gadgets to include some advanced applications. They are sold for different prices in order to meet the wide range of customers’ demands. Apple offers them in places where the rest of its products are sold. To promote the new gadgets, the company organizes tech events as well as advertises online and on television.
Like with the operations management, numerous factors influence the marketing objectives of a business are influenced. In particular, experts distinguish the internal and external factors. Internal influences include corporate objectives, finance, human resources, operational issues and business culture. External influences encompass economic environment, responses of competitors, market dynamics, technological changes as well as social and political alterations. For example, lack of financial resources could force a business to reduce the spending on a product’s marketing campaign. Changes of legislation are able to create or reduce marketing opportunities.
Finance
However, marketing and operations management could not be effective enough without proper financing. To maintain a stable financial performance, businesses should carefully monitor and control their expenditures and income.Managers can perform this through analyzing the financial ratios. Majority of the ratios are calculated from data gathered in the financial statement of a business. Financial ratios could be useful for studying trends and comparing the company’s financial performance to that of other businesses. The most common types of financial ratios include liquidity ratios, asset turnover ratios, financial leverage ratios, profitability ratios and dividend policy ratios.
In conclusion, the main points of such areas as marketing, finances, HR management and operations management. All of them play a very important role within any organization, so understanding their fundamentals is very important for any person who plans to work in a private company. For example, it is necessary to consider factors that affect the functioning each of these areas. Operations management is shaped by the technology, cost-price competition, CSR, legislation, globalization, quality expectations etc. Marketing depends on numerous internal and external factors, which include finance, human resources, corporate culture and objectives, economic environment, social and political changes, competitor reactions and technological changes. The role of business has developed over time, so understanding of its role helps to realize, which approaches are popular today and in which direction they will move in the future. In particular, modern companies demonstrate more care about the society and the environment.
