Functional activities

Businesses separate tasks into functional activities. The main functional activities can be grouped under
the four main functional areas - marketing, operations, human resources and finance.

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Marketing

The marketing department is concerned with finding out the needs and wants of potential customers
and promoting the company’s products or services.

The main functional activities carried out by the marketing department are:

advertising

market research

promotion

selling products

Advertising
Goods and services are often advertised on television or radio to inform customers about products. It is
the job of the marketing department to decide how and when to advertise and to develop advertising
campaigns.

Market research

To find out if a product or service will be successful a company will use market research. Market
research is the process of gathering information on customers’ needs and wants. This can be done
through surveys, observations or interviews.

Promotion

The marketing department will decide which form of promotion would be best suited to the product
such as a percentage discount or buy one get one free.

Promotion

Selling products

The marketing department is responsible for increasing sales of a product through correct pricing and
designing attractive packaging.

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Glossary

More Guides

How small businesses operate

Satisfying customer needs

Functional activities

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