FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF BUSINESS

FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF BUSINESS

Executive Summary

The report highlights the various business process that IOM Electronics need to develop to

enhance the operation and expand their business procedure in the long run. The report also

highlights the various skills that must be developed within the employees which will create

positive impact upon the customer and satisfy their needs effectively

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................5

2.0 What is a business?................................................................................................................................6

3.0 What is Functional areas of business.....................................................................................................7

4.0 What are the key functional areas of a business?...................................................................................8

5.0 Description of the various functional areas in business organizations...................................................9

5.1 Marketing:.........................................................................................................................................9

5.2 Human Resource Management:.........................................................................................................9

5.3 Customer Service:..............................................................................................................................9

5.4 Finance:...........................................................................................................................................10

5.5 Research and Development:............................................................................................................10

6.0 Description of the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these

functional areas..........................................................................................................................................12

6.1 Skills needed by Marketing employees:...........................................................................................12

6.2 Skills needed by Human Resource Management employees:..........................................................12

6.3 Skills needed by Customer Service employees:...............................................................................12

6.4 Skills needed by Finance employees:..............................................................................................12

6.5 Skills needed by Research and Development employees:................................................................13

6.6 Skills needed by Sales employees:...................................................................................................13

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................14

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References.................................................................................................................................................15

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1.0 Introduction

A business organization is full of challenges and managing the business effectively, in the long run, is

complicated work. IOM Electronics Ltd is successfully operating the business process in local

markets of Manchester and Liverpool with its 200 employees. John taking over the business need to

implement various changes that will help him to expand the operations in different parts of the world.

He has to understand the various business process and selectively implement suitable strategies that

will enhance the operation in the long run. It is also important to provide skills-related training to

their employees so that they can satisfy the customer in an effective manner in the long run.

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2.0 What is a business?

A business is an organization that provides services or products to consumers in order to make

profits out of those services, which, eventually, contributes to making the economic growth

stronger and sustainable as well. The ultimate goal of a business should be to provide social,

economic, and environmental welfare to consumers (Mahajan and Bose, 2018). IOM Electronics

Ltd In this report, IOM Electronics Ltd. will be analyzed which provides services of the essential

electronic goods in Liverpool and Manchester.

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3.0 What is Functional areas of business

Functional areas of a business refer to its different departments or categories, which are

responsible for performing the specific tasks assigned to them matching with their skill set

(Rainer et al. 2020). For instance, the marketing department of IOM Electronics Ltd. deals with

only marketing matters, but they are not responsible for looking after the accounts department of

a company or recruiting employees for the company. Employees skilled in marketing skills are

assigned to the marketing department.

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4.0 What are the key functional areas of a business?

There are mainly six functional areas in any business-

1. Strategy

2 Marketing

3. Finance

4. Human resources

5. Technology and equipment

6. Operations

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5.0 Description of the various functional areas in business organizations

5.1 Marketing:

Marketing basically refers to the selling, purchasing, delivering, and advertising of services or

products to the consumers. Business organizations rely upon this department for knowing the

changing customer and firm needs (Morgan et al ., 2019). Also, the marketing department comes

up with strategies to market the product in a more effective way to potential consumers. It has

been observed that IOM Electronics does not market its product effectively. They have a limited

marketing and sales process that is confined to Manchester and Liverpool. It has been understood

by John that marketing will be needed to enhance the overall operations of IOM Electronics Ltd

(Hanlon, 2022). He can promote goods, products, and services and can also develop various

pricing strategies that will help to capture the market share of another competitor.

5.2 Human Resource Management:

The human Resource (HR) department of any company recruits potential employees with

relevant skills matching the firm’s requirements. The HR department of IOM electronics Ltd.

involves in hiring the best candidates for the company because the HR department believes that

hiring correct candidates can also be a key role in raising the company’s performance, and in

turn, the company’s profit (Jain and Jain, 2020). By making strategic plans after discussing with

customers, employees, and stakeholders to improve the operational performance is also included

in the responsibility of the HR department.

5.3 Customer Service:

The department of customer service will be the only team that can engage with customers by

interacting with them. It can be inclusive of the inquiries, orders processing and the addressing of

the concern of consumers and also their complaints about any products which they have bought

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from IOM Electronics and now they are not satisfied with that (Pande, et al., 2022). The

representatives or the employees in the customers' service department are the first ones who can

directly contact the consumers for any business. This is one of the main duties of the

representatives of IOM Electronics is to begin and adhesive the connection of the business to the

consumers or public. A good department of customer service will be capable enough to design

and maintain and also recollect the connection of the business to their consumers. The owner has

to keep in mind that being capable to keep the consumer is not always for the best products or

services to be offered to them. However, these things will play a substantial role. There is some

customer who can pay more for the best service and products.

5.4 Finance:

John needs to understand that finance is widely required for planning, obtaining, and managing

the entire fund of the organization. The manager can finance the long-term as well as short-term

capital needs of the organization (Vernimmen, et al., 2022). The finance department can also

help to raise funds through loans and stocks and also help to enhance the overall functioning and

health of the organization.

5.5 Research and Development:

The research and development team of a company plays a major role in identifying the glitches

or loopholes in products or services and then figures out innovative ways to use modern

technology to mitigate the problem (Borges, 2021). As IOM Electronics limited comes under the

category of the tech industry, the R&D team of the company always must have to be at their

front foot to keep looking for updates of the products.

5.6 Sales:

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Sales- the final and ultimate objective of every business. It is no exaggeration to say that sales

are the backbone of the business. It is the final product of the company which can uprise or sink

the company. The salespersons of IOM Electronics Ltd. are privileged enough to hit the sales

target as they are being approached directly by customers regarding the updations or

technologies of products (Rainer et al. 2020).

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6.0 Description of the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work

effectively in these functional areas

6.1 Skills needed by Marketing employees:

The skills that are required by the marketing employees of IOM Electronics Ltd. is to identify the

hurdles in reaching out to potential market or buyers and then frame a strategic plan with a

visionary approach because a skilled marketing person knows very well that marketing is the

ladder to sales (Anderson et al., 2018).

6.2 Skills needed by Human Resource Management employees:

Assaying the candidate’s skills before hiring for IOM Electronics Ltd. is definitely a required

key skill of the HR department. Additionally, negotiation skills are also required in HR

Management to not only deal with external sources but also for dealing with organizational

conflicts (Enamul and Nilufar, 2018).

6.3 Skills needed by Customer Service employees:

Employees dealing with customers must be having soft-spoken skills, good negotiating skills

should have skills to pacify the customer and give empathy in case of any utter experience of the

customer (Ali et al., 2018). The help desk employee of IOM Electronics Ltd. should be having a

grooming and charismatic personality and communication skills which can attract customers.

6.4 Skills needed by Finance employees:

Finance employees must be having the vision to analyze the future of the company. One who

takes the company out from unfavorable situations through competence and commitment acts as

a future leader, which makes them a high potential finance employee (Thomas and Letchmiah,

2017). These skilled employees have the ability to perform consistently well and they are likely

to get promoted to higher levels due to their financial management skills.

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6.5 Skills needed by Research and Development employees:

The employee working in the R&D department of IOM Electronics Ltd. should be

knowledge-intensive professionals. The employee should be having an innovative approach

to improving existing products and developing new ones ( Jha and Varkkey, 2018.). The

employee working in the R&D department should be clearly aware of the fact that consistent

upgrades in the product is the only way to stretch the sustainability of the company in the

market, so they keep looking for new developments.

6.6 Skills needed by Sales employees:

The skills that are necessary for the sales employees include communication, listening, and

collaboration. An employee of IOM Electronics Ltd. should be having impressive

communication, listening, and conveying skills. The sales employee should know what are the

favorable characteristics of the product so that the product can be pitched for sales to buyers. The

very important skill that a sales employee should have - identifying the customer needs as per

the rapidly changing market and coming up with new innovations in products to get them fit into

the market as per the current requirement (Singh et al., 2017).

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Conclusion

In the end, it can be concluded that John has to do a lot of planning and processing to

successfully implement the business process. The report highlights the various functional areas

in business processes. John has to hire a manager who can successfully implement all these

processes in an effective manner. The report also highlights the various skills that employees

need to develop to successfully operate the business in local markets as well as John has to

prepare himself to expand the operation in different parts of the world.

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References

Ali, M., Iraqi, K.M., Rawat, A.S. and Mohammad, S., 2018. Role of customer service Skills on

customer satisfaction and its effects on customer loyalty in Pakistan banking industry. South

Asian Journal of Management Sciences, 12(2), pp.210-223.

Anderson, S.J., Chandy, R. and Zia, B., 2018. Pathways to profits: The impact of marketing vs.

finance skills on business performance. Management Science, 64(12), pp.5559-5583.

Borges, A.F., (2021). The strategic use of artificial intelligence in the digital era: Systematic

literature review and future research directions. International Journal of Information

Management, 57, p.102225.

Enamul, I. and Nilufar, Y., 2018. Significance of negotiation skills for Bangladeshi HR manager

in private business organization. Elixir International Journal, 120, pp.51230-51234.

Hanlon, A., (2022). Digital marketing: strategic planning & integration. Sage

Jain, P. and Jain, P., 2020. Understanding the Concept of hR Analytics. International Journal on

Emerging Technologies, 11(2), pp.644-652.

Jha, J.K. and Varkkey, B., 2018. Are you a cistern or a channel? Exploring factors triggering

knowledge-hiding behavior at the workplace: evidence from the Indian R&D professionals.

Journal of Knowledge Management.

Mahajan, R. and Bose, M., 2018. Business sustainability: Exploring the meaning and

significance. IMI Konnect, 7(2), pp.8-13.

Morgan, N.A., Whitler, K.A., Feng, H. and Chari, S., 2019. Research in marketing strategy.

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(1), pp.4-29. (marketing)

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Pande, S.D., Jadhav, P.P., Joshi, R., Sawant, A.D., Muddebihalkar, V., Rathod, S., Gurav, M.N.

and Das, S., (2022). Digitization of handwritten Devanagari text using CNN transfer learning–A

better customer service support. Neuroscience Informatics, 2(3), p.100016.

Rainer, R.K., Prince, B., Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, I., Sanchez-Rodriguez, C. and Ebrahimi, S.,

2020. Introduction to information systems. John Wiley & Sons.

Singh, R., Kumar, N. and Puri, S., 2017. Thought self-leadership strategies and sales

performance: integrating selling skills and adaptive selling behavior as missing links. Journal of

Business & Industrial Marketing.

Thomas, A. and Letchmiah, L., 2017. Retention of high-potential employees in a development

finance company. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(1), pp.1-9.

Vernimmen, P., Quiry, P. and Le Fur, Y., (2022). Corporate finance: theory and practice. John

Wiley & Sons.

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