Functional Areas in Business

Task 1: Research different functional areas, provide definitions of each of these functions: * Customer Servise Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation. Its importance varies by products, industry and customer; defective or broken merchandise can be exchanged, often only with a receipt and within a specified time frame.

Retail stores often have a desk or counter devoted to dealing with returns, exchanges and complaints, or will perform related functions at the point of sale; the perceived success of such interactions being dependent on employees "who can adjust themselves to the personality of the guest, customer service plays an important role in an organization's ability to generate income and revenue. From that perspective, customer service should be included as part of an overall approach to systematic improvement.

A customer service experience can change the entire perception a customer has of the organization. * ICT Stands for "Information and Communication Technologies. " ICT refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications. It is similar to Information Technology (IT), but focuses primarily on communication technologies. This includes the Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, and other communication mediums. In the past few decades, information and communication technologies have provided society with a vast array of new communication capabilities.

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For example, people can communicate in real-time with others in different countries using technologies such as instant messaging, voice over IP (VoIP), and video-conferencing. Social networking websites like Facebook allow users from all over the world to remain in contact and communicate on a regular basis. Modern information and communication technologies have created a "global village," in which people can communicate with others across the world as if they were living next door. For this reason, ICT is often studied in the context of how modern communication technologies affect ociety. * Distribution Distribution means ensuring that goods are delivered to the right place on time and in the right condition. Commerce: The movement of goods and services from the source through a distribution channel, right up to the final customer, consumer, or user, and the movement of payment in the opposite direction, right up to the original producer or supplier. Securities: Payment of principal, interest, or dividend by the issuer of a security to the security holders, on a regular (typically monthly or quarterly) basis.

Statistics: An order or pattern formed by the tendency of a sufficiently large number of observations to group themselves around a central value. The familiar bell-shaped curve is an example of normal distribution in which the largest numbers of observations are distributed in the center, with progressively fewer observations falling evenly on the either side of the center (average) line. See also frequency distribution, normal distribution, and standard distribution. * Marketing The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer.

As a practice, it consists in coordination of four elements called 4P's: (1) identification, selection, and development of a product, (2) determination of its price, (3) selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer's place, and (4) development and implementation of a promotional strategy. As a philosophy, marketing is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. Marketing differs from selling because (in the words of Harvard Business School's emeritus professor of marketing Theodore C.

Levitt) "Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs. " * Human resources The division of a company that is focused on activities relating to employees. These activities normally include recruiting and hiring of new employees, orientation and training of current employees, employee benefits, and retention.

Formerly called personnel. * Sales The activity or business of selling products or services. Contract involving transfer of the possession and ownership (title) of a good or property, or the entitlement to a service, in exchange for money or value. Essential elements that must be present in a valid sale are (1) competence of both the buyer and seller to enter into a contract, (2) mutual agreement on the terms of exchange, (3) a thing capable of being transferred, and (4) a consideration in money (or its equivalent) paid or promised. Finance Finance is the study of how investors allocate their assets over time under conditions of certainty and uncertainty. A key point in finance, which affects decisions, is the time value of money, which states that a unit of currency today is worth more than the same unit of currency tomorrow. Finance aims to price assets based on their risk level, and expected rate of return. Finance can be broken into three different sub categories: public finance, corporate finance and personal finance. * Production

The processes and methods employed to transform tangible inputs (raw materials, semifinished goods, or subassemblies) and intangible inputs (ideas, information, knowledge) into goods or services. * Research and development Systematic activity combining both basic and applied research, and aimed at discovering solutions to problems or creating new goods and knowledge. R&D may result in ownership of intellectual property such as patents. In accounting for R&D costs, the development costs may be carried forward but the basic and applied research costs are often written-off as incurred. Administration Management: The interpretation and implementation of the policy set by an organization's board of directors. The administration of a business is synonymous with the performance or management of business operations, maybe including important decision making. Thus it is likely to include the efficient organization of people and other resources so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives. Task 2: Using Newcastle College website find out about entry requirements to a Level 3 Business related course: 5 GCSEs A - C or equivalent at Pass level, ideally inc English ; Maths.

If English is not your first language you will need an IELTS score of 5. Task 3: Using the college library research using a book the area of business you are most interested in: Business administration is the process of managing a business or non-profit organization so that it remains stable and continues to grow. This consists of a number of areas, ranging from operations to management. There are many different roles related to business administration, including business support, office manager, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), among others. Most companies have a dedicated group of administrators.

Main Areas The main areas incorporated into business administration are operations, logistics, marketing, economics, Human Resources (HR), and management. An administrator oversees these parts of an organization to make sure that they're all functioning properly and efficiently individually, and that they're all working together to make the business profitable. He or she may also come up with ways to make the department more profitable, and often delegates tasks to employees in the department. Large companies usually have at least one administrator assigned to each area. Roles

Most companies have a range of administrative roles in different parts of their corporate hierarchy. At the office level, there are business support officers, who might develop and maintain an office database, oversee other employees for projects, and help the manager with analyzing performance trends. At the next level there are office managers, who oversee an entire office, make budgets and analyses of staff performance, design procedures, and assign projects, among other things. If an organization is large, it may have several assistant managers to help the overall office manager.

After office-level managers, there are division administrators, who oversee large portions of an organization. They generally specialize in one area of business administration. For instance, a company might have a person with a specialization in HR administration oversee that department and make sure it's working efficiently to meet the business' overall goals. This includes things like measuring the performance of HR staff members, hiring new staff for the department if needed or getting rid of non-performing staff, and making sure that the process for hiring is workable.

The head of overall operations in business administration is usually referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO) or president. The CEO and president may be the same office, but this varies between companies. The CEO, depending on the size of the company, may have several vice presidents, each responsible for one area of company operations. For example, there could be a vice president for marketing, one for research and design, and one for sales or customer relations. Each of these operate independently. Work Environment

The work environment for someone in business administration depends largely on the type of job he or she is doing. Those on the lower end of the hierarchy often work in structured environments and make frequent reports to their superiors, while those higher up may have more freedom with their schedules. Depending on the type of organization, work hours may be 9 to 5 or they may be more flexible. Overtime is often required when big projects are nearing completion, or when annual analyses and presentations need to be made.

Generally speaking, anyone in this type of position needs to have excellent communication skills, as he or she will be working with a lot of different people, sending out memos, and making reports. They also need to be comfortable with making presentations, and they need to be able to lead people. Another important skill is being able to understand how many different parts of a system or organization work together, so that they can make workable systems and figure out what's wrong with those that don't work.

Most are also very good at math and have an understanding of economics, since they usually make budgets and analyze their office, department, or company's performance. Education Many universities offer business administration programs for both online and offline study. A typical curriculum covers the critical aspects of operating a business such as customer service, business finance, marketing, and human resources. Aspiring administrators can improve their marketability by minoring in a related field such as an applied science for engineering or psychology for marketing and sales.

Most large companies want applicants that have at least a master's degree in a business-related field. This involves getting hands-on experience, typically by interning at a corporation to get a feel for how the different aspects fit together. Depending on a student's chosen area, he or she may need to write and enact a business plan to prove your competency; for example, he or she might need to come up with a marketing or sales plan for a hypothetical product, targeting it at a given demographic.

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