Sales
The sales section of the department is one of the main because it is where the company keeps a check on outcome, income and down falls in sales. Weekly, monthly and yearly checks are carried out to see the company’s biggest sellers and other products which sales need revising. This can also help them in the production of new products because they can see the most popular ones and create a new chocolate incorporating some of the same factors. See appendix .
All of this helps the company achieve its aims and objectives by influencing the public to buy it and assessing the company’s gains and losses in finance. IT also plays an important role in the marketing and sales department because it is the easiest way to access, store and look over information. It is easy to use and employees involved in the department have to be able to understand different programs and formats. There are, many uses for IT in advertising because many of the adverts produced have to be touched up and edited, all done using computer technology.
Operations
In the operations department they deal with:
- Buildings and Land
- Equipment
- People
- Materials
The four basics of the operations department are CELL, Capital, Enterprise, Location and Labour.
Capital
Capital is the posh word for money. Many new businesses get the initial investment needed from loans In banks to relieve money stresses. Most capital does come from the bank in the form of loans but can be a partnership or shareholders money helping you out. Cadburys has a number of shareholders, which they are devoted to making capital for and there are new share holders buying Cadbury shares all the time. It is obvious that Cadburys need money to operate like any other business but because of their huge success they are quite safe and don’t have any serious money issues.
Enterprise
This is where the initial business idea came from and where all the new ideas and events are decided. Cadbury’s have a very good set of entrepreneurs who keep the business fresh and exciting by designing new brands all the time to try and inspire the customer. I could not discover any information about Cadburys entrepreneurs but I expect that they have rather a large team for such a big business. I do know though that they do not accept any ideas from the public, which I found perculiar but I am sure that they have some law-bound explanation.
Land and Buildings
Businesses need land and buildings to work within. Cadbury builders are constantly viewing potential sites for a new Cadbury factory site or a superstore site but it takes a lot of long hard work to find the exact description that they need for their particular business. They also require nearby transport so that products can be shipped around and that visitors could go if they wish.
Labour
There are a whole host of different jobs required in a working business manufacturer. Examples of these are managers, support staff, manufacturers, specialists, product checkers. Like being at school it is up to the operations department to organize and ensure that all staff have a clear, rigid timetable to stick to to keep the business running smoothly. They also have to ensure that he company can cope with a number of sick days and that they are prepared to deal with any problems that may occur within the working staff. Operations must do all of this and get extra staff during busier times to keep the whole work force happy.
Materials
Every business needs to ensure that the raw materials are present to work with. They also need all the little things such as bags for different size souveneirs and boxes constantly in stock. They must also ensure that every thing is accounted for so that nobody is dissatisfied with a product.
Equipment
Operations deals also with the equipment factor and how everything has to be there to use. They also make sure that the vans and trucks are good and that everything is working order. Cadburys is a manufacturer which means that they need an awful lot of machinery to keep up with the work load and make sure that hey don’t get bogged down with stresses of not being able to cope.
Administration and IT support
The Administration and IT support department helps the rest of the business run smoothly. Some of the things they deal with are:
- Clerical work (collecting and distributing mail, keeping records, organizing meetings and responding to enquiries.)
- Cleaning and Maintenance
- Health and Safety
- Security
- Software support, electronic communications and electronic transactions.
Clerical Work
This may not seem to have an important role but it is what keeps a business running smoothly and is a task, which must be done. It is up to Administration and IT support to ensure that everything is set up for things to go ahead and that all meetings are carefully arranged and prepared. This could involve a number of things like remembering to invite everyone who needs to be there, setting up refreshments and even making sure that chairs and tables are correctly set up so as to not ruffle any body’s feathers. I also emailed the Cadbury’s enquiry email address twice and although in both cases they were not allowed to give me the required information, they replied within a day and personalized the message to ensure that it had been directly meant for you. See appendix .
Health and Safety
With Cadbury’s being in the food industry it is vital that they ensure good health and safety standards otherwise they would have the threat of closure and having the company taken away. To ensure good health Cadburys make sure that all of their staff are constantly having checkups and if they are even slightly ill they have the time of work if they handle food products to make sure that nothing spreads. Safety is more involved with machinery and heavy things which have regular checks to show that they are harmless. A lot of what is neede to guarantee that the factories are clean and tidy comes a lot into the next section, cleaning and maintenance.
Cleaning and Maintenance
As the name suggests, this sector does exactly what it says it does. This is along with repairing any broken equipment and cleaning the men’s toilets, great. Yet somebody has to do that job and Cadburys has to employ them. Cleaning and Maintenance is important because of the issues surrounding it like the health and safety measures, that’s why health and safety and cleaning and maintenance go hand in hand. I cant really give any evidence on this section because there is no information to support it but it is obvious what occurs.
Software support, Electronic Communications and Electronic Transactions
This is where the It support part of the sector comes into it. They deal with everything involving computers int heir offices. Software support is the general repair and help with any computer breakdowns or viruses. Electronic Communications includes things such as emailing and document downloads to telephone calls and text messages. This is very vital to the business because without communication it wouldn’t run because everybody would be trying to work individually rather than as a team. I would think that electronic communication involves mainly written communication in the form of emails but telephone conversations are oral. Transactions are banking and credit crds. However these are more everyday things, for a large business this would probably involve taking large sums of money out of the bank to fund a new project. This means that the money must be protected and guarded to guarantee that it isn’t stolen or misplaced.
Security
Security also has a range of different things that it involves, from alarms to patrol men, all essential to looking after the business. In Cadbury factories across Britain there are probably thousands of pounds worth of security items which watch over the multi million pound business. Security may also be the protection maybe of somebody very high status in the company who could be at threat of kidnapping, maybe for a ransom.
Criterion 2C
Cadbury’s
Co-operation
Examples of circumstances in which co-operation is needed
- All companies face new challenges or problems over time and these need to be organized, with the help of each of the departments in the business. My first example is a new chocolate range, completely different to the normal things that they do.
To begin the Operations department needs to ensure that the business has the equipment and materials to make the new product and that the recipe is successful. After the completion of the product the Marketing and Sales department needs to design packaging around the chocolate bar and its qualities, taste, texture and presentation. This would take a rather long time to design and then when the packaging has been decided the operations department needs to make sure that they are processed. When the initial packaging is complete the marketing members need to decide if they are going to advertise and what the advert would include. Throughout this whole process the Administration and IT support department have been keeping things clean, taking orders, ensuring all machinery is of a good standard and making sure that it all fits the bill for health and standards regulations. With the co-operation of the sectors and all the others in the business this business activity can be achieved with some hard grafting.
- Cadbury’s have decided that their computers are too old and out of date and that they need to buy new, more developed in technology ones.
Operations would be the first involved as they need to decide what specific computers they need to fit the needs of the business and the job that they will be used for. Then the order would be sent and delivered. When the new computers are delivered Administration and IT support would check them out and make sure that they are the correct order. Marketing and Sales wouldn’t need to get involved with this activity unless maybe Cadbury’s sold on the old computers, then they may become involved.
- Cadbury’s is losing out money on a particular product
The finance department would have been the first to discover the products failure and why this may be so. Then the whole board could decide whether the product needs to be repackaged and if it would make a difference or if they should take it off the market completely. If they decided to try and restyle it, the marketing and sales department would have to do so. This would in turn involve the operations department who are in charge of materials and any new materials needed would have to be bought. They may even have the Administration and it support department publish new posters and have letters sent out about the new look of the product.
Achievement of Aims and Objectives
Marketing and Sales
Marketing and Sales play a big role in a business and help the business a lot in the completion of its aims and objectives. The aims that they help with are to introduce new products successfully to its customers, to have a higher quality of products than its competitors and to make a profit on sales and improve the quality of chocolates that are not selling well. The marketing and Sales department do this by there great promotion, advertising and selling techniques.
Operations
Operations are what keep a business new and fresh, and make sure that things are there. Some of Cadbury’s aims and objectives that Operations help make do able are to make a difference to the people of the Bournville site, to lead in the area of community interest. They complete these aims and objectives by raising and earning money and making sure that the equipment needed for workers is available. They also have a team of entrepreneurs to help them design new chocolates, which will captivate the public audience.
Administration and IT support
This department is what keeps a business running smoothly on a day to day basis. They help with all of the aims and objectives of the business because without the department the business would be dirty, unorganized and would have a poor quality of IT technology. They complete the aims and objectives by ensuring that cleaners are properly fulfilling their role and that the IT is satisfactory to standards. They also organize all of the mail and orders, which help a business such as Cadbury’s complete orders and do deliveries on time.
Criterion 2A
Advantages and Disadvantages of how these four functional areas work together
Advantages
- All of the sectors I have covered all have dramatically different roles so that there is less chance of a dispute over opinion on subject matters.
- With the Administration and It support they have to be sure of letter deliveries and meetings being on time so these functional areas would all have organization together.
- All of the departments probably have a lot of support for each other because they are unrelated which would result in the help with completion of different tasks set within the departments of the business
Disadvantages
- If the Administration department was to forget to order something it would/could affect all of the business departments, all because of one little mistake.
- Maybe little connection between department activities could make the departments not so strong as a team
Changes
I don’t think that it should be up to the operations department to give new ideas and decide whether to use them or not, I feel that this should be the job of the Marketing and Sales department because they deal with most of the things which would be involved in the discovery of new products, designs and schemes. I do not know and couldn’t find out whether or not the company holds regular meetings involving all departments to keep a check on how everyone is doing dependently and how things could be developed for the whole company to work better as a team. If I was a manager ofa large business such as Cadburys I would make it mandatory for these meetings to be held involving different people to keep a check on the business and the feelings of my employees. I think that this would result in a better atmosphere at the work place and much more efficient quality of work.
Effect on aims and objectives
The advantages and disadvantages between the departments all help in a way because a disadvantsage can always be resolved and changed to make it into an advantage so in the circumstances the business has a very high chance of successfully reaching their aims and objectives. What all of the departments in the business need to do to achieve their goals is to work together, efficiently and not forgetting happily to ensure the best working environment and result overall
Criterion 2A
Cadbury’s
Advantages
- All of the departments have their own main role so they cannot make up to many of the decisions if it does not really relate to them
- Both Operations and Marketing and Sales are involved with the design of new products which means that more people are involved making the choice of what to be produced much more likely to be the right one.
- They are all working for the same business so any little disputes which do occur will be fixed rapidly because the workplace cannot afford poor quality staff and work
- Combined resources
Disadvantages
- Disagreements are bound to happen now and then so the final decisions would probably be put down to a vote.
- Conflict of interests
- The final decisions are always made by the head person so even if a lot of people do not agree with something they still can overrule them.
Changes
If I could make some changes within the functional areas of the Cadbury’s business I would probably split Administration and IT support into two areas so that they would have a more direct task with less of a broad field. I would also take away sales control from the marketing and sales department because in my opinion the finance department should look after all of the factors involving money so it should be up to their department.
Aims and Objectives
I think that a business would be nothing without a clear lineout of departments so that everything is kept orderly and managed by a particular person.
