What is business management?
Knowing exactly what is being done, how and for what reason is essential for the smooth running of any organization, especially because this implies the possibility of anticipating possible mistakes and repairing them, in order to avoid any losses. This is because, for the survival of an enterprise in its market niche to be viable, goals that aim to perform well and, therefore, expand are essential.
In this context, this is basically what business management is all about, given that we can define it as a type of compilation of strategies with the purpose of directing the business to achieve its purposes and achieve expected results. In other words, the activity, in short, encompasses the people, processes, finances , materials and other resources of a company.
In other words, business management is present in all organizational areas — from the simplest to the most complex . However, we will address this issue in more depth later.
What is the importance of business management?
It is possible to say that, since the last decade, digital transformation has been increasingly present in organizations. Furthermore, as new generations fill leadership positions, innovation has gained more space, which has changed business management.
As we have seen, with a very comprehensive concept, the activity “talks” directly to strategic planning, goal setting, process ordering, financial analysis, etc. — in short, everything that involves the environment of an enterprise.
In this context, from a macro view, it can be seen that each of these areas is dependent on good management practices, which makes business management not only important, but essential for the good conduct of the enterprise. Therefore, when questioning its importance, keep in mind that, without it, the success of the business project becomes impossible. That simple!
What are the important management areas in an organization?
When it comes to business management, it is possible to divide it into five key areas, considered the main ones, which are: people management, operations management, finance management, strategic management and, finally, business management. Of marketing. Below, see each of them in detail.
People management
You’ve probably read or heard that the members of a business’ staff are like the “gears” that make it work well — making an association between the enterprise and a machine —, right?! The truth is that human resources (that is, people) truly represent your organization’s greatest asset and, consequently, the way you lead, inspire and motivate employees can have a great impact on how successful it is. your brand can be.
In this sense, it is expected that professionals who lead the people management area have mastery over the main skills related to communication and leadership, in order to act towards building a better strengthened company and as successful leaders. . Given this, it is possible to state that the key functions inherent to the area include:
- the motivation and engagement of the enterprise’s staff;
- conducting selection processes;
- the conduct of layoffs — whether voluntary or involuntary;
- the provision of training for employees, etc.
Operations management
As a business visionary — no matter what the fragment and size of your association — have you at any point pondered, for instance, what occurs in the background of a major brand during the send off of another arrangement available?
The big issue here is that managing a supply chain and ensuring a level of production that meets demand within short pre-established deadlines, although essential for the success of the entire process, from end to end, can be quite complex. .
In this context, operations management is the area that makes the company “work”, delivering services and/or products to end customers. In this case, the main aspects include analyzing and improving productivity, capacity planning, management optimization, inventory control, quality assurance, etc.
It is essential to master the techniques and tools for quality management, for calculating the operations cycle and for organizing the various components of the supply chain.
Finance management
Adequate management of business finances is essential for the operability of an enterprise, given that it involves the accurate study of the situation in which the business finds itself and the variables of its accounting assets. In other words, the activity is responsible for any and all movements of values that occur in the company.
In turn, all this movement is recorded in what we call “financial statements”. For this reason, it is essential that professionals who work in the sector know how to interpret, analyze and prepare financial statements.
Furthermore, business evolution and its maintenance may require acquisitions, large purchases, mergers, investments and more. In this context, well-done financial planning and accurate decision-making not only create value for the business, but also ensure its future growth.
Strategic management
How competitive is your business currently in your industry? How can you stand out among other establishments in the same niche? Is the organization able to adapt to a constantly changing corporate environment?
A company’s ability to have a truly high-level strategic vision is essential for it to be viable to identify new opportunities and stay ahead of any forces that come from outside, such as changes in consumer demands and new competitors.
To do this, you, the entrepreneur, need to know how to develop a strategy that includes studying your competition and searching for new ways to gain a competitive advantage . Strategic management, in this context, reveals itself as the basis for all other areas.
Marketing management
Finally, when it comes to business management, it is important to point out that marketing management is not left out. This is because, in fact, marketing goes far beyond just advertising a product and/or service. It is, in reality, about recognizing the needs of the enterprise’s target audience and establishing interactions with them, staying informed about their preferences — which, eventually, may change —, to deliver a valuable solution.
In this sense, it is necessary to master several concepts and their applications, such as differentiation, segmentation, branding, brand positioning, etc. This area, in itself, is already quite broad and, therefore, can be subdivided into different “types of marketing”, which, in this case, will be aimed at specific objectives, such as:
