© Boardworks Ltd 2011 1 of 5 2.2 Functional Areas within Business Organizations Unit 2: Business Organizations Functional Areas within Business Organizations.

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2.2 Functional Areas within Business OrganizationsUnit 2: Business Organizations

Functional Areas within Business Organizations

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In order to avoid this, large businesses often have a Research & Development team, responsible for inventing new products, as well as improving existing ones.

Research & Development

Declining sales reduce a business’s income.

scientific advances

technological innovations

new and creative ideas.

Improvements might occur as a result of:

How do you think the Research & Development function affects the other departments?

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Case study: R&D at THORPE PARK

In March 2006, after 11 months of building, THORPE PARK opened the ride Stealth. It is one of Europe’s fastest and tallest launch coasters, but at a cost of £12 million, represented a huge financial consideration for its developers.

cost

what price to charge customers

practicality: where, when, how

profit.

The R&D department designed Stealth, but the Marketing department was also involved in considering:

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Finance and Accounts

How do you think the Finance and Accounts department affects the other areas?

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Assignment: Cookie Monster functional areas

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Cookie Monster is a biscuit manufacturer. It has seven functional areas: Administration, R&D, HR, Production, Customer Services, Marketing & Sales, and Finance.

In groups of two or three you will be given a functional area. You need to create a poster describing the different tasks and responsibilities within that functional area.

You also need to say how thefunctional area could affect otherdepartments at Cookie Monster.

Compare the functional areas in Cookie Monster with those of another well-known organization.