Fundamentals of Business Management

📋 Course Outline

1. Management Functions and Goals
2. Planning, Organising and Leading
3. Human Resource and Purchasing Planning
4. Operations and Supply Chain Management
5. Marketing and Market Types
6. Entrepreneurship and Business Planning
7. Corporate Social Responsibility and Finance

📖 1. Management Functions and Goals

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Performance objectives: Operational performance objectives are the measurable goals an operation sets to meet customer and client needs.
• Efficiency: Efficiency is the ability to perform tasks right by using the relationship between inputs and outputs effectively.
• Effectiveness: Effectiveness is the extent to which an activity achieves its stated goals, regardless of input usage.
• Strategic goals: Strategic goals are long-term targets that guide decisions and direction for the organization over the medium term.

📝 Essential Points

• Performance objectives commonly include higher quality with lower cost, shorter lead time, and low variability with flexibility.
• One incorrect “performance objective” option is lower variability with regard to specification (reliability).
• A correct planning-process order option starts with goal-setting, then developing plans, then implementation, then reactive planning.
• Strategic goals should be clear because tactical goals derive from them.

💡 Memory Hook

Efficiency = Inputs Outputs well; Effectiveness = Goals achieved.