Business Functions of Sainsbury

MAIN BODY

Business Function 1

The value chain model is defined as the model which helps the business in analysing its certain activities with help of which the company can create some value and gain a competitive advantage over the other competitors. This model includes many of the different primary activities and some support activities which help the business in generating the value. The first primary function of the value chain model is the marketing which is used by Sainsbury for its efficient and effective working (Value chain analysis. 2013). The marketing is defined as the promotion of the goods and services in which the company deals. It is very crucial for Sainsbury to have good marketing strategy so that the goods and services of the company are distinct from the competitors and they attain a competitive advantage. The marketing is used in order to target a particular group of the consumers and then with help of different tools and techniques of marketing in order to promote the goods and services.

For example the latest trend in marketing is of the use of digital marketing that is marketing with help of social media. If this will not be used by Sainsbury then the consumer will not like this as the company will not be able to attract the consumer to a great extent. Also, if the company will use this latest social media advertising then this will be beneficial for the company as this will attract more of the consumers and will have a wider reach.

The marketing function is of value to Sainsbury because of the reason that this function try to promote the knowledge of the goods and services to the consumers. This is majorly pertaining to the fact that in marketing all the details of the product and services are mentioned in the marketing advertisement (Brun, 2019). Thus, this educates the consumers with the features and uses of the product and services of Sainsbury. Another value of marketing for the company is that the latest use of social media marketing is very useful because it is less expensive and covers a lot of consumer base at a single time. Also, the marketing as a primary activity of Sainsbury engages the consumers with the company only. This is majorly due to the fact that the marketing increases consumer engagement with the business. This is because here the company can go and personally meet the consumers and interact with them and share the views relating to the goods and services of the company (Ghawana and et.al., 2016). This will help the company in getting the view and suggestion relating to the products of the company and if the consumers find any fault in that then it can be rectified and altered.

Also, this primary activity is also related to other business environment function of Sainsbury. Like for instance, the function of marketing is relating with the finance function as this is the only department which provides and passes the budget for the marketing plan. Also, marketing is connected with human resource as every requirement of the human in the marketing department is fulfilled by the human resource department of Sainsbury only (Castillo-Vergara, Alvarez-Marin and Placencio-Hidalgo, 2018). Further the marketing function also help in identifying the needs and preferences of the consumers with help of market research and this is helpful for the operation department to make changes in the products as per the requirement of the consumers.

Business Function 2

Another function of the business and the value chain is the IT that is Information Technology. The major purpose of this function is that the business environment is becoming more and more advance and many new technology is being coming within the market (Yoo and Roh, 2018). Thus, this information technology department of Sainsbury helps the company in analysing these technological advancement and if they are relevant for the company then it is adopted and otherwise not. Thus, this function is of value to Sainsbury because of the reason that IT department will analyse the changes relating to technology in the market and then to evaluate the importance of this change for the company. It is the duty of this function that they evaluate both the positive and the negative aspect of implementing the change within the company.

For instance, if Sainsbury is not using the latest technology then this will have a major impact over the working efficiency of the company. This is due to the fact that if technology will not be implemented then the consumer will not like this and will not purchase product of the company.

This function of the company is of importance as the use of technology simplifies the way of doing the work by the company. Also, this aims at reducing the human effort and using the technology and making it easier to work for the employees. This function is of value to the other functions within the value chain because of the reason that all the functions are linked with the IT function (Houdijk and et.al. 2016). Like for instance, the marketing department also involves the use of information technology in form of social media marketing and other online marketing instruments. Thus, IT function helps the marketing function in analysing the fact that which method is more useful for the company to adopt. Another relation is with the operations department of the company. This is majorly because of the reason that operations and manufacturing department involves a lot of machines and different types of tools and equipment for manufacturing the goods and services (Koc and Bozdag, 2017).

Within the business environment there are many of the changes and up gradation of the technology and this is noticed and implemented within the company IT department only. Thus, this IT department is also linked with the operation department as this outlines all the latest changes in the manufacturing line. Further this is also linked with the human resource department because there have been many new and advance technology for recruitment and selection of the employees for the position within the company. This is because of the reason that the IT department will analyse all the different options of recruiting and selecting the new candidates. If these new technology will be effective and efficient in the use then the methods will be implemented within the company.

Personal Learning

With the help of the above discussion i learned that use of value chain model is very important for the business to become successful in its operations. This is majorly because of the reason that value chain model includes the different types of business functions and activities which are crucial for the running of the whole business. It is so because of the fact that value chain model includes the primary activities and the supporting activities which help the business in creating the value to the business. Thus, with the use of this model the company can differentiate among the good of company in comparison with the other products. Further i learnt that the model consist of two different types of activities that is primary activities and the supporting activities.

The primary activities are the one which is basic for the running of the company. It means that without these activities the company cannot run its business in the optimal and efficient manner. On the flip side the supporting activities are the one which support of assist the effective working of the primary activities. The primary activities are like inbound logistics, outbound logistics, marketing, sales and other related activities (Shukla, Sharma and Thumar, 2016). On the other hand, the supporting or the secondary activities in Sainsbury are like human resource management, procurement, technological development, infrastructure and many other related activities. For the business to run successfully it is very crucial for them to have a balance between the primary activities and the supporting activities. This is majorly pertaining to the fact that both the primary activities and the secondary activities goes hand in hand and cannot run in isolation.

Thus, from this report i learnt that a combination of both the primary and supporting activities needs to be maintained to a great extent for effective and efficient working (Sun, Law and Schuckert, 2018). This is essentially because of the fact that all these activities need to be maintained in proper and correct manner for the profitable working of the company.

CONCLUSION

From the above study of the facts it can be inferred and concluded that the analysis of the business environment and the business function is very important. Also, the use of values chain model is helpful for the companies to generate some value and competitive advantage for the company. This model includes the two different types of activities that is primary activity and the supporting activities of the business. These are helpful for the company to have effective and efficient working of the company and to increase the profitability of the company. The present report outlined the two business function of the company that is marketing and information technology. In the report the values of these function to the company and the link with other functions of value chain was discussed. In the end the learning from the discussion was discussed in the end of the report.

You may also check more samples from here - 

Business Environment Factors| Bullitt Group Ltd | Vodafone Group PLC

Reflective Analysis Of The Internal Business Environment

Internal Business Environment Study of Unilever