Introduction to Business: Business functions

Business functions are the core activities that every organisation must perform to operate effectively and achieve its objectives. In the OCR A-Level Business specification, this topic covers the four key functional areas: marketing, finance, operations, and human resources. Each function has distinct roles but must work together to ensure the business runs smoothly. For example, marketing identifies customer needs, operations produces goods or services, finance manages money, and HR handles staffing. Understanding how these functions interrelate is crucial for analysing business success and failure.

This topic matters because it provides a framework for understanding how businesses are structured and managed. In the real world, decisions in one function often impact others—for instance, a marketing campaign that boosts sales requires operations to increase production and finance to fund the extra costs. At A-Level, you will be expected to evaluate how well these functions are integrated and how their effectiveness contributes to overall business performance. Mastery of this topic is essential for case study questions and synoptic essays.

Business functions fit into the wider OCR A-Level course by forming the building blocks for more advanced topics like strategy, change management, and decision-making. You will revisit these functions when studying topics such as 'business objectives and strategy' and 'analysing the strategic position'. A strong grasp of the functions allows you to dissect real-world business scenarios, identify functional strengths and weaknesses, and propose justified recommendations.