Business Administration Concepts

Agenda

• Introduction
• Basics of Business Administration
• Material
• Production
• Marketing
• Objectives
• Management
• Organization
• Human Resources
• Financing and Investment
• Accounting/Controlling
• Mega Trends and Perspectives

Introduction (What?)

• Understanding Business Administration/Management as a Science
• Knowing the most relevant Cornerstones of Business Administration
• Understanding a Company as an Organism
• Preparing for future courses
• Shifting perspective from customer to producer

Introduction (The Operating Institution (1/2))

• Sourcing (materials, operating resources, human resources)
• Supplies (material, assets)
• Finance & Capital (equity markets, debt)
• Accounting & Controlling (taxes, fees, contributions, grants, subsidies)
• Market (sales, marketing, products/services)
• Government, Private businesses, households/individuals
• Money & Equity markets (deposits/profits, credit/interest)
• All companies have long-term goals and need an "overall model"

Intoduction (The Operating Institution (2/2))

• Company, Financial markets, Financing and Investment
• Procurement markets (production factors, financing)
• Corporate management (target system, corporate strategies, financial balance sheet)
• Corporate controlling
• Costs, Revenue, Sales markets (product goods/services)
• Corporate operational accounting

Basics of Business Administration

• Science
• History of Business Administration Science
• Science and Business

Science

• Identification and increase of knowledge (research)
  • Qualitative (e.g., observation)
  • Quantitative (e.g., data analysis)
• Imparting and broadening knowledge (teaching)
  • Education
  • Training for jobs
  • Universities
  • In-company training
• Business Administration and Science
  • Characteristics of a science with four elements
    • Object of knowledge (economic side of businesses)
    • Knowledge target (theoretical, practical)
    • Methods (interdisciplinary science)
    • System (cause-and-effect mechanisms)
• Business Administration in the Context of Science
  • Ideal sciences (e.g., logic, mathematics)
  • Real sciences (e.g., natural sciences, social sciences)
  • Economic science
  • Business Administration

History of BA Science

• Antiquity (400 B.C.): Lively long-distance trade, Skepticism towards profit, Aristotle: Money has no intrinsic value
• Middle Ages (starting 1200): Compatibility of economy and religion, Thomas Aquinas: Just price, Prohibition of interest
• Modern Times (1650 onwards): State promotes trade, Mercantilism, Maximization of state wealth, Import duties
• 19th Century (1800 onwards): Trade as an industry, National economy (Smith), First industrial revolution, Cheap Labour
• 20th Century (1900 onwards): Birth of modern business administration, First business schools, Business administration as independent science

Needs, Definitions, Principles

• Maslow's hierarchy of needs (basic, physiological, psychological)
• Kinds of individual economies (producers, consumers)
• Maximizing, minimizing, optimizing
• Principles of Effectiveness and Efficiency
• Goods/Physical Goods vs. Non-physical goods (e.g., Services)
• Comparison of market economy and planned economy

Material

• Basics
• Decision-and-function-oriented overall model (constitutive decisions, location/legal form/cooperation, management/controlling, procurement, production, marketing, real/nominal goods, suppliers, customers, economy)
• The object of materials management (supply, disposal, procurement, logistics)
• Objects of materials management and kinds of material (raw materials, auxiliary materials, operating materials)
• Objectives of materials management (deadlines, time, throughput time, procuring costs, materials costs, logistics costs, output, quality, supply readiness)
• Procurement (outsourcing decisions, planning of needs, stocks, supplier policies)
• Requirements types (raw materials, auxiliary materials, other goods/services), production planning and sales planning
• Determining requirements
• Deployment principles (single, stock, just-in-time procurement)
• Cost trends
• Comparison of manual and automatic bearings
• Barcode shapes
• RFID system
• Pallets deployment cycle

Production

• Basics
• Production management (economic design and implementation of transformation of factors using production processes)
• Production as a transformation of input factors into marketable products/services (raw materials, auxiliary materials, consumables, human resources)
• Objectives of production management (deadlines, time, throughput time, production costs, manufacturing costs, output quality)
• Organization (individual production, serial production, mass production)
• Shop floor: Manufacturing and assembly (immovable equipment, workshops, production sequence, productivity, inflexibility)
• Floor: Production and assembly. (fixed equipment, high productivity, high inflexibility regarding product types)
• Group production and assembly/series production (mixture of workshop and flow production)
• Planning (differences between inventory and production planning, independent/dependent demand)

Marketing

• Basics
• Problem solving process (analysis of situation, definition of marketing objectives, definition of marketing strategy, definition of marketing instruments, creation of marketing mix, implementation of marketing concept, marketing evaluation)
• Monitoring functions (controlling, planning, assignment, management, decision)
• Sales market (types, analysis, research)
• Characteristics of a market (customer, object of purchase, purchasing goals, purchase influencers, decision-makers, buyer, user, process, location, etc.)
• Market segmentation (geographical, demographic, socio-psychological, behavioral segmentation)
• Product ideas/idea selection
• Product development process (idea search, concentration, selection, development suggestions, development, definition, construction, prototyping, testing, optimization, market surveys, production, product launch, marketing tools)
• Product design (functionality; service ability; operational safety; susceptibility to failure; durability; value retention)
• Product policy (product retention, diversification, changes, innovation, elimination)
• Place / Distribution (design and control of transferring product from producer to buyer)
• Sales channels (direct, indirect, mixed paths, sales bodies, own bodies, other)
• Degree of distribution
• Franchising (contractual cooperation between independent companies); franchisor; franchisee
• Logistical distribution (activities to transfer entrepreneurial services, right products, time, location, quality, costs)
• Price (causes for price setting, introduction of new products, modifications, changes, perspectives)
• Different perspectives for pricing (cost-oriented, profit-oriented, demand-oriented, competitor/industry-oriented)
• Cost orientation (progressive costing, mark-up costing, full cost accounting, partial cost accounting)
• Profit orientation (profit target, break-even analysis)
• Demand-oriented pricing (based on perceived value by the buyer, market data, demand conditions)
• Competitor/industry orientation (based on competitor prices, industry prices)
• Price differentiation (according to target customer group, sales path, order size, quantity, spatial, time-related)
• Price increases/reductions (economic necessity, active strategy, promotional prices)

Objectives

• Types of objectives (factual, formal)
  • Factual objectives (performance, financial, social/ecological)
  • Formal objectives (overriding, performance)
  • Examples: productivity, economic efficiency, profit and profitability
• Functions of objectives (decision making, coordination, evaluation, motivational)
• Target setting process (will formation, measure decisions, organization, will enforcement, controlling, control)
• Target operationalization (target content, target extent, temporal reference, organizational reference)
• Target ordering/hierarchization (ultimate goal/purpose, intermediate/subgoals)
• Checking for feasibility (resources, target conflicts, time horizons, performance potential, target selection)
• The theoretical base of the target search (premises)
• Reality/empirically determined catalogs of objectives (profit maximisation, existence of "other" goals).

This quiz explores key concepts in business administration, focusing on value judgments and psychological perspectives of companies. It also discusses how objectives are determined and the aspects related to analyzing companies within the field. Test your knowledge on fundamental principles that shape business strategies.