General Business Administration Overview

General Business Administration Bachelor Program

• Offered by Wiesbaden Business School
• Instructor: Prof. Dr. Markus Faber
• Hochschule RheinMain

Course Agenda

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

Introduction - Why?

• Questions to consider: why would you choose business administration?
• Importance for students: what makes the course relevant for the individual

Introduction - What?

• Objectives: understanding business administration/management as a science, knowing cornerstones of business administration, understanding a company as an organism, preparing for future courses, changing perspective
• System approach: 'Systems' are central to the understanding.

Introduction - What? (Continued)

• The top 50 most valuable companies in the world (2023): Includes data on market cap and sector with graphical representation including country breakdown
• Image of an operating institution (two parts) shows connections between various factors (suppliers, materials, assets, finance, production, marketing, government, sales markets and various actors)

Introduction - How/When?

• Relevant information: available on StudIP
• Required literature: Wöhe - Introduction to General Business Administration (27th edition, Vahlen) and other recommended materials
• Emphasis on course script and content

Basics of Business Administration

• Introduces the field of business administration/management
• History of business administration as a scientific discipline
• Parameters of a scientific discipline (identification and increase of knowledge, imparting and broadening of knowledge)
• Business administration in the context of other sciences

History of BA Science

• Main steps of development from Antiquity to the 20th century
• Key historical periods and their influences

Science and BA

• Maslow's hierarchy of needs: visual depiction, outlining basic through self-actualization needs

Science and BA (Continued)

• Kinds of individual economies (producers, consumers, private, governmental).
• Definition of a company: open, dynamic, complex, autonomous, market-oriented, social system
• Guiding principles of companies: Maximizing (achieving maximum output), Minimizing (achieving maximum output with minimum inputs), Optimizing (achieving maximum output with minimal input)

Science and BA (Continued)

• Effectiveness: assessment of achievement toward goal (measurable by efficiency and profitability)
• Efficiency: analysis of the relationship between the service provided and use of resources (measurable by productivity)
• Goods: physical or non-physical goods and services
• Comparison of market economy and centrally planned economy

Science and BA (Continued)

• Code of conduct: Visible reality vs. Value judgments.
• Distinction between practical normative direction and evaluative direction with respect to the nature of the disciplines underlying business administration.

Material Basics

• Decision- and function-oriented overall model (diagram)
• Material management object: supply and disposal of materials for various areas, in line with procurement and logistics principles
• Types of materials: raw materials, auxiliary materials, operating materials, consumables.

Material Procurement

• Procurement objectives: ensure a needs-based supply of goods for operational provision of services
• Strategically: outsourcing decisions (make-or-buy), quantity of suppliers, locations
• Operatively: planning needs, planning stocks, procurement policies, supplier policies
• Requirements planning: procurement planning (raw materials, auxiliary materials, other goods/services), production planning (unfinished goods, finished goods), sales planning
• Determining requirements using parts list (e.g., vehicle, landing gear, floor assembly, wheels, wheel nut, rim)
• Deployment principles: Single Procurement (emphasize short storage, low capital, and low storage costs), Stock Procurement (emphasize low per-product cost from higher quantities, but risks of storage and obsolescence), Just In Time (low storage and relatively low procurement costs, but higher planning needed)
• Cost trends and order volumes (chart - total costs, storage cost and order costs)

Material Storage

• Comparison of manual and automatic bearings: pros and cons of each storage system are identified, including costs, space requirements, picking efficiency and personnel training
• Barcode shapes: linear, stacked, 2d (QR), 3d (color)
• Schematic structure of a passive RFID system (diagram)
• Pallets and containers cycle: various stages of the cycle (forwarding, commerce etc.) and challenges (returning/filling, documentation, damaged pallets)

Production Basics

• Production management is the economic design and implementation of the transformation of existing production factors into products/services
• Production as a transformation of input factors into marketable products/services.
• Objectives of production management: costs (production costs, manufacturing costs), time (deadline compliance, throughput time), output (quantity, quality)
• Types of production (individual, serial or mass depending on run size and batch size)

Production Organization

• Shop floor manufacturing and assembly: immobile equipment and product transport between workshops
• Floor production and assembly: fixed equipment sequentially arranged
• Group production and assembly/series production: combination of workshop-style flexibility and flow efficiency
• Differences in inventory management vs. production planning: Stock levels for final product vs. demand for intermediate products
• Process of Production Planning (Business Planning, Aggregated Planning, Master Production Scheduling, Material Requirement Planning, Process Planning), Manufacturing Resource Planning.
• Dimensions of Aggregation: regarding time (years, hours/seconds), regarding spatial (company, machine), regarding factual (financials, process)
• Production control alternatives: Push (central control, ordering/approval) and Pull (decentral control, taking/ordering)

Marketing Fundamentals

• Problem solving process (situational analysis, objective definition, strategy definition, instruments definition, mix creation, implementation, evaluation), Monitoring functions
• Sales market: all consumers purchasing the company's goods and services
• Key characteristics of a market (customer, object of purchase, purchase goals, initiator, influencer decision-maker, buyer user, purchase process and purchase location)
• Market segmentation methods: Geographical, Demographic, Socio-psychological, Behavioral
• Product ideas and their analysis (fit in portfolio, technical feasibility, risk assessment, capacity assessment)

Marketing Product Design

• Key considerations for product design (functionality, service ability, safety, failure susceptibility, durability, value retention)

Marketing Product Policy

• Product retention, product changes, product innovation, product elimination
• The horizontal, vertical, and lateral diversification of a product line.

Marketing Place

• Distribution: designing and controlling the transfer of products from producer to buyer
• Sales channels: (direct, indirect, mixed paths), sales bodies (own, others).
• Logistics: storage, order processing and transportation
• Degree of distribution:
• Direct sales path structure: producer, consumer
• Indirect sales path structure: producer, wholesaler, retailer, consumer
• Franchising: contractual agreements between parties involved with transfer of rights to distribute goods and services

Marketing Pricing

• Conditions policy: terms and conditions including prices, rebates, discounts, financing etc.
• Pricing policy decision: corresponds to all decisions in the sales program serving to shape price-performance ratios for customers
• Practice oriented price determination: heavily influenced by the risk appetite of decision-makers, competitors and marketing strategy, pricing strategy
• Causes for price changes: increases (economic necessity or active strategy, oversupply, capacity utilization, etc), reductions (cost increases, inflationary trends)
• Different perspectives for pricing: cost-oriented, profit-oriented, demand-oriented, competitor/industry-oriented and price differentiation strategy, including considerations like time-related,
• Cost orientations: progressive costing/markup pricing, full cost accounting, and partial cost accounting, including determining minimum price (a price floor)

Marketing Promotion

• Communication policy and public relations: disseminating info to current and potential customers and those interested in the company
• Public relations: building trust and creating relationships between a company potential partners and other stakeholder groups
• Advertising concepts: functions of advertising, main advertising objectives including announcement, information, image building and triggering action, elements of the marketing concept, advertising period, media and material and advertising message
• AIDA concept (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), promotional message contents (brand, product properties, benefits, status of product, advantages vis-a-vis competitors, product availability and conditions of purchase/price, special services.)

Explore the foundations of business administration with insights into its relevance and significance in today's world. This course covers various essential topics, including management, marketing, financing, and human resources. Get ready to understand business as a dynamic system and its implications for future learning.