The research and development department will basically research through the market and with Microsoft obviously there are always re-developing and upgrading the released software and hardware. Many examples of this can be seen. Firstly we could say that Windows 7 that was released last year was a redeveloped and upgraded version of Windows Vista. A lot of research was done in-order to make it meet customer needs. Hardware such as Xbox 360 was the redeveloped of Xbox.

Microsoft’s R;D department focuses on solving real-world problems ranging from climate changes to global AIDS epidemic, but in addition to this the department is backed via largest successful companies, which allows funding or budgets. The department is split up into 5 different specialist sub-division. They are Windows Azure, Health Solutions, Trustworthy Computing, Unlimited Computing, Unlimited Potential and LiveLabs. The Windows Azure specializes in developing operating systems such as Windows 7, Windows XP, etc. The Health Solutions division helps improve healthcare around the world via the use of technological advancements.

Microsoft will build software which can help medical professionals. Trustworthy Computing is similar to the Quality Assurance department because everything that is developed is made sure of that it meets customer needs and also the products are reliable, secure, and respectfully of privacy. The Unlimited Potential team or division on the other hand is similar to the Human Resources department. This department’s job is to explore the technological progress which allows social and economic opportunity for the underserved people of the world. In addition to this the division also creates jobs and help education.

Finally the LiveLabs teams looks at the every changing world and incubate the next big technological progress and makes sure it tackles urgent societal and technological challenges. Quality Assurance This is another point businesses look at; Microsoft produces some of the most complex software which meet customer requirement whether it be individuals or other businesses, To make sure each of the products produced are up to standard and meet customer requirement testing will take place for every few samples to make sure customer get the right products, the test will check upon the stability, performance, user interface, etc.

If any batch fails to ‘pass’ the quality assurance test they will recheck it or discard it. Human Resources The role of the human resources department in Microsoft is to take on new employees, interview them and find a suitable part of a job in the business. This will include successful trainees that will train the new workers to take on the particular job role and provide them a good job that they would prefer. Another aspect of the Human Resources department is to look out for those that need a holiday (it could be paid holiday, sick leave or suspension).

They will provide the right pay for them. Sales The sales team will take on responsibilities that will look after taking orders from stores, these orders will be taken off from the customer service which will passed on to the sales department to pass on to the production. This department will be looking into selling the product through different methods e. g. Internet, E-mail, Letter, Door-to-Door, etc Administration / ICT The administration department deals with emails, such as ordering products, customers paying for the products.

In Microsoft’s case, customers will send the administration department an email of orders of what they want or other suppliers of Microsoft will send them a e-mail regarding the needed stock of products. ICT is Microsoft’s main specialisation so it’s not unusual for them to use ICT to make calculations of how much profit is made; it can be used to advertise their product (Microsoft have customers who have signed up to email subscription of products and updates). ICT also makes it easier to take payments from customers who are paying over the internet, via credit-card, etc.

In addition to this ICT is also helpful to businesses because they can collect feedback from customers over the internet. All these functional areas in a business are required to run a business each of them link with each other in all aspects. Interlink between Marketing and other department. The finance department will help marketing department with fixing budgets and also analysis promotion of different products. Finance can also help with making sure that money is not overspent on some of the departments

The customer service will help marketing department because if the customer service receives good feedback than they can let the marketing department that they are doing a good job of promotion, whereas if they receive bad feedback or have a problem with the company and something is done than this will have a multiplier effect as it will result in the company having good customer service therefore having good reputation and this will spread among customers and this will help marketing as customer confidence is built up and people will buy more and more from the business thus gaining more money and having more money for other departments

The operations/productions and marketing department have a direct link. The operations department simply makes the product and the marketing department will market it in-order to sells the product. This operation/production will let the Marketing department of what is in stock and what is being produced so that they can forecast and market products to the customers. The quality assurance and marketing are quite interrelated as quality assurance looks at the product and makes sure that it meets customer requirements set by the marketing department.

It’s a two way process as marketing will tell quality assurance department what should be looked for in a product and the required things for a product. The quality assurance in reverse will feedback to the marketing department as whether the products meet customer requirements (it’s always wanted that the product meet customer requirements, otherwise it’s pointless of the product being developed), this will allow marketing to tell customers that their products meet customer requirement thus increasing customer base and increasing revenue.

The human resources and marketing are interrelated as if the staff is well-trained then they are able to market but mainly provide good customer service. The marketing will want the best trained staff as they will need to provide and help customer needs and they will not be able to do this without the help of the human resources. The Admin/ICT and marketing are related as Admin/ICT is making sure that all the departments are communicating well together and marketing will need to know this as they will need communicate with other department.

Good communication means that correct information is provided and marketing can meet customer needs. Other department’s communication Marketing Mix Marketing mix generally known as the four P’s describes the strategic position of a product in the marketplace. The four Ps are a set of tactical marketing tools which work together to allow a business/company to achieve its aims and objectives.

The idea of marketing mix originally came about in 1948 when James Culliton said “that a marketing decision should be a result of something similar to a recipe”. This idea was taken a step further by Neil Borden in 1953 in his American Marketing Association presidential address and coined the term marketing mix. Major market player E. Jerome McCarthy proposed the four P’s classification in 1960 which since then was widely used. The fours P’s are Product, Price, Promotion and Place.