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Understanding Supporting Services – Definition, Importance, and Examples

Introduction.

When discussing the success of any business, it’s important to understand the concept of supporting services. These services play a crucial role in enhancing customer experience, increasing satisfaction, and ultimately building long-term customer relationships. In this blog post, we will explore the definition of supporting services, their importance in various industries, and provide examples to illustrate their significance. By the end of this article, you will have a solid understanding of supporting services and why businesses must prioritize them.

Definition of Supporting Services

Supporting services refer to the additional services or amenities provided by a business to complement its core offerings. They are designed to enhance the customer experience and provide added value beyond the primary product or service being offered. Supporting services can vary greatly depending on the industry and can include anything from customer support to concierge services to appointment scheduling.

Supporting services are essential in numerous industries as they contribute to overall customer satisfaction and help businesses differentiate themselves from competitors. These services are intended to address customers’ needs and expectations beyond the core service and aim to ensure a seamless and positive experience throughout the customer journey.

It’s crucial to note the difference between core services and supporting services. While core services are the primary offerings that define a business, supporting services serve as supplementary elements that enhance the core service. Understanding this distinction is key to recognizing how supporting services contribute to a business’s success.

Importance of Supporting Services

Enhancing customer experience.

One of the primary reasons supporting services are essential is their ability to enhance the overall customer experience. By providing convenient and user-friendly services, businesses can make their customers’ lives easier and more enjoyable. This convenience factor can be a significant differentiating factor between competitors, as customers are more likely to choose a business that offers a seamless experience.

Additionally, supporting services provide an opportunity for businesses to offer additional value to their customers. By going above and beyond their core offerings, businesses can surprise and delight their customers, fostering a positive perception and building strong customer loyalty.

Increasing Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Another important aspect of supporting services is their impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. When businesses meet or exceed customer expectations with their supplementary services, customers are more likely to associate positive feelings with the brand. This, in turn, leads to higher satisfaction levels and increased customer loyalty.

By consistently providing reliable and high-quality supporting services, businesses can build long-term relationships with their customers. Satisfied customers are more likely to become repeat customers and advocates for the brand, spreading positive word-of-mouth and contributing to the business’s success.

Examples of Supporting Services

Let’s take a closer look at some examples of supporting services in different industries to better understand their practical applications and impact on customer experience.

Hospitality Industry

In the hospitality industry, supporting services are crucial for providing exceptional guest experiences. Some examples of supporting services in this industry include:

• Concierge services: Hotels often provide concierge services to assist guests with various needs, such as restaurant reservations, booking tours, or arranging transportation.
• Room service: Offering room service allows guests to enjoy meals or refreshments in the comfort of their own rooms.
• Transportation and shuttle services: Providing transportation options or shuttle services for guests to explore the area or move between different locations.

E-commerce Industry

In the e-commerce industry, supporting services play a vital role in ensuring customer satisfaction throughout the online shopping process. Some examples of supporting services in this industry include:

• Order tracking and delivery services: Allowing customers to track their orders and providing reliable delivery services, ensuring customers receive their purchases in a timely manner.
• Customer support services: Offering accessible customer support channels, such as live chat or a dedicated support team, to assist customers with any inquiries or issues they may encounter.
• Returns and exchange policies: Implementing clear and hassle-free returns and exchange policies, providing customers with peace of mind when making a purchase.

Healthcare Industry

In the healthcare industry, supporting services are essential for enhancing patient satisfaction and facilitating a comprehensive healthcare experience. Some examples of supporting services in this industry include:

• Appointment scheduling services: Providing online or automated appointment scheduling options to streamline the process and reduce wait times for patients.
• Hospitality services (e.g., valet parking, food services): Creating a comfortable environment for patients and their families, offering amenities such as valet parking and food services.
• Patient education and support programs: Implementing educational resources and support programs to help patients better understand their conditions and engage in self-care.

Understanding the definition and importance of supporting services is crucial for businesses aiming to prioritize customer satisfaction and build long-term relationships with their customers. Supporting services, with their ability to enhance customer experience and increase satisfaction, play a key role in differentiating businesses from competitors. Through the examples provided in this blog post, it is evident that supporting services are crucial across diverse industries, such as hospitality, e-commerce, and healthcare.

As businesses strive for success, it is essential to recognize the significance of supporting services. By prioritizing the creation and provision of supporting services, businesses can meet and exceed customer expectations, foster loyalty, and ultimately contribute to their overall success. So, whether you run a hotel, an online store, or a healthcare facility, never underestimate the influence of supporting services on your customers’ satisfaction and your business’s prosperity.

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What are business support services

What are business support services.

Business support services play a crucial role in supporting an organization’s core processes .   They facilitate the production or delivery of services to the organization’s customers while also supporting other internal functions. In essence, they enable the smooth functioning of the entire organization.

Typically business support services are:

• Financial Management and Accounting: Handling financial transactions, budgeting, and financial reporting.
• Administration and management of human resources
• IT services  Providing technology solutions, software development, and system maintenance.
• Facility management services  - Overseeing physical infrastructure, maintenance, and safety.
• Office management services: Efficiently managing office operations and resources.
• Governance, Process and Enterprise Management Support Services
• Legal Support Services

Business support services are essential for enterprises, especially during the critical phases of starting up and scaling. In this article, we’ll explore the top ten business support services that can contribute to your success. These services span legal, financial, marketing, and branding domains.

List of most common business support services

Business support services refer to a range of services that are designed to help enterprises operate efficiently and effectively. These services can include administrative, financial, marketing, legal, and other support services that are essential for the smooth running of a business. Company support services can be provided by internal staff or external service providers, and they can be customized to meet the specific needs of a business. These services can help enterprises save time and money, improve productivity and efficiency, and stay competitive.

• Payroll processing services
• Tax services
• Legal services
• Bookkeeping services
• Maintenance services
• Software development services
• Training services
• Event production services
• Consulting services
• Marketing services
• Waste management services
• Health and wellness services
• Financial services
• Insurance services
• Security services
• Transport services
• Delivery services
• Property services
• Printing services
• Personal care services
• Maintenance, calibration, repair services
• Tech support services
• Translation services
• Parking services
• Public relations services

How support services are provided

• Support services are provided by the company itself
• Support services are purchased from suppliers

How to manage support services

To manage support services you need to keep information about them. It also depends on whether you provide them yourself (internal services) or whether you buy them from providers. In both cases, however, for an internal customer, the actual provider, i.e. the one who guarantees the required service level (SLA), is an organizational unit or a specific responsible person within the organization. Not a specific employee, as a customer of an internal service will communicate directly with an external supplier.  

• Keeping an overview, a catalog of services with the definition of their level (SLA)
• Managing requests from users
• Reporting incidents and problems around services
• Managing relationships with service providers
• Continuous service improvement and change management
• What is a service
• What are support processes
• What is SLA
• Purchased IT services
• What are IT services
• Fundamentals of asset & facility management
• What is HRM

Support functions are essential components of an organization that do not directly produce the core products or services offered by the company. Instead, they provide the necessary infrastructure, expertise, and assistance that enable the primary functions of the business to operate efficiently.

These functions are critical to an organization’s overall performance, as they contribute to improving productivity, minimizing risks, enhancing decision-making, and optimizing the allocation of resources. Support functions ensure that the core operations run smoothly and effectively, allowing the organization to achieve its objectives and goals.

In the graphic below, you can explore the types of support functions.

What is the role of Support Functions?

Support functions are the backbone of any organization, and their significance cannot be underestimated. What do they do if they are so essential?

Support functions optimize the organization’s processes and operations, leading to improved efficiency and productivity. Some examples?

Legal and compliance functions help an organization navigate complex regulatory environments, reducing the risk of legal issues and penalties. Effective risk management is essential for the long-term stability and reputation of the organization.

Finance and procurement functions are crucial for controlling costs and ensuring that resources are used wisely. By managing budgets and making strategic purchasing decisions, these functions contribute to the financial health of the organization.

R&D departments drive innovation by developing new products or services, helping the organization stay competitive and grow in the long term. Support functions like marketing and communications contribute to expanding the organization’s market presence and driving growth.

Human Resources play a critical role in attracting, developing, and retaining talent. A skilled and motivated workforce is essential for the organization’s success and growth. Customer support and marketing functions are essential for building and maintaining strong relationships with customers. Satisfied customers are more likely to become repeat customers and advocates for the brand.

Facilities and maintenance functions ensure that the physical infrastructure of the organization is in good condition, providing a safe and comfortable work environment for employees.

IT departments protect the organization’s sensitive data and information from security breaches and cyber threats, ensuring business continuity and customer trust.

What are Supporting Functions in Operations Management?

In the operations management, supporting functions are integral to ensuring the smooth and efficient execution of an organization’s core processes. These functions encompass a broad range of activities that facilitate, enhance, and optimize operational processes. They can include demand forecasting, inventory management, quality control, supply chain coordination, and production planning. Demand forecasting helps an organization anticipate customer demand, enabling it to plan production and distribution effectively. Inventory management is crucial for balancing stock levels to meet demand while minimizing carrying costs. Quality control ensures that products or services meet defined standards, reducing defects and customer dissatisfaction.

Additionally, supply chain coordination involves managing relationships with suppliers, optimizing procurement processes, and ensuring timely deliveries. Production planning is essential for scheduling production activities, allocating resources, and optimizing manufacturing processes. In essence, supporting functions in operations management are vital for achieving operational excellence and meeting customer expectations while maintaining cost-effectiveness.

To finalize…

Support functions in an organization are the base of the whole business machinery. While they may not directly produce the core products or services, their contributions are indispensable for the success and sustainability of the business. These functions drive efficiency, manage risks, allocate resources, and support the growth and innovation of the organization. It is crucial for organizations to recognize the importance of support functions and invest in them wisely to ensure their continued effectiveness. By doing so, organizations can build a strong foundation for achieving their goals and thriving in today’s competitive business environment.

Agnieszka Sadowska-Janik 

Program Manager & Senior Consultant

Adaptive Solutions and Advisory Group

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Support Services

This article covers meaning, importance & example of Support Services from marketing perspective.

What is Support Services?

Support Services are the activities and processes required for successful execution and completion of a revenue generating core program or process efficiently and within the expected time frame and cost. The support services are managed mostly by a separate department like admin, IT, payroll, customer service, after sales support etc. It is extremely important for any organization to have good support services to succeed in their business. Support services are important for the immediate relief of the internal as well as external customers and clients. 

Importance of Support Services

Support services are very important for running an efficient business. The core processes cannot run on their own without support. There are many processes also known as auxiliary processes which are important for making sure that the revenue generation does not stop. One the most important aspect of any business is the workforce. The workforce work on the core processes. The workforce in itself has lots of requirements in terms of wages, insurance, support and other things so there is a HR and payroll departments. Similarly IT, admin, security all these departments make sure that the core processes work as smoothly as possible.

In terms of customer service, the support departments are very critical. The business should offer support on multiple channels to improve their association with the stakeholders. It is must for a business to be ubiquitous in today’s changing environment. Also, the need of the hour is to listen and respond to all the queries in a timely manner.

The customer’s behavior very much depends on the after sales support services. Therefore, all the companies should focus on driving the customer satisfaction through various activities.

• Complementary Services
• Services Theatre Framework

Benefits of Support Services

1.The better the quality of the support services higher will be the business growth.

2.The increase in customer satisfaction would lead to repeat purchase and will infuse brand loyalty. This will improve the reputation of the company.

3.Understanding the customer mindset and expectations will help the business develop product as per the customer’s needs.

4.Good support services will help reduce the employee turnover with the profits being shared with the employees leading to higher satisfaction.

5.Support services can serves as an ample source of information that can be used for the evaluation of the product and services.

Example of Support Services

Let us say a company is into manufacturing and selling cars. So the process of making a car, assembling a car and selling a car are the core processes which generate revenue but there are multiple support services which play critical role. For manufacturing a car, extensive use of manpower and robotics is expected. Manpower needs proper management which would include HR, payroll and benefits services which would keep them motivated and secure in order to work on the main assembly line. Also to maintain robotics and all the IT systems a proper IT department is expected who would try to understand the issue and fix them within the right time so that it doesn't affect the core business.

Continuing with the same example, after the car is sold, the car owner might have some queries or issues with the car, the customer service support and the dealership network need to resolve them effectively. All these departments may not be part of the core process of car making but they support the process throughout and make it successful.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Support Services along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team which comprises of MBA students, management professionals, and industry experts. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team . The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

Browse the definition and meaning of more similar terms. The Management Dictionary covers over 1800 business concepts from 5 categories.

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Everything You Should Know About Business Support Services – Benefits, Examples, and Working

Business support services (BSS) are services provided by an outsider business which your business to grow without you worrying about employing additional staff. These types of services are there to target the pain points of your business. Many departments use these services like human resources, commerce, information technology and customer service.

Typically these business systems are considered services related to Information technology. Businesses consider hiring third-party support systems to learn and get trained with the latest technologies in IT which help in nurturing their business. These services make sure the business efficiently operates technology by providing the necessary support.

How do business support systems help you?

You can make money by saving time for your business using support services. Getting someone to do some tedious tasks enables you to concentrate on important tasks that generate revenue. The support service adds value to your business by sparing you from spending your resources and time on pain points.

Large companies are always hunting for ways to smooth their operations, and outsourcing is a popular option. Outsourcing involves having another company provide services that were traditionally provided by employees. Small businesses want to stay lean and profitable, so they switch to outsourcing rather than increasing salaries. These services involve outsourcing different supporting services by companies.

According to an estimate the global business support services market developed from $561.32 billion in 2021 to $621.03 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6%. This depicts the popularity and wide scope of support services for a business.

Advantages of Business Support

Hiring support services for your business can offer the following benefits:

Reduced expenses

Many support service providers charge business organizations only those services that help the business succeed. Seeking support services allows a business to reduce the cost of hiring full-time employees for that service. This also helps in cutting maintenance charges.

Optimization

Support services help prevent operational issues,  in integrating strategies, and optimize the use of technology and other processes within your organizations.

Increasing Profitability

When businesses seek support services for various services this will help them in generating revenue by focusing on profitable tasks and building strategic relationships to grow businesses.

Better customer service

Support services also allow companies to better manage customer service by providing multiple support channels that can be used to strengthen relationships with employees and stakeholders. Once customers get the feeling of being heard and cared for they are likely to become loyal to the business. Increased customer satisfaction increases a business’s prestige.

Examples of Business Support Services

These types of support services usually encompass a wide range of services. Some of the services offered are as followed:

Information technology (IT) services may enable businesses to access the technical tools and information they use in their work processes and daily tasks. Furthermore, these services allow employees to interact with technology to help them do their jobs or communicate with each other.  Cloud services, voice-over-internet protocol, technical support, network security, email services, information reporting, remote support and service software are some IT services provided by the professionals.

Human Resource Management

HR and people management perform several functions such as staffing, job evaluation, workforce utilization and staff performance analysis. Support services can improve this process by providing the necessary assistance to complete these tasks. This gives HR professionals more time to direct their attention to the most important tasks.

Sales and profitability

Some support services professionals help in increasing clients by introducing consistent marketing strategies and by assisting customers in finding their desired products and services.

Supporting Administration

Common services used by businesses include services that assist with administrative processes within an organization. Also, these tasks require several small tasks that can take up the administrator’s time. Examples of administration supporting services being offered include updating customer databases, entering data, and answering customer and employee correspondence.

Customer Support service

Another support service commonly used by businesses involves customer services that many companies depend on to keep their customers happy. If there is not a proper services department in a company it might face difficulties in meeting the needs of customers. Hence, to solve this issue many businesses might consider third-party customer services which are the cheaper and paradigmatic solution.

Training services

Small businesses and companies often seek training services from these service providers to improve their workforce in entrepreneurial, management and technical skills.

 Banking services

Providing banking services allows businesses to build credibility, reduce the risk of handling cash and safely storing money.

 Business incubators

One most insightful support services for small businesses is business incubators which provide a nurturing environment to small businesses. These business incubators provide training, marketing assistance, networking and many other facilities to help cultivate the business.

Online freelancing platforms

There are many online platforms where freelancers offer their support services to a business remotely to help grow your business. Companies big and small are leveraging the workforce of freelancers to aid their businesses in several ways and making work flexibility a norm.

These online freelancing platforms are marketplaces where businesses can find and hire individual professionals for supporting their businesses. The support services offered by these contractors have a broad range encompassing the following services:

• Proofreading,
• Word processing
• Tape Transcription
• Spreadsheet design
• Report writing
• Call services
• Mail receiving and forwarding
• Database management
• Bookkeeping, check preparation and billing
• Content writing
• Online business consultation

 How to start a Support System?

You can offer a wide range of business supporting services. If you are good at writing, you can proofread read, write resumes, articles and reports. If you have expertise in a specific field, you may target your service to that field. Make contacts and communicate with other businesses to let them know that you are available on a contract basis. Therefore, we recommend that you select one or more key market groups to target. By targeting a very specific market area, you can customize your service offerings, marketing efforts, and customer service system to meet the needs of that segment. In any business, a professional image is a crucial element of success. Whether you opt to provide your services by working at home or by choosing a commercial location always present the appearance of being a serious service provider.

Conclusion:

Business support services add value to your business by sparing you from spending your resources and time on pain points. Professional Service providers help stimulate your business development by optimizing business operations and by providing administrative and technical support that covers just the right touch points for your business growth.

Business support services (BSS) are services often hired by a business to outsource additional tasks to an outsider business to save cost and time. These services eliminate the need to employ additional staff to handle the pain points of your business. Departments such as customer service, information technology, and human resources use business support services to help run a business efficiently.

Examples of business support services include customer support, administrative assistance, bookkeeping and accounting, IT support, marketing and advertising, human resources, legal and compliance services, customer support, logistics and supply chain management, and facility management. Business support services facilitate businesses to streamline their operations, enhance productivity, and focus on their core activities, ultimately improving their bottom line.

Business support services can help your business maximize numerous benefits such as cost savings, increased efficiency, access to specialized expertise, scalability, time savings, and risk mitigation. By outsourcing non-core tasks, these services allow a business to focus more on its core operations, gain operational efficiency, and access professional support, leading to improved productivity and growth opportunities.

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Home » Blog » What are Support Services in Business

What are Support Services in Business

Whether you are a large company or a small business, you might get overwhelmed with everything that comes with your business operations. 

Your delivery schedules, accounting, purchase orders, and other supporting processes are crucial aspects of your business, but they can also take up your work hours and resources.

This is where outsourcing your business support services come in handy. 

By outsourcing your support services, you can redirect your time, workforce, and energy into your core processes, and ultimately help your business grow. In this post, let’s take a look at what business support services are and how outsourcing them can benefit your business. Ready? Let’s start. 

1. Support services are necessary for your business operations. 

Your business support services can include your clerical and administrative tasks, which are vital to your business operations. 

This also includes your support services personnel like your bookkeepers, web designers, IT staff, and accountants who help run your business processes smoothly. 

However, although necessary, there are some support services that your business might not require full-time or long-term. 

So instead of hiring full-time employees for these positions, you can outsource the business support services that you need to third-party providers to allow for staffing flexibility. 

This way, you can ensure that your business gets the support services you need to maintain operations without having to deal with the hiring process and the costs that come with it. 

2. Support services play a crucial role in the growth of your business. 

Let’s face it.

Your business is bound to face peaks and dips – depending on many factors like the type of products and services you offer, customer demands, and more. 

This can make maintaining your support services challenging, especially when you’re scaling your business. 

By outsourcing, you can retain your support services on a temporary or seasonal basis, without compromising the efficiency and productivity of your business operations. 

Plus, outsourcing allows you more flexibility when you’re expanding your business by letting you use support services that you only need in certain seasons. 

This helps you save on costs, allowing you to redirect your budget to other aspects of your business and keep operations running, even during your low seasons.  

3. Support services lower your costs. 

Remember that support services are necessary for your business operations, but it doesn’t mean you need to spend so much that you don’t have anything left for your core processes. 

Outsourcing to third party providers can be your cost-efficient solution. 

For instance, instead of paying an accountant 40 hours a week to work on limited tasks for your business, you can work with companies that outsource office task services .

Doing so allows your business to get the support services that you need at a lower cost and allocate your savings to other aspects of your operations. 

Plus, with the savings that outsourcing your support services can give, you can focus on investing your resources on your core processes. 

What’s Next?

Business support services help keep your operations running, and outsourcing them will bring tons of benefits for your company. 

The key is for you to find the right outsourcing partner to work with to ensure your support services deliver the results that your business needs. 

Are you looking for an outsourcing partner for your business support services needs? Contact us now, and we’ll give you a free quote. 

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The Four Things a Service Business Must Get Right

• Frances X. Frei

Many of the management tools and techniques used in service businesses were designed to tackle the challenges of product companies. Although they are valuable to service managers, they aren’t sufficient for success. In this article, Harvard Business School’s Frei explains why and urges companies to add some new ones to the mix. After years of extensive research and analysis, she offers an approach for crafting a profitable service business based on four critical elements: the design of the offering, the funding mechanism, employee management, and customer management.

Just like a product that’s going to market, a service needs to be compellingly designed, and management must field a workforce capable of producing it at an attractive price. In addition, however, service firms must manage their customers, who do not simply use the service but who can also be integral to its production: Because customers’ involvement as producers can wreak havoc on costs, companies must also develop creative ways to fund their distinctive offerings, by providing a self-service alternative, for example, or by offsetting expenses with operational savings.

A close look at successful service businesses—Walmart, Commerce Bank, the Cleveland Clinic, and others—reveals that effective integration of the four elements is key. There is no “right” way to combine them; the appropriate design of one depends upon the other three. If managers don’t get all four pulling together, they risk pulling the enterprise apart.

Incumbents can fend off attacks from highly focused upstarts by becoming multifocused—that is, by pursuing multiple niches through optimized service models rather than trying to cover the entire waterfront with one model. Shared services within a firm (functions such as HR and finance) can help, since they will enable it to generate economies of scale and experience across models.

Extensive study of the world’s best service companies reveals the principles on which they’re built.

The Idea in Brief

All successful firms must design a compelling offering and manage the workforce to deliver it at an attractive price. But service firms must do even more: deal with the frustrating fact that their customers can wreak havoc on service quality and costs.

For example, a customer dithering at a fast-food counter slows things down for everyone else waiting in line. An architect’s client struggling to clarify how a new facility will be used drags out the design process.

To tackle this challenge, Frei advises aligning four key elements of your business:

• What your service offering consists of
• How you fund the excellence you want to provide
• How you manage employees to deliver quality service
• What you do to help customers enhance—not erode—service

Get these elements pulling together, and none of them can pull your business apart—as service stars like Wal-Mart, Commerce Bank, and Cleveland Clinic have discovered firsthand.

The Idea in Practice

To consistently deliver service excellence, ensure that each of these four elements reinforces the others:

Service Offering

Determine how customers define “excellence” when it comes to your offering: Convenience? Friendliness? Flexible choices? Price? Identify what you’ll do to deliver that excellence—and what you won’t do. Example: 

Commerce Bank decided to serve customers who prized pleasant, face-to-face service and convenience. It offers evening and weekend hours, buildings with high ceilings and natural light, and a fun contraption for redeeming loose change. Despite its relatively unattractive interest rates and narrow product range, its retail customer base has expanded dramatically.

Funding Mechanism

Think about how you’ll pay for the increased cost of the excellence you’re seeking to provide through your service offering. Possibilities include:

• Charging the customer. For example, Starbucks customers value lingering in the company’s coffee-house setting. To fund this inviting atmosphere, Starbucks charges a premium for its coffee.
• Spending now to save later. For instance, Intuit offers customer support service free of charge. It uses callers’ input to improve future versions of its software, so customers will ultimately need less support.
• Having customers do the work. For example, airlines’ self-check-in kiosks not only reduce costs; they also enhance the service offering by liberating travelers from long lines at staffed counters and by providing convenient tools such as seat maps.

Employee Management

Ensure that your workforce management activities (recruiting, selection, training, job design) empower employees to deliver the excellence embodied in your service offerings. Example: 

Commerce Bank competes on extended hours and friendly service, not on low price or product variety. It knows it doesn’t need straight-A students to master its limited product set, so it hires for attitude and trains for service. For instance, it uses simple recruiting criteria, such as “Does this person smile in a resting state?” And it encourages employees to recruit people they see providing great customer service in other industries.

Customer Management

Articulate which behaviors customers must demonstrate to get the most value from your service. Then design your service specifically to foster those behaviors. Example: 

To get customers using the new self-check-in kiosks, airlines ensured that travelers could complete the transactions with far fewer keystrokes than check-in personnel used to need. By contrast, retail stores that offer self-service checkout machines haven’t made using those machines easy for shoppers. Moreover, the stores expect shoppers to shoulder responsibility for fraud prevention by weighing bags during checkout. Result? Anxious customers avoid the machines.

As the world’s major economies have matured, they have become dominated by service-focused businesses. But many of the management tools and techniques that service managers use were designed to tackle the challenges of product companies. Are these sufficient, or do we need new ones?

• Frances X. Frei is the UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management at Harvard Business School and is a coauthor of the books Move Fast and Fix Things and Unleashed .

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Linking execution with strategy in support functions.

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Have support functions dropped the ball on creating value for the organization? This is a vital question for Finance, Marketing, Technology, and People functions seeking deeper recognition at the organization’s strategy table. To contribute more value, the challenge is to move from efficient execution into rethinking the value that execution generates – by striking a better balance with strategy.

The practice of “strategy” has had a volatile history over the past quarter century. Once the discipline of choice for newly minted MBAs, strategy lost some ground in the 1980s when market unpredictability raised questions about the value of strategic planning five to ten years out.

More recently, strategy has regained some of its lustre in addressing these same questions by providing a point of reference in the midst of the twists and turns of rapid market change. Companies must foster innovation because cost cutting is no longer a competitive advantage – but differentiating customer experience is.

The challenge is getting strategy to deliver. Despite heroic efforts in strategic planning and performance tracking, there is still widespread dissatisfaction with operating results. Part of the problem is the chronic disconnect between strategic objectives and execution value.

This applies across the organization but especially in support functions – Finance, Marketing, Technology, and People – many of whom are struggling to find their role in setting strategy and guiding its execution.

The strategy disconnect

Creating really good strategy is not a trivial task. Moreover, it can be all for nothing if the execution is flawed. The big question is what produces better results, good strategy poorly executed or poor strategy well executed? In practice, this is hard to determine because the boundaries between strategy and execution can be quite hard to identify.

Blame the Strategy

A certain technology platform business provided a proprietary platform for software solution providers with specialized analytical software for financial institutions. Its manager had built a commanding market share by creating new uses for its parent company’s hardware technology. As the business matured, margins were being eroded by increasing commoditization and a dominant market position was in jeopardy.

The answer was to purchase the largest partner and shift to being a service provider. Solutions selling made sense in a business of helping customers make risk-based decisions with large paybacks. The manager also saw an opportunity to link with some existing parent company applications to offer a more comprehensive, cost effective core solution.

Integration of the new software proved to be quite difficult, delaying launch of the integrated solution. Moreover, the other software partners now saw a competitor rather than a partner, and opened their platforms to other hardware vendors. Manager’s fears were realized as significant market share was lost. Eventually, the parent company closed the business down rather than continuing to invest.

This decision was accompanied by much finger-pointing by parent-company integration staff who sought to distance themselves from the original acquisition decision and any accountability for it. They blamed the strategy for not having foreseen that other software partners would perceive a conflict of interest and that customers would perceive mixed marketing messages.

The staff had a valid point. There were flaws in the strategy. But did this mean that the strategy was entirely the problem? It could be argued that the strategy had not been adequately put into practice. Had the manager anticipated market response to the acquisition and integration, he might still have proceeded with the plan but implemented it differently.

To illustrate, the sidebar, “Blame the Strategy,” recounts how a technology platform business prided itself on its strategic-thinking capabilities. The manager of the business tried to protect margins and a commanding share in a specialized but rapidly commoditizing market by becoming a value-added services rather than a product business. He never foresaw that his decision to acquire his largest software partner would drive away his other partners and his customers.

Did he make a major error in strategy – or was it really more about poor execution? Could the failed strategy actually have worked if it had been implemented better? In the circumstances, he had to make some kind of strategic move, but would any alternative strategy have worked any better given an apparent lack of execution awareness?

This example is a good illustration of too much strategy and too little execution. However, all too frequently, the opposite applies. Bad operations can drive out discussions about good strategy according to Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, who wrote about this topic in the January 2008 issue of Harvard Business Review. Companies limp along, they write, making or closely missing their numbers each quarter but never examining how to modify their strategy to generate better growth opportunities or how to break the pattern of short-term financial shortfalls.

As Kaplan and Norton observe, there is a pervasive failure to balance the tension between strategy and execution. This is really disappointing, considering that the better matching of actions to strategy was the original reason Kaplan and Norton popularized balanced scorecards in the 1990s. With more than 60 percent of large and medium-sized organizations in North America having adopted scorecard-type frameworks, we might have expected better. Have some of the strategic benefits of creating strategy maps and scorecards been nullified by execution – especially by the laborious mechanics of on-going data collection and reporting?

From strategy to execution

Four components of execution.

• Strategy – vision, innovation, brand and competitive advantage, marketing plans, strategy maps, customer needs and segments, value delivery, financing, risk management, etc.
• Culture – translation of vision into knowledge and learning, customer-centricity, leadership, people buy-in, accountability, urgency, etc.
• Operations Performance – value chains, quality, program management, partnerships, selling, etc.
• Support Function Performance – people, back office processes, financial reporting and scorecards, forecasting, market positioning, information technology, etc.

According to Peter Drucker, creating and serving customers profitably is the central purpose of most organizations. Carrying out, or executing, this purpose can be categorized as having four components (see the panel on the right). Strategy and Culture provide the foundation, while Operations and Support functions translate the strategy and culture foundation into action.

Execution of strategy has received considerable attention as a management discipline, as has operations with methodologies like professional project management, supply chain management, and lean Six Sigma quality and waste management.

However, performance is often underwhelming. Research I conducted in early 2007, in conjunction with CAmagazine (the magazine of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants), indicates that 65 percent of large, medium and small Canadian firms are neutral when asked if satisfied with performance management effectiveness (based on responses from 2,000 firms). Only 17 percent are very satisfied.

Why are so many organizations seeing such mediocre results when Strategy and Operations are subject to so much scientific management? Without absolving Strategy and Operations from responsibility for performance dissatisfaction, it is time to look more closely at execution in both the Culture and Support functions, which are still at much more formative stages of management development.

Execution in support functions

To say that culture and support functions – Finance, Marketing, Technology, and People – are at formative stages is not to dismiss the advances made in a range of methodologies, for example, customer relationship management, talent management, communications and data technology, and balanced scorecards. Nor is it to ignore efforts to keep back-office processes running cost effectively. It is instead to highlight a growing concern about the value of support-function execution to the business.

The Role of the Support Function Today

“While many CFOs may aspire to play a more strategic role, many say they struggle in practice.” (Economist Intelligence Unit study for KPMG, September 2006)

“I’m going to criticize marketing as a discipline because we are now at the bottom of the rung of the most innovative parts of the business organization.” (AMA Innovation Roundtable panelist, October 2006)

“The CIO’s influence is waning.” (InformationWeek, November 2007)

“Our research confirms the idea that HR’s influence is declining.” (McKinsey, January 2008)

Take Marketing as a case in point. An increasing number of CEOs are on record as describing Marketing as overly transactional; they say they are looking elsewhere for strategic decision support.

Not surprisingly, chief marketing officers are voicing concern about marketing’s diminishing influence in strategic decisions.

Significantly, CIOs, CFOs, and HR executives are expressing similar concerns for similar reasons. The sample of quotes in the side panel illustrates this. It is clear that support-function contribution and value are starting to be recognized as a widespread and serious management issue.

What is causing this epidemic of support-group concern? Is it perhaps a risk-averse approach to day-to-day activities that are optimized for the benefit of the specific function, making the organization increasingly inward looking? Certainly, traditional performance measures such as achieving volume targets and reducing costs to avoid being uncompetitive may be essential for business survival. But these same measures are today just the price of being in business and no longer a competitive advantage. The evidence suggests many support functions are cutting costs without looking beyond their own functions, to all of the implications for business value.

This narrow approach makes the function highly transactional. The accompanying diagram shows that value creation has three levels of execution, of which the transaction is only the first level. The other two, service execution and strategy execution, both promise higher rewards but also involve higher risks. They require that support functions share the risks of customer-focused performance targets.

Supporting the Customer Facing Organization

Value-based business cases are more likely to be built on continuous improvement, innovation, service or product differentiation, or creating new customers. Indeed, in leading organizations, performance metrics are becoming more performance oriented, for example, for the growth of new customers, time to market, likelihood to recommend the company to prospective customers, streamlining procedures without reducing value, or reducing waste.

When internal objectives outweigh customers’ objectives, innovation and competitive advantage are early casualties. Are the support functions being left behind on such measures?

Customers should be at the heart of execution value for all parts of the organization. This means not just external customers – and there may be several levels of external customers if the organization is working through intermediaries to reach the end customer as many industries do. Examples of such companies include insurance or consumer products. For support groups, “customer” also refers to the organization’s customer-facing departments who are in effect their primary customers.

A culture of knowledge and learning

The style of the organization makes a big difference. It is more difficult for a hierarchical organization to undertake cross-functional execution collaboration. Risk-based and cost-control oriented, hierarchical organizations tend to develop a compartmentalized mindset. A sure sign of such an organization is one which sees strategy as the job of management, to be handed down for staff to implement. The outcome may be a degree of detachment across the organization that can be fatal.

In contrast, a knowledge and learning organization is better equipped to support the customer as the driving force. Innovation focused and adaptable, it collaborates with other parts of the organization on growing or upgrading the business. The knowledge and learning organization is further described in a previous article, “Putting an Innovation Culture into Practice” (Ivey Business Journal, January/February 2006).

Three topics especially are suggested to be examined for execution improvement. Firstly, how does each support function continually renovate its transactional execution? Does it do this in the context of business growth and value, not just cost reduction? For example, does it continuously improve the customer experience and remove wasteful practices, both of which are typically competitive differentiators? If they are not differentiators, perhaps a case can be made for outsourcing the related transactional processes.

Secondly, does the support function look at its services execution for how much design and development value it provides? This is where the organization can foster a culture of innovation, increasingly a survival strategy in a highly competitive low cost global market. My 2007 performance research shows plenty of scope for improvement. For instance, only 60 percent of CFOs surveyed are significantly involved in their organization’s strategic planning. Even more noteworthy, only 38 percent are deeply involved in innovation planning. The performance role of CFOs can be viewed as indicative of other support functions’ roles as well.

The third topic is strategy execution. Many CFOs, CIOs, CMOs and HR executives may argue that they are already involved in strategy, both in respect of their own functions and the overall organization. However, it seems that the involvement can often be somewhat superficial. The performance research indicates that 23 percent of CFOs surveyed only provide strategic planning input when asked. Even when the CFO is involved, performance-related practices were reported to be frequently quite basic.

Even when the support function is developing a collaborative approach, it is important that the changes extend beyond the person in charge, involving staff more deeply. My performance management research study indicates that many CFOs play an active performance-management role. But often their staff does not. This indicates that the functional role may be changing faster than the department is. Lack of involvement in strategic thinking can alienate staff, cutting off the organization from an important part of its knowledge base.

To address this, it is important to encourage better compatibility between objectives and actions. Bringing individual and function goals into better alignment helps reinforce cross-functional collaboration and improve customer-facing processes.

For example, in an IT department of a consumer services firm, senior staff members are creating eighteen-month, self-directed action plans complete with metrics that get acted on, measured, and regularly update. The purpose is to raise satisfaction ratings from their internal customers. Marketing staff in another consumer services firm are using individual plans to speed up execution of their annual business-development objectives.

In summary, an organization in which the CEO relies mainly on Operations for help in creating value is one in need of a much more collaborative culture. To rectify this, support functions – Marketing, Finance, IT, and HR particularly – must take the initiative in restoring their strategic place in the organization by re-examining their value in execution.

In knowledge and learning organization support functions, execution will likely emerge as a discipline in its own right. Marketing, Finance, Technology and HR will collaborate more readily, both with each other and with their Operations customers – to make execution much more strategic.

The alternative may be finding out the hard way that execution definitely becomes strategic when you get it wrong.

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Better Knowledge. Your Insight Is Sharper

Core vs. Support Business Functions: Building A Harmony For Success

Updated: August 18, 2024 · Reviewed by: Ahmad Nasrudin

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Core and supporting business functions form the operational backbone of every enterprise. These interconnected activities work in tandem to generate revenue, deliver value to customers, and propel business growth . Understanding the distinction between these functions empowers business professionals to make informed decisions and investors to conduct sharper analyses of a company’s performance and future prospects.

Understanding business functions

Every company relies on a network of interconnected functions to operate effectively. These functions can be broadly categorized as core and supporting. Understanding this distinction is crucial for management to make informed decisions on resource allocation and for stakeholders like investors to analyze company performance.

Why business functions matter

A well-structured organization with clearly defined functions offers several advantages:

• Efficiency: Streamlined processes minimize duplication of effort and ensure everyone focuses on their area of expertise.
• Improved decision-making: By understanding how each function contributes to the whole, management can make strategic choices that benefit the entire organization.
• Enhanced accountability: Clear ownership of tasks increases accountability and motivates employees to perform at their best.

Let’s take a closer look at core and supporting functions:

• Core business functions: These are the revenue-generating activities that form the foundation of a company’s business model. In manufacturing companies, production is a core function. For a service-based business, delivering the service itself is the core function.
• Supporting business functions: These activities indirectly support core functions by providing essential services and resources. They don’t directly generate revenue but are critical for the smooth operation of the core functions.

Company size and structure

Smaller companies often have a simpler organizational structure, with departments handling multiple functions. For example, a small company might have a human resources department that also handles some administrative tasks.

Larger companies may have more specialized departments dedicated to specific functions. The marketing department might be further divided into sub-departments focusing on advertising, public relations, or social media marketing.

It’s important to note that the distinction between core and supporting functions can sometimes be blurry. In some cases, a supporting function may be considered core because of its strategic importance to the company’s revenue stream. For example, in a company offering highly customized products, both production and customer service functions might be considered core as they directly impact customer satisfaction and repeat business.

Core business functions

Core business functions are the lifeblood of a company, the revenue engines that propel its financial success. These activities directly contribute to the company’s bottom line by generating the products or services that customers pay for. They are the foundation upon which the entire business model rests.

Why core functions matter

Strong core functions are mission-critical for a company’s sustainability because they:

• Generate revenue: This is the most fundamental role of core functions. They directly create the value proposition that customers are willing to pay for. Without a well-functioning core, a company cannot sustain itself financially in the long run.
• Drive profitability: Beyond just generating revenue, core functions should be optimized for efficiency. This means minimizing waste, streamlining processes, and controlling costs. By doing so, companies can maximize their profit margins and increase overall financial health.
• Shape competitive advantage: A strong core function can be a powerful differentiator in the marketplace. For example, a manufacturer with a highly efficient production process may be able to offer lower prices or faster turnaround times than its competitors. Similarly, a service-based business with a team of highly skilled professionals may be able to command premium fees for its expertise.

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Examples of core business functions

Manufacturing: Production is the core function of manufacturing companies. It involves transforming raw materials into finished goods through a series of well-defined processes. Efficiency and quality control are paramount in production, as they directly impact production costs and customer satisfaction.

Service delivery: For service-based businesses, delivering the service itself is the core function. This could involve providing consulting services, financial advice, healthcare services, or a variety of other professional services. The quality and expertise delivered during service provision directly impact customer satisfaction and repeat business .

Sales (in some companies): The sales function can be considered core in companies where it directly generates revenue. This is especially true for companies that rely on sales commissions to incentivize their salesforce or have complex sales processes that require significant expertise to navigate. In these cases, a skilled sales team plays a vital role in converting leads into paying customers.

Other strategic activities: Some companies may have other strategic activities that directly affect their revenue streams and can, therefore, be considered core functions. For example, a software company might consider research and development a core function if it continuously innovates and develops new products that drive sales. Similarly, a subscription-based service might consider customer success a core function if it focuses on retention strategies to ensure recurring revenue.

Supporting business functions

While core business functions grab the spotlight by generating revenue, supporting business functions play an equally critical role behind the scenes. These essential activities act as the backbone, providing the resources, infrastructure, and support necessary for core functions to operate smoothly and efficiently.

Supporting functions contribute to the success of core functions in several ways:

• Enhanced efficiency: Supporting functions help streamline processes, reduce waste, and optimize resource allocation. For example, the IT department might develop software tools that automate tasks in the production process, freeing up employees to focus on higher-value activities.
• Improved quality: Supporting functions like quality control and research and development ensure that products and services meet high standards. This minimizes errors, reduces waste, and enhances customer satisfaction.
• Strategic advantage: Effective supporting functions can contribute to a company’s competitive edge. For example, a strong human resources department can attract and retain top talent, giving the company an advantage in innovation and service delivery.

How supporting functions drive core success 

Here’s a closer look at some key supporting functions and how they contribute to core functions:

• Distribution and logistics: Ensures products reach customers on time and in good condition. This supports sales and customer satisfaction.
• Sales and marketing (except for revenue generation): Activities like market research, branding, and advertising create awareness and demand for the company’s products or services. This indirectly contributes to sales and revenue generation.
• Research and development: Develops new products and services or improves existing ones. This fuels innovation and keeps the company competitive in the long run.
• Customer service: Provides support to customers and addresses their inquiries and concerns. Excellent customer service builds loyalty and encourages repeat business.
• Information technology: Provides the technology infrastructure and tools needed for all departments to function effectively. This supports communication, data analysis , and process automation.
• Finance and accounting : Manages the company’s financial resources, tracks expenses, and provides financial data needed for decision-making. This supports overall business planning and resource allocation.
• Corporate strategy: Develops long-term plans to achieve the company’s goals. This provides direction and focus for all core and supporting functions.
• Human resources: Attracts, recruits, trains, and retains employees. A skilled and motivated workforce is essential for the success of all core functions.
• Communication: Ensures clear communication flows throughout the organization. This facilitates collaboration between departments and supports overall efficiency.
• Procurement: Acquires the materials, supplies, and equipment needed for core functions to operate. Efficient procurement practices can help control costs and ensure timely delivery of resources.
• Quality management: Implements systems and processes to ensure that products and services meet quality standards. This minimizes waste and enhances customer satisfaction.

Determining core vs. support functions

While the distinction between core and supporting functions is important, it’s not always black and white. Several factors can influence how a company categorizes these functions:

Company structure and industry

Smaller companies often have simpler structures where departments handle multiple functions. For example, a small marketing team might handle both market research (a supporting function) and some sales activities (potentially a core function in this case).

Industry also plays a role. In a consulting firm, delivering the consulting service itself would be the core function, while research and development might be supporting because innovation focuses on maintaining expertise rather than developing new products.

Strategic importance

Sometimes, a supporting function can be elevated to core status because of its strategic importance to the company’s revenue stream. Here are a few examples:

• Research and development: In a pharmaceutical company, research and development is critical for developing new drugs that drive sales. Here, R&D becomes a core function as it directly impacts the company’s ability to generate revenue from new products.
• Marketing: For a luxury fashion brand, a strong brand image, and effective marketing campaigns are essential for selling high-end products. In this case, marketing becomes a core function as it directly contributes to revenue generation.
• Customer Service: In a subscription-based service model, retaining customers is critical for recurring revenue. Therefore, customer service becomes a core function as it focuses on ensuring customer satisfaction and reducing churn.

Collaboration is key: working together for optimal performance

While core and supporting functions have distinct roles, their synergy is critical for optimal business performance. Seamless communication and integration between departments allow core functions to leverage the strengths of supporting functions and operate at peak efficiency.

Why collaboration matters

Effective collaboration between core and support functions offers several advantages:

• Improved decision-making: When departments share information and perspectives, companies can make more informed decisions that benefit the entire organization. For example, the marketing department might share customer insights with the production department to help them develop products that better meet customer needs.
• Enhanced innovation: Collaboration fosters creativity and innovation. By working together, departments can combine their expertise to develop new ideas and improve existing processes.
• Increased efficiency: Streamlined communication and clear handoffs between departments minimize duplication of effort and delays. This leads to increased efficiency and reduced costs.
• Stronger customer focus: When all departments work together with the customer in mind, companies can deliver a superior customer experience. For example, the sales team might provide customer feedback to the product development team , which can then incorporate these insights into future products.

Collaboration in action: examples across departments

Let’s explore some real-world examples of how core and supporting functions can collaborate for success:

• Marketing and sales: The marketing department can provide sales teams with targeted marketing materials and customer insights to help them close deals more effectively.
• Operations and finance: The operations department can provide the finance department with accurate cost data, which helps with budgeting and financial forecasting.
• Human resources and IT: HR can partner with IT to develop and implement new HR technologies to streamline recruitment, training, and payroll processes.
• Customer service and product development: The customer service department can collect customer feedback and relay it to the product development team , which can use this information to improve existing products or develop new ones.
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The different types of business support roles

A support position at a private equity or investment firm offers individuals the chance to play a vital role in ensuring the smooth functioning of financial organisations, while also making a meaningful impact on daily operations and contributing to the achievement of investment goals. 

Support roles within this industry can also pave the way for growth and advancement, enabling individuals to take on more challenging responsibilities within the organisation’s investment activities in the future. By pursuing a career in private equity and alternative investment support, professionals can unlock a diverse range of opportunities for professional development and success.

In this article, we’ll delve into the significance of business support positions and explore their day-to-day responsibilities. We’ll discuss the benefits of pursuing a career in the field of business support and uncover the essential functions and rewarding opportunities within these professions.

What is Business Support?

Business support encompasses a wide range of functions that are vital for the smooth operation and success of businesses. This often involves providing essential support that may not be directly related to the core products or services offered by the business. 

These positions, for example, personal assistants, executive assistants and receptionists are designed to support the business in achieving its goals and maintaining efficient operations.

By providing various forms of assistance, business support functions enable the business to focus on its core competencies and strategic goals. They help streamline operations, improve efficiency, enhance customer experiences and ultimately contribute to the overall success of the organisation.

Some of the functions of business support include: 

Administrative Assistance

Within private equity and investment firms, the role of administrative assistance is crucial. It entails managing calendars, scheduling appointments, handling correspondence, organising meetings and maintaining records. This function provides vital support to executives and teams, ensuring a seamless workflow and fostering effective communication within the organisation.

Office Management

An office management role within a private equity or alternative investment firm encompasses overseeing various administrative tasks, including coordinating office operations, managing supplies and maintaining a productive and organised work environment. Office managers play a key role in supporting employees and facilitating efficient workflows within an office environment.

Human Resources Support

HR support roles play a vital part in the efficient management of human resources. They encompass various functions, including recruitment, onboarding, employee record management, benefits administration and employee relations. 

A human resource assistant ensures compliance with policies and regulations, supports employee well-being and actively contributes to fostering positive company culture. Their work is instrumental in maintaining a skilled and motivated workforce within the organisation.

Examples of Business Support Roles

Business support roles are crucial in ensuring smooth operations and facilitating the overall success of an organisation. 

Here are a few examples of business support roles that contribute to different aspects of the business and maintain efficiency in day-to-day operations. 

Personal Assistants (PAs) and Executive Assistants (EAs) 

Personal and Executive Assistants are invaluable in providing essential support to high-level executives or individuals. Their expertise and assistance enable executives to focus on strategic priorities to optimise their productivity. Personal and Executive Assistants can offer support by:

• Managing complex calendars and coordinating appointments
• Arranging travel logistics
• Overseeing correspondence and communication
• Assisting in preparing and organising meetings
• Handling confidential and sensitive information with discretion
• Coordinating and managing special projects or events
• Monitoring and managing executives’ workflow and deadlines
• Providing administrative support
• Anticipating and proactively addressing the needs of executives to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness

Human Resources (HR) Assistants  

Human Resource assistants are vital contributors to the smooth functioning of the human resources department. They fulfil essential administrative tasks such as:

• Assisting in candidate screening and interviews during the recruitment process
• Maintaining employee records to ensure accuracy and compliance
• Coordinating employee training and development programs
• Managing HR-related paperwork
• Support in employee relations activities and company culture exercises 
• Administering employee benefits and processing employee documentation
• Assisting in performance management processes

Receptionists

Receptionists serve as the initial point of contact for visitors and callers, they are pivotal in creating a positive first impression. They handle various administrative tasks and ensure a welcoming and organised reception area. A receptionist’s day-to-day tasks may include:

• Greeting guests and providing assistance
• Answering and routing phone calls
• Assisting with office security and access control
• Managing incoming and outgoing mail
• Scheduling appointments
• Maintaining office supplies
• Managing meeting rooms and facilities
• Organising and coordinating office events and functions

Administrative Assistants

Administrative assistants provide crucial support to teams or departments within an organisation, contributing to the efficient functioning of daily operations. They perform diverse administrative tasks and assist in coordinating various activities. Key functions of administrative assistants include:

• Managing correspondence and communication
• Organising meetings and events
• Coordinating travel arrangements
• Preparing reports and documents
• Performing general administrative duties as needed

Office Managers

Office managers oversee the smooth operation of an office or department, handling administrative tasks and maintaining efficient workflows. They serve as a point of contact for staff and external stakeholders. The functions of an office manager may involve:

• Managing administrative tasks and processes
• Coordinating office supplies and equipment
• Ensuring efficient office services
• Facilitating communication between staff and stakeholders
• Overseeing office maintenance and organisation
• Managing office budgets and expenses
• Planning and coordinating office events
• Implementing and maintaining office policies and procedures
• Handling correspondence and communication
• Supervising administrative staff

Marketing and Communications Assistants

Marketing and communications assistants play a crucial role in supporting marketing and communication initiatives within an organisation. They contribute to various tasks that promote the organisation’s brand and engage with the target audience. Some of the key functions of marketing and communications assistants include:

• Creating marketing materials and collateral
• Coordinating promotional campaigns
• Managing social media accounts and online presence
• Conducting market research to support marketing strategies
• Supporting event planning and coordination
• Monitoring and reporting on marketing metrics

Advantages of Working in a Business Support Role

Working in a business support role within the private equity and investment industry brings a range of benefits that contribute to a fulfilling and successful career.  

Versatility and Exposure

Business support roles offer the chance to collaborate with different departments and individuals, fostering a rich learning experience and the development of versatile skills. 

This exposure enables a unique understanding of an organisation’s inner workings, including operations, decision-making processes and strategic initiatives, cultivating a holistic perspective and valuable insights into business dynamics. It presents a rewarding career path with growth opportunities and potential advancement.

Transferable Skills

Many of the skills acquired in business support roles, such as organisational abilities, communication skills, problem-solving, attention to detail and time management, are highly transferable. These skills can be applied to different industries and roles, providing flexibility and increasing marketability in the job market.

Collaboration and Teamwork

Collaboration and teamwork are key aspects of business support roles, as they often require close interaction with colleagues across different levels of an organisation, from executives to frontline staff. 

By building effective working relationships and fostering strong interpersonal skills, business support professionals contribute to a supportive and rewarding work environment. The ability to collaborate effectively enhances productivity, promotes a positive organisational culture and facilitates the achievement of shared goals.

Professional Development

Business support roles often provide opportunities for professional development , such as training programs, workshops and networking events. These opportunities allow individuals to enhance their skills, stay updated with industry trends and continuously grow their knowledge base.

Career Progression

By starting in business support roles, individuals can lay the foundation for their career advancement. As they accumulate experience and demonstrate their capabilities in supporting various business functions, doors may open for them to pursue more demanding positions, such as managerial roles or specialised positions aligned with their expertise. 

Business support roles offer a platform for professional growth and can serve as a springboard to reach higher levels of responsibility and achievement within an organisation or industry.

Stability and Job Security

Business support roles are often considered essential to the smooth functioning of an organisation. This can provide a sense of job stability and security, as these roles are less likely to be eliminated during organisational changes or economic uncertainties.

A career in business support within the private equity and investment industry offers individuals the chance to have a significant impact on the day-to-day operations of organisations and contribute to the achievement of business goals. 

These roles provide a valuable platform for developing transferable skills and offer opportunities for personal and professional growth, as well as career advancement.

At Joss Search, we specialise in business support recruitment . Our expertise lies in connecting highly qualified candidates with businesses in need of skilled professionals. We take pride in our ability to carefully match candidates with the specific needs and culture of each organisation, ensuring a strong fit that contributes to the overall success of both our clients and candidates.

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Do your G&A functions fit your growth trajectory?

In today’s difficult and uncertain environment, executives report increased pressure to reduce costs in HR, finance, and other general and administrative (G&A) functions. For example, a McKinsey survey of more than 300 global CxOs found that cost-reduction targets for G&A functions increased by up to five percentage points between the second and third of quarters of 2020.

About the authors

This article was a collaborative effort by Michael Glaschke, Heiko Heimes , Piotr Kwasek, Arkadiusz Malyska, Łukasz Niemiec, and Kristina Porfirova, representing views of McKinsey’s Service Operations Practice.

That survey also showed that most companies were still pursuing a one-size-fits-all approach to G&A cost management—a finding reinforced by research conducted in early 2021 . CxOs reported cost-reduction targets of 10 to 20 percent across all G&A functions, and 80 percent said the dispersion between the targets for individual functions was less than 20 percent.

These findings suggest that companies may not be learning the lessons of the past. In the 2008 financial crisis, blanket cost-reduction measures ended up reducing the effectiveness of already-efficient functions, or harming organizations’ ability to achieve their strategic objectives.

Our methodology

In this work, we analyzed data from around 300 manufacturing companies that had participated in proprietary McKinsey benchmarks on G&A performance over the past 20 years. We divided the companies into three groups–growing, stable, and shrinking–based on their average EBITDA growth over the five years leading up to the benchmarking exercise. Companies in the “growing” group showed a five-year compound annual growth rate of greater than 5 percent; “shrinking” companies shrank by at least 5 percent; and “stable” companies were those in the middle.

For each group, we looked at each company’s support ratios in the HR and finance functions, which relate the number of staff in each function to the overall size of the business. Our initial, high-level calculations used aggregate data, comparing the average support ratio in the group with companies in the top quartile of our benchmark for G&A efficiency, after controlling for size, location, and industry segment. We then examined the HR and finance functions to see how much of what they did was “strategic” (such as organizational development in HR or financial planning and analysis in finance) and how much was “operational” (such as payroll administration or accounts payable). Comparing the size of the relevant subunits within HR and finance yielded a proxy for this measurement.

So how can a business make smarter resource-allocation decisions in G&A? Part of the answer lies in recognizing that a company’s growth trajectory has a significant impact on the optimum size and makeup of individual functions. To examine this effect, we took an in-depth look at the HR and finance functions of around 300 manufacturing companies following different long-term growth paths (see sidebar, “Our methodology”).

Exhibit 1 summarizes our top-level findings. It shows the average “improvement opportunity,” or the difference between the size of the HR and finance functions in the companies we analyzed and their best-performing peers. All of the groups in our survey had the potential to improve their efficiency, with significant gaps to the top performers in their sectors. We were most interested, however, in the differences between the shrinking, stable, and growing groups.

As the chart shows, the two functions exhibit opposing effects. Among shrinking companies, the HR function was 19 percent more efficient than in the stable and growing groups. But the finance function was a different story: at shrinking companies, it was 13 percent less efficient than in stable ones, and some 25 percent less efficient than in growing group.

That finding makes intuitive sense. Shrinking companies are less likely to need to recruit new staff, and are more likely to reduce their headcount. Over the long term, that leads to lower demand for recruitment, staffing, and personnel-development resources. In finance, by contrast, falling profits might increase the need for cash-flow control, planning and budgeting, and expense-policy reinforcement.

A deeper dive into the data reveals a more nuanced story. In a second analytical step, we looked at the makeup of the two functions within companies. We compared the relative numbers of strategic roles, such as talent sourcing or tax planning, and operational roles, such as payroll or invoice processing. Once again, we found important differences between functions.

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A split in hr: shrinking operational roles.

“Strategic” HR functions proved to be relatively similar across all three groups of companies in our analysis, with shrinking companies only slightly smaller, and growing companies slightly larger than their stable counterparts (Exhibit 2). That’s unsurprising: strategic HR teams always have work to do in adjusting an organization’s workforce to its changing needs. The nature of that work will change, however, with shrinking companies seeking to optimize the performance of their existing workforces, while growing ones focus on finding ways to acquire talent and fill emerging capability gaps.

Operational HR functions in shrinking companies, by contrast, are significantly smaller than those in stable companies. There are two likely drivers here. First, operational HR staffing demand correlates both to the organization’s overall level of employment and to its rate of growth. For example, the talent-sourcing and recruiting function in the shrinking company group was 35 percent smaller than the equivalent function in stable or growing companies. Second, the nature of operational HR activities makes them primary targets for optimization levers such as centralization or automation.

Finance function: A premium for strategy

Different growth trajectories had the opposite effect on strategic and operational roles in finance. Our analysis revealed only small differences between the relative numbers of operational roles at shrinking, stable, and growing companies. Shrinking companies, however, invested more than 50 percent more resources in strategic-finance activities than did their stable or growing peers (Exhibit 3).

In shrinking companies, demand for higher levels of strategic finance-function support could be driven by a number of factors. Thoughtful forecasting and budgeting, diligent P&L statement analysis, and strict internal reporting policies will all increase the workload of the finance department. And companies under financial stress also are more likely to need to minimize the cost of capital by optimizing debt-equity structures and better managing the timing of cash inflows and outflows, both of which are the responsibility of treasury teams.

Demand for operational tasks in finance, by contrast, tends to remain fairly stable whether a company is growing, stable, or shrinking. At one major chemicals company, for example, financial distress forced a large-scale cost-cutting effort across the business. Managers realized that there were few opportunities for savings in the finance organization’s shared-service center, however, since the work was driven by the differing requirements of the various regions in which it operated.

The future of G&A: Revitalizing the heart of the organization

The case for tailoring cost management.

This analysis reinforces the case for a targeted approach to cost management in G&A functions. Rather than imposing across-the-board savings targets, companies would likely do better to consider the impact of their short- and medium-term growth trajectory on demand for the services those functions provide. And the same reasoning applies at a more granular level. Within functions, different growth patterns will affect the demand for strategic and operational resources in different ways.

Furthermore, our analysis reveals standard practice, not best practice. Shrinking companies may need more strategic resources in their finance functions because there is more work to do. Or it may be because they are not flexible enough to deploy resources where they are needed most. Similarly, stable and growing companies might have larger HR functions because they lose focus on efficiency and cost discipline.

Every company, regardless of its growth trajectory, can aim to improve the effectiveness of G&A functions as well as their efficiency. That requires the use of more sophisticated levers than top-down cost targets . Ramping up automation and digitization, for example, allows G&A tasks that are more transactional to be completed using self-service portals with little human intervention. Equipping strategic staff with advanced-analytics tools—and the skills to use them—helps the existing workforce generate more value, more rapidly.

Those levers can be easy to forget when an organization focuses exclusively on tough G&A cost targets. The struggling chemicals player we described above avoided cuts to its operational finance function, but leaders were unable to secure investment in a digitization project that they knew would deliver significant long-term efficiency improvements.

When they understand that demand for some roles will rise while it falls elsewhere, companies can also reskill or upskill existing staff to meet emerging needs . That approach retains experience and knowledge within the business, and moving personnel between functions can lead to improved mutual understanding and more effective cross-functional collaboration. High-performing G&A functions are increasingly adopting agile organizational approaches, with pools of specialist staff who flow to wherever demand is highest, forming cross-functional teams to deliver projects that address the highest priorities of the business.

Benchmarking reveals evidence of nuanced decisions in how businesses structure their G&A functions depending on their strategic growth needs. These findings argue for flexibility and strategic thought in translating financial strategies into frontline operations.

This article was updated in June 2023; it was originally published in February 2021.

Michael Glaschke is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Munich office; Heiko Heimes is a partner in the Hamburg office; Piotr Kwasek is a knowledge analyst in the Wrocław office, where Łukasz Niemiec is a knowledge specialist and Kristina Porfirova is a senior knowledge analyst; and Arkadiusz Malyska is a senior knowledge analyst in the Warsaw office.

The authors wish to thank Jürgen Geiger, Stanisław Kwiatkowski, and Abhishek Shirali for their contributions to this article.

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Executive Director of the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute

• M.J. Neeley School of Business
• Managerial / Administration
• Opening at: Aug 20 2024 at 15:00 CDT

Job Summary:

The Executive Director will lead the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute’s (RLEI) mission to become the preeminent academic institute for the business of energy through the pillars of Outreach, Academic Programs, and Research.

Duties & Essential Job Functions:

1. In partnership with the Neeley School of Business senior leadership team, faculty involved with energy programs, and other Ralph Lowe Energy Institute staff, leads the design, development, and implementation of systems, processes, and services that support the RLEI mission and operations. 2. Develops and articulates a compelling strategic plan and a comprehensive financial strategy for the Energy Institute that is aligned with the Neeley School’s mission, vision, goals, & objectives. Guides planning for the institute by setting long-range and operational goals and objectives in consultation with relevant constituencies. 3. Maintains effective budget management controls and responsibility for all RLEI budgets. 4. Works closely with the Institute Advisory Board to maintain, develop, and grow external relationships, maintain corporate interactions, and encourage external stakeholder involvement with the program. 5. Represents the RLEI to internal and external constituencies by maintaining active involvement in professional organizations, agencies and appropriate community groups. 6. Leads and promotes various philanthropic efforts to support Institute activities in partnership with TCU and Neeley Advancement staff, and any appropriate external constituents. 7. Works closely with the RLEI team to ensure the success of the Institute, both in curricular and co-curricular activities related to the Energy MBA and undergraduate Energy Minor. 8. Works collaboratively with faculty, staff, and RLEI Fellows to advance the research mission of the Institute. 9. Oversees the development and evaluation of roles within the institute. Accomplishes staff results by communicating job expectations; planning, monitoring and appraising job results; coaching, counseling and disciplining employees; developing, coordinating and enforcing systems, policies, procedures and productivity standards. 10. Facilitates cross-unit collaboration to align Institute goals with overall organizational objectives. 11. Fosters a culture of innovation, adaptability, and continuous improvement by encouraging teams to think creatively and embrace change. 12. Performs other related duties as assigned.

Required Education & Experience:

• Graduate degree in business or energy-related discipline • 7 or more years of significant professional leadership experience in the energy industry or leading an energy-focused academic unit

Preferred Education & Experience:

• 10 or more years of significant professional leadership experience in the energy industry or leading an energy-focused academic unit • Business development and/or fundraising experience • Experience with higher education and/or executive education in energy • National reputation as a leader in the energy industry

Required Licensure/Certification/Specialized Training:

Preferred licensure, certification, and/or specialized training:, knowledge, skills & abilities:.

• Knowledge of the energy industry • Knowledge of budgets, planning and analysis. • Knowledge of leadership techniques. • Skill in effective written and verbal communication. • Skill in some or all components of Microsoft Office to include Word, Excel and outlook. • Ability to demonstrate strong analytical, problem solving and research capabilities • Ability to clearly communicate information • Ability to evaluate and make recommendations to improve operations. • Ability to balance multiple projects simultaneously. • Ability to develop and implement policies and procedures.

TCU Core Competencies:

University Core Competencies definitions may be found on the Human Resources website and in the staff performance management system.

Physical Requirements (With or Without Accommodations):

• Visual acuity to read information from computer screens, forms and other printed materials and information. • Able to speak (enunciate) clearly in conversation and general communication. • Hearing ability for verbal communication/conversation/responses via telephone, telephone systems, and face-to-face interactions. • Manual dexterity for typing, writing, standing and reaching, flexibility, body movement for bending, crouching, walking, kneeling and prolonged sitting. • Lifting and moving objects and equipment up to 10 lbs.

Work Environment:

• Work is indoors and sedentary and is subject to schedule changes and/or variable work hours. • There are no harmful environmental conditions present for this job. • The noise level in this work environment is usually moderate. • This role is an on campus, in-person position.

AA/EEO Statement:

As an AA/EEO employer, TCU recruits, hires, and promotes qualified persons in all job classifications without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ethnic origin, disability, genetic information, covered veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. 

TCU Annual Security Report & Fire Safety Report Notice of Availability

Texas Christian University is committed to assisting all members of the campus community in providing for their own safety and security. TCU’s Annual Security Report and Fire Safety Report is published in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy & Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) and the Higher Education Opportunity Act. This report includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on campus, in certain off-campus buildings owned or controlled by the University, and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus. The statements of policy contained within this report address institutional policies, procedures, and programs concerning campus security, alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, emergency notifications and timely warning of crimes, sexual and interpersonal violence, and personal safety at TCU. Additionally, this report outlines fire safety systems, policies and procedures for on-campus housing facilities, as well as residence hall fire statistics. 

The Annual Security Report and Fire Safety Report can be found on the TCU Police Department website at https://police.tcu.edu/annual-security-report , or a paper copy of the report may be obtained by contacting the TCU Police Department at 817-257-7930, or via email at [email protected] .

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