WAR IS MY BUSINESS
WAR IS MY BUSINESS
The functions of business ensure that the organization can achieve its purpose. Operations is the function that produces value for the consumer. Marketing is the function that tells us what the consumer finds valuable. Finance is the function that ensures we can create value within the means available. Management is the function that guides its people and provides unity of effort to meet objectives. We look to concepts found within military organizations that serve similar functions to develop and improve upon these pillars. While militaries provide unique value for their client, violence on behalf of their state and communities, staff and functions of a military organization acts in much the same way as business. If we look past the superficial veneer that comes from military action, training, and equipment, then we can find principles, tenets, theories, and concepts that can adopted to improve our business plans and execution.
The Business
A business seeks to achieve its purpose; getting that sale, satisfying the customer, making that profit. It does so through the operations function of the business, I would argue its most critical pillar. All the functions of business are important, in fact required, for the business to achieve its purpose, but it is through the operations function of a business that it creates the market offer for customers, clients, and other businesses to throw their hard-earned capital at to acquire. The other functions of business; marketing, finance, legal, etc., have their time to shine and take charge, but it is in service to the business as a whole and at the center of that business is the business plan, a product of the operations function which directs that actions of the business.