There No Organization without Business Management
Business management plays a crucial role in everyday business operations. Business
management involves planning, organizing, resourcing, directing, and controlling an
organization for the purpose of accomplishing goals (Reh, 2007). The success or failure of
a company is highly influenced by the business management skills applied. Business
management skills also affect international business. There have been opposing viewpoints
on the necessity of business management. However, I believe business management is
essential for companies to function adequately nationwide as well as internationally and to
maintain an efficient workforce.
Business management has shown significant evidence for contributing to the prosperity of
firms. American Express is an example of a successful company which utilizes business
management skills. American Express has organized, resourced, and controlled all of its
own operations since its founding in 1850. American Express has a detailed plan of its
target merchants, small businesses, and corporations. It has developed distinct marketing
programs for each segment. In the merchants segment, American Express focuses on
convincing new merchants to accept the card and on managing relationships with those
who they already do business with. For small business customers, American Express has
created the OPEN Small Business Network. Small business cardholders can access the
network for everything from account details to expense management. Finally, for larger
corporate customers, American Express offers a corporate card program. This card
includes travel management services, asset management, retirement planning, and
financial education services (“American Express”“, 2008).
Business management has contributed to the success American Express has had for many
years. American Express throughout the years has been able to spread nationwide because
of its ability to manage resources, plan objectives, and organize the entire business to
support customers (Armstrong, 2006). American Express extended its reach nationwide by
arranging affiliations with other express companies. For example, the two former
companies Wells and Fargo have merged with American Express. Today, American
Express is estimated to be worth 20.87 billion U.S. dollars. This could not have been
accomplished without their well established business management skills (“American
Express”“, 2008).
Music Zone is an example of a business failure as a result of poor business management
skills. Music Zone was a music retailer in England. It had thirty-seven branches of the
company, which was formed in Levenshulme in 1984. By 2006, Music Zone was
collapsing, consider weak, and loosing profits. Fopp, a rival retailer, announced its take
over of Music Zone by the beginning of 2007 (Ebert & Griffin,2005). Music Zone
