AQA - A2 Business Studies Unit 3 - Functional Objectives and Strategies

The overall goals of the whole business.

E.g. Growth, Diversification, creating innovative goods, achieving maximum possible profits etc

The Objectives of each Function in the business.

(Functions refer to the departments in the business, such as Marketing, Human Resources etc.)

Example of Functional Objectives: gaining market share (Marketing Department), minimising costs (Finance department).

Each Function should contribute to the Corporate Goal
E.g: The Finance Department's Functional Objective of Minimising Costs would contribute to the Corporate Objective of Maximising Profits.

Functional Objective = Objectives of a Function in the business
Functional Strategy = Plan made to achieve the Objective

e.g. a Functional Objective may be to Minimise Costs, a Functional Strategy would work towards this (e.g find a cheaper supplier)

In the exam, always question whether a strategy is SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Aggreed
Realistic
Timed

There are many variations of what SMART stands for! (many on the internet)