Core Business Processes

In any organization there exists a common set of core business processes that must
exist for the organization to function properly. Small organizations start with a small
set of five Core Business Processes, that are common to every business, and then
grow from there.
First Core Business Processes
Every organization needs a sales and marketing function. Even non profits,
governments and hospitals must identify their customers, manage the relationship, and
deliver a good or service in exchange for funds.
Once you have cash coming in you must account for that cash and complete your tax
return, which means you need an accounting process. Accounting operates on
technology so in a small company a technology process often time is part of
accounting (unless you are a technology company and then it is part of product
development).
PRODUCT OR SERVICE DELIVERY PROCESS
Next comes your product or service delivery process that you collected money for.
You have to deliver it and deliver it well, with a quality process, or else you won’t
get more money from your customers in the future.
A business must hire employees, manage the operation, and finance the ups and
downs. And lastly, you have to have a product development process to design
products for your customers.
SMALL BUSINESS PROCESSES
So what are the Five Core Processes for Small Business?
Sales & Marketing
Accounting & Technology
Quality & Product/Service Delivery
Management, HR & Finance
Product Development
View Free Sample Procedure Templates
Ten Core Business Processes
A small business is pretty simple, until you start to grow. Growth introduces new
complexities that require more employees and more focus. The five core processes
for a small business quickly grow to the ten core processes for business.
That is, each of the core small business processes splits into two and now sales and
marketing are separate processes, same with accounting, technology, quality and
product delivery.
Figure 1. Top Ten Core Business Processes
We now have identified (Figure 1.) the Ten Core Business Processes
Customer Strategy & Relationships (Marketing)
Employee Development & Satisfaction
Quality, Process Improvement & Change Management
Financial Analysis, Reporting, & Capital Management
Management Responsibility
Customer Acquisition (Sales)
Product Development
Product/Service Delivery
Accounting Management
Technology Management
Examples of Business Processes
As an organization grows even bigger it will add more sub-processes or perhaps
additional core process like supplier management, strategy, or legal & compliance.
There are hundreds of sub-processes that are created and when you get to that point
then you are ready for a set of policy and procedure manuals.