Business managers are responsible for expanding the company’s market share, generating additional revenue and increasing profitability.
Business managers are senior employees of companies and other business entities responsible for expanding the company’s market share, generating additional revenue and increasing profitability. Small businesses often employ a single business manager, but multinational companies often employ multiple people in business manager positions. Each of these administrators is assigned to a different region or territory. Energy companies, retailers, service providers, and financial firms are among the types of companies that typically have business manager positions.
Many energy-producing companies are private sector companies, although some oil and natural gas producers are government-sponsored companies. Both government-operated and private energy companies need to market products to utilities and consumers. Major energy companies export gas and oil to utilities in other nations. Business managers negotiate contracts with utility providers and make arrangements with shipping companies to physically move containers of oil and gas to company customers. Business manager positions in energy companies are typically reserved for people who have language skills and rudimentary knowledge of the commodity markets in which many types of natural resources are traded.
Retailers and manufacturers employ sales managers, and those who fill these roles must work with employees in the marketing and advertising departments to promote new and existing products. The business manager is typically responsible for managing the budget for a particular product, for certain divisions of the company, or for the operations of the company as a whole. Business managers must communicate with regional managers to ensure sales targets are met or exceeded. Businesses cannot remain solvent if operating costs, including advertising costs, exceed actual revenues, so the business manager must ensure that product prices are set in such a way that the business can remain profitable.
Service providers, including utilities, satellite television companies, and telecommunications companies, employ people to work in business manager positions. These employees develop expansion strategies and work with the marketing team to create ways to acquire new customers. Business managers often have the authority to approve price reductions and organize special promotions. Telecommunications companies often employ multiple business managers, each with responsibility for a particular service or network.
Banks, insurance companies, and investment firms employ business managers charged with increasing revenue. These managers attempt to assess economic conditions and make decisions about the types of products and services the company should focus on and how those products should be priced. Sales managers report directly or indirectly to sales managers, and in many cases, the sales manager may have to assist, retrain, or replace managers whose departments are not generating enough revenue.
Job requirements for business managers vary, but most companies hire people who have a degree in business, marketing, economics, or a related field. Many companies prefer to hire people with specific industry experience. In some areas, such as the world of investments, business managers often need to obtain bond licenses from the government, since anyone involved in the sale of bonds must have such a license.