The firm's success depends not only on how well each department performs its work, but also on how well the various departmental activities are coordinated to conduct core business processes. List and briefly describe the five core business processes.
Answer: The core business processes include (1) the market-sensing process—all the activities involved in gathering market intelligence, disseminating it within the organization, and acting on the information; (2) the new-offering realization process—all the activities involved in researching, developing, and launching new high-quality offerings quickly and within budget; (3) the customer acquisition process—all the activities involved in defining target markets and prospecting for new customers; (4) the customer relationship management process—all the activities involved in building deeper understanding, relationships, and offerings to individual customers; and (5) the fulfillment management process—all the activities involved in receiving and approving orders, shipping the goods on time, and collecting payment.