Headquarters

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The headquarters of the United Nations in New York City. UN Headquarters 2.jpg
The headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.

Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility for managing all business activities. [1] In the United Kingdom, the term head office (or HO) is most commonly used for the headquarters of large corporations. The intended benefit of headquarters is to carry out purposeful regulatory capacity. [2] [3] [lower-alpha 1] The term is also used regarding military organizations.

Contents

Corporate

Fortum headquarters building, Espoo, Finland Fortum HQ Keilaniemi 2017.jpg
Fortum headquarters building, Espoo, Finland
Volvo headquarters building, Gothenburg, Sweden Volvo Cars Headquarter.jpg
Volvo headquarters building, Gothenburg, Sweden

A headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation that takes full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, and ensures corporate governance. [1] The corporate headquarters is a key element of a corporate structure and covers different corporate functions such as strategic planning, corporate communications, tax, legal, marketing, finance, human resources, information technology, and procurement. This entity includes the chief executive officer (CEO) as a key person and their support staff such as the CEO office and other CEO-related functions; the "corporate policy making" functions, including all corporate functions necessary to steer the firm by defining and establishing corporate policies; the corporate services encompassing activities that combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based upon specialized knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external) customers and business partners; and the bidirectional interface between corporate headquarters and business units.

Business unit

A headquarters normally includes the leader of a business unit and their staff, as well as all functions to manage the business unit and operational activities. The head of the business unit is responsible for overall result of the business unit.

Regional

A headquarters sometimes functions at the top of a regional unit, including all activities of the various business units, taking full responsibility for overall profitability and success of this regional unit.

Military

Staff officers (Commander Cross, left, Captain Lake, right) discuss convoy movements in the Operations Room at HQ Western Approaches Command, Derby House, Liverpool, September 1944 Staff officers discuss convoy movements in the Operations Room at HQ Western Approaches Command, Derby House, Liverpool, September 1944. A25742.jpg
Staff officers (Commander Cross, left, Captain Lake, right) discuss convoy movements in the Operations Room at HQ Western Approaches Command, Derby House, Liverpool, September 1944

Military headquarters take many forms, depending on the size and nature of the unit or formation they command. Typically, they are split into the forward, main and rear components, both within NATO nations, and those following the organization and doctrine of the former Soviet Union (see Isby, 1988).

The forward or tactical HQs (known as 'tac' for short) is a small group of staff and communicators. Usually very mobile, they exist to allow the commander to go forward in an operation, and command the key parts of it from a position where they can see the ground and influence their immediate subordinates.

The main HQs (known as 'main') is less mobile and is involved in both the planning and execution of operations. There are a number of staff assembled here from various staff branches to advise the commander, and to control the various aspects of planning and the conduct of discrete operations. A main HQ for a large formation will have a chief of staff (CoS) who coordinates the staff effort; in a smaller HQ this may be done by the second-in-command.

The rear or logistic HQs ('rear') is some distance from the battle or front line in conventional operations. Its function is to ensure the logistical support to front line troops, which it does by organizing the delivery of combat supplies, materiel and equipment to where they are needed, and by organizing services such as combat medicine, equipment recovery, and repair. [4]

Religious

St. Peter's Square with the Vatican obelisk and St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City 0 Place Saint-Pierre - Vatican (2).JPG
St. Peter's Square with the Vatican obelisk and St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

The headquarters of the Catholic Church is Vatican City. The World Headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses is relocated in Warwick, New York, from its former location, Brooklyn, New York. The headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church is in Danilov Monastery, Moscow. The World Council of Churches, including Orthodox Churches, has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The headquarters of Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is located in Istanbul, Turkey. The headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Anglican Communion Office is in London.

Martial arts

In Japanese budō martial arts such as karate, judo, aikido, kendo, etc., there is usually a headquarters for each organization or region. [5] The Japanese word honbu (本部) [6] is generally used for that, also outside Japan. Sometimes they refer to these headquarters as honbu dojo (本部道場) in which dojo (道場) is a facility provided for practicing discipline, the training ground. Sometimes honbu is written as hombu, the way it is pronounced, but the Hepburn transcription is honbu in which the 'n' is a syllabic n.[ citation needed ]

Notes

  1. In this context, the term regulatory capacity includes but is not limited to self-regulating activities.

Related Research Articles

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<i>Dojo</i> Place for immersive learning, experiential learning or meditation

A dōjō is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the Way" in Japanese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military Assistance Command, Vietnam</span> Joint-service command of the US Dept. of Defense in South Vietnam (1962-73)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military district</span> Regional military unit size designation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staff (military)</span> Management personnel of a military unit

A military staff or general staff is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military unit in their command and control role through planning, analysis, and information gathering, as well as by relaying, coordinating, and supervising the execution of their plans and orders, especially in case of multiple simultaneous and rapidly changing complex operations. They are organised into functional groups such as administration, logistics, operations, intelligence, training, etc. They provide multi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer, subordinate military units and other stakeholders. A centralised general staff results in tighter top-down control but requires larger staff at headquarters (HQ) and reduces accuracy of orientation of field operations, whereas a decentralised general staff results in enhanced situational focus, personal initiative, speed of localised action, OODA loop, and improved accuracy of orientation.

In Japan, the Imperial Guard is the name for two separate organizations dedicated to the protection of the Emperor of Japan and the Imperial Family, palaces and other imperial properties. The first was the Imperial guard divisions, a quasi-independent elite branch of the Imperial Japanese Army which was dissolved shortly after World War II. The second is the Imperial Guard Headquarters, a civilian law enforcement organization formed as part of the National Police Agency. (警察庁)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corporate headquarters</span> Part of a corporate structure that deals with important tasks

Corporate headquarters is the part of a corporate structure that deals with tasks such as strategic planning, corporate communications, taxes, law, books of record, marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. Corporate headquarters takes responsibility for the overall success of the corporation and ensures corporate governance. It is sometimes referred to as the head office, which is the location where the executives of a business work and where many of the key business decisions are made. Generally, corporate headquarters acts as a core when the business is operating.

Chief business officer (CBO) is the position of the top operating executive of growing commercial companies or an academic/research institution. In the commercial space, CBO shows leadership in deal-making experience with a clear record of results and ultimate transactional responsibility. In higher education, the titles of vice president, associate dean, assistant dean, and director are also used for the role of the chief business officer.

Land Command was a military command and formation and part of the structure of the British Army from 1995 to 2008. Its headquarters was at Erskine Barracks, at Fugglestone St Peter, some four kilometres northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion</span> Extraordinary organ of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion is an extraordinary organ of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. It was established in 1995, as a response to the damage caused by the Great Hanshin earthquake, to promote research on earthquakes in order to minimize their potential for destruction.

References

  1. 1 2 Marquis, Christopher; Tilcsik, András (2016-10-01). "Institutional Equivalence: How Industry and Community Peers Influence Corporate Philanthropy". Organization Science. 27 (5): 1325–1341. doi:10.1287/orsc.2016.1083. hdl: 1813/44734 . ISSN   1047-7039. Archived from the original on Nov 14, 2023.
  2. Aguilera-Caracuel, Javier; J. Alberto Aragon-Correa; Hurtado-Torres, Nuria Esther; Rugman, Alan M. (2012). "The Effects of Institutional Distance and Headquarters' Financial Performance on the Generation of Environmental Standards in Multinational Companies". Journal of Business Ethics. 105 (4). Springer Link: 461–474. doi:10.1007/s10551-011-0978-7. S2CID   254372254.
  3. "Making corporate self-regulation effective in developing countries". ScienceDirect.
  4. "HQDA agencies". army.mil. Archived from the original on 2011-01-29.
  5. "Honbu dojo definition | Tai Chi Dictionary/Yin". SportsDictionary.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  6. Tomislav Kuzmić. "HONBU". EUdict. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20.

Further reading