Vice President (VP) Job Description

They create a corporation's organizational structure and managerial formulation. They usually take high responsibility in a management position.
 

Patrick Curtis

Reviewed by

Patrick Curtis

Expertise: Private Equity | Investment Banking

Updated:

February 26, 2023

Vice President (VP) is a position in a company and government. This article will give a specific view of the VP in a company and provide some information about this position in the U.S. government.

They are members of the company's administrative team, nominated by the General Manager, and employed by the Board of Directors.

They are the assistants of the General Manager and the persons in charge of an enterprise field authorized by the board of directors in a business.

They assist the General Manager in formulating and implementing corporate strategies, business plans, and other policies and strategies to achieve the company's business management objectives and development goals.

This position usually requires a master's degree or above in enterprise management, business administration, administration, and other related majors.

They usually need to be trained in leadership development, strategic management, organizational change management, human resource management, economic law, financial management, etc.

Generally, more than eight years of work experience and more than five years of overall management experience are required to handle this position professionally.

Besides what was mentioned above, they usually need to fulfill the following requirements:

  • Be familiar with the business and process of the enterprise they are in.
  • Have strong leadership skills and perform well in team management.
  • Be familiar with the enterprise's overall operations, advanced management concepts, and solid strategic formulation and implementation capabilities.
  • Have a wide range of customer resources and social resources.
  • Have good writing, speaking, and reading skills, and be proficient in using office software and unique systems of the company.
  • Have keen market insight, excellent project organization, and market development ability.
  • Have rigorous planning and organization ability, personnel management and communication ability, and business negotiation ability.
  • Exemplary professionalism and professional ethics, strong charisma and cohesion, and a sense of responsibility

Responsibility of the VP of a Company

In a managerial position, the VP takes responsibility for the company according to its business strategy.

  • They are responsible for formulating the company's organizational structure, management, development strategy, and business plan. They submit these plans to the company's decision-making level for approval before implementation.
  • They take charge of the company's technology department and operation department. 
  • They assist the General Manager in formulating the operation and management policy, development direction, and company's long-term and annual business plans. In addition, they are responsible for achieving the objectives. According to the company's development strategy, they formulate plans for medium and long-term product research and development, marketing, brand promotion, innovation, etc. 
  • In addition, they analyze the development trend of the industry, collect various market information and competitors, conduct data analysis and market forecast, and formulate market competition strategies.

  • They formulate the company's sales objectives and manage and coordinate product, operation, R&D, promotion, and other work. 
  • They propose promotion strategies for market channel expansion, formulate a business budget, and manage implementation. They cooperate with the company's investment and financing affairs. In addition, they organize the corresponding investment and financing documents and data.
  • They carry out market research and feedback, as well as comprehensive planning of business direction.
  • They track business development trends, combine the company's business strategic direction and business practice, and explore industry opportunities to provide business strategies and suggestions.

  • They are responsible for researching and analyzing market demand, formulating sales strategies, planning and arranging for the company's business, and coordinating all departments to achieve corresponding performance goals. 
  • They assess and evaluate the central management personnel of the business department to improve service quality, control costs, and prevent waste.
  • They regularly report the company's business progress and operation and submit monthly, quarterly and annual reports.
  • They participate in the design and development of the e-commerce platform to ensure the safety, quality, and performance of the system and the backstage management system design and development support.
  • They need to participate in formulating technical project schemes and carry out relevant design or development work. In addition, they complete other tasks assigned by the General Manager.
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VP and Executive Deputy General Manager

The Executive Deputy General Manager is the senior assistant of the general manager, who assists the director general in coordinating the overall work and is responsible for the company's daily work.

VPS is accountable to the Executive Deputy General Manager. The Executive Deputy General Manager has the right to guide VPs as members of the highest decision-making level.

In a more formal enterprise with a complete corporate governance structure, the VP is nominated by the general manager and appointed by the board of directors.

The VP, in charge of the company's executive work, can be called the Executive Deputy General Manager. 

Other VPNs are only responsible for some of the administrative work, but they are in charge of one or more specific aspects of the central business of their company.

Usually, they assist the general manager in managing several departments. 

For example, a Vice President helps the general manager, takes charge of the company's supply chain, and controls the company's procurement center, sales center, etc.

In some enterprises, the chairman and general manager are held by the same person. A different Executive Deputy General Manager position is set up without a full-time general manager. 

In this kind of enterprise, the Executive Deputy General Manager has the same rank as other VPS.

However, the Executive Deputy General Manager has a more comprehensive range of responsibilities, a broader scope of authority, and power over the company's finance, personnel, production, and sales safety. 

However, the size of the force depends on the company's authorization, such as the capital approval power.

To balance the relationship or the interests of shareholders in the enterprise, some bosses may set up this position to help the boss take charge of the company's daily affairs. 

The Executive Deputy General Manager is generally head of the comprehensive department or the company's critical department, so remuneration or year-end performance will be higher than other Vice Presidents.

To sum up, the Executive Deputy General Manager is also the VP of the enterprise, but they are different in responsibility, division of labor, and importance. 

VP of the Government

The history of VP in the U.S. government can be traced back to the colonial era when all types of colonies in North America needed a deputy governor. In addition, some governors needed help to guarantee they would stay in the territory during their term of office.

Therefore, the charter of the colonies, the subject of the governor's authority, is usually written as "the governor, his agent, and his successor." 

The Massachusetts and Rhode Island charter clearly shows that the deputy governor is uniquely positioned.

After 1776, the states wrote the practice of deputy governors in colonial times into their constitutions one after another. The following conditions set special functions for deputy governors:

  • The Deputy Governor of South Carolina presides over a Privy Council with voting rights.
  • The governor of New Jersey concurrently serves as the chairman of the House of Lords and has fundamental voting rights. At that time, the House of Lords of New Jersey chairman could exercise his powers in the absence of the governor.
  • The deputy governor of New York State serves as the President of the Senate. In contrast, the governor presides over a council above the Senate, which has no voting right at ordinary times and can vote at critical moments. 

In these state constitutions, the embryonic role of the Federal Vice President in the Senate can be seen in the future.

Delegates to the Constituent Assembly are primarily veterans who have immersed themselves in the politics of each state all their lives. 

For them, the position of deputy chief executive is established by convention, but the specific functions and powers need to be explored. In addition, the professionalization of deputy executive heads is a development trend lasting more than 100 years.

From the post's development process perspective, they have three main functions:

  • Act on behalf of and inherit the President's authority and ensure no gap in the highest executive power. 
  • Provide suggestions and local experience. Because most of the governors in the colonial era were sent by Britain to the royal colonies, they did not know about the New World and lacked social relations in the colonies.

  • Serve as the head of the legislature, coordinating and communicating the two branches of administration and legislation.

From the perspective of United States history, the role of the Vice President remains mainly in these three areas.

Election of VP of the U.S. Government

The VP is the first candidate eligible to succeed the President of the United States. 

When the President's position becomes vacant (dies, resigns, or is impeached), the VP will succeed and become the country's new President. 

In the executive branch of the United States federal government, only the two positions of President and VP are elected. 

According to the relevant provisions of the United States Constitution, the VP concurrently holds the post of "President of the United States Senate." Therefore, usually, they do not have the right to vote in the Senate. 

Only when the 100 members of the Senate vote in a tie does the Vice President, have the actual decision-making power, that is, the critical vote. Therefore, they are an official of two subordinate organs of the entire federal government. 

The President may appoint the VP to exercise other powers. Still, the Constitution of the United States stipulates that the Vice President shall not have executive ability.

In these times, they only exercise relevant powers as the representative of the President. In short, the symbolic significance of the Vice President is far greater than its substantive significance.

The Vice President of the U.S. government is elected with the presidential candidates in the United States presidential election to organize and participate in debates with other candidates. 

After the presidential candidate is elected, the candidate for this position will officially become the Vice President. 

After taking office, the Vice President must swear allegiance to Congress and the Constitution and be obliged to be summoned by the Supreme Court during his term of office. 

Generally, presidential candidates will find some people from different parts of the party (such as people representing other regions of the country, or people with different political views, etc.) to improve their representation.

Key Takeaways

  • The VP creates a corporation's organizational structure and managerial formulation. They usually take high responsibility in a management position.
  • They must operate by the business plan and the company's development strategy.
  • The Executive Deputy General Manager is responsible for VPS. However, they are different from the Vice Presidents in the administrative work they are responsible for.
  • As a member of the highest decision-making level, the Executive Deputy General Manager can direct the Vice Presidents in the decision-making process relative to the business strategy.
  • The primary responsibility of the US government is to fill the position that the President could not fill in the election, similar to the same role in a company.
  • The VP of the United States is chosen along with the presidential candidates. Therefore, they can only make decisions with the President.
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Researched and AUthored by Xinyue Xu

Reviewed and edited by Parul Gupta LinkedIn

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