A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product (serve a particular goal) for a particular customer or customers. There are three types of business processes:

1. Management processes, the processes that govern the operation of a system. Typical management processes include "Corporate Governance" and "Strategic Management".

2. Operational processes, processes that constitute the core business and create the primary value stream. Typical operational processes are Purchasing, Manufacturing, Marketing, and Sales.

3. Supporting processes, which support the core processes. Examples include Accounting, Recruitment, Technical support.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process