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Reassess and Act on Cross Competencies

Development of an effective Business Plan
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What is a Business Plan?

What is a Business Plan?

The Business Plan is a tool employed by entrepreneurs to synthesize and formally rationalize, in a document, an idea and its realization.

If you have a business idea, you need to elaborate a Business Plan.

In order to complete a Business Plan, keep in mind the answers to these questions:

 

What are the main characteristics and strengths of your business idea?
What are the products/services that will be offered?
Who are your potential customers?
What is your market share?
What is your sales turnover expected?
What are your competitors?
What are your distribution and promotional channels?
What are your human, technical and financial resources?
What is your forecast for generating profit?
FORMAL REQUIREMENTS FOR A BUSINESS PLAN:
Sections of a Business Plan

Business Plan must be divided into sections:

 
1.Executive Summary
2.Company Summary
3.Product/Service Description
4.Market Analysis
5.Strategy Implementation
6.Management Summary
7.Financial Information
Executive Summary

Last section to elaborate in order to have a clearer and more comprehensive idea of your Business Plan.
The executive summary is a sort of short presentation of your business idea to investors.
Explain what you and the business are all about & make sure you sound convincing and qualified to run this business.
Company Summary

It presents your company, defining:

 
Mission Statement → Why you want to create this business and what are your guiding principles
Your business’ goals → Include at least 3 short & long-term goals
Your market
Legal status of your business → Seek help to know all different possibility for a company legal status and their implication
Product/Service Description

In this section you must explain:

 
The business field you’re in (retail, manufacturing, service...)
The detailed characteristics of the product that make them unique. Address the need they solve
Market Analysis

Perform an exhaustive Market Research, including:

Economic data: What is the total size of your specific market? How many people in your target can you access?
Growth Potential: It includes market size and further expansions
Product: You will have to define its most important Features and Benefits
Customers: Who are your potential customers?
Competition: Who are your competitors? Be specific.
Strategy Implementation

In order to define your strategy you need to establish the following:

Price: What is the selling price of your product/service? What is the production cost of that product/service? What do all the pieces cost? What is the delivery cost? Packaging? Are there and additional costs? 
Place: Where will you operate your business? How will customers contact you?
Promotion: How will you promote your product/service? What is your communication strategy?
Financial Information

Defined all previous parameters you are now ready to fill in the economic aspects of your business, in particular:

Cost of Supplies
Economics of One Unit
Monthly Sales Projections
Average Monthly Operating Costs
Projected Monthly/Yearly Income Statement
Start Up Investment
Financing Strategy
Business Plan vs Business Model

A Business Model it’s a synthesis tool that describes the ideas, the purpose, the gain, the costs, the activities and the communication of the entire project.

Describes the logic with which an organization creates, distributes and captures value.

The key concept of each Business Model is the value offered.

The value perceived by the customer is given by the difference between benefits received and costs incurred.

Making a Business Model is like updating the computer's operating system. It is an operation we do when:

New threats come from outside (new competitors)
New needs arise that require different support (new possible customers)
The system is overloaded and the operations are slow and not very fluid (reduced margins in the case of the company)
 
 

Remember:

Plan carefully.

Do your research.

Know your market.

Time your business.

Elaborate the business plan.



Keywords

Business plan, business model, planning, entrepreneurship

Objectives/goals

• Draft an effective business plan
• The difference among Business Plan and Business Model
• Create an effective Business Plan following each sections

Description

This module analyses useful tools for an entrepreneur: • Business Plan • Business Model To write down an effective Business Plan, this module indicates the formal requirements and the sections in which the document is divided (Executive Summary, Company Summary, Product/Service Description, Market Analysis, Strategy Implementation, Management Summary, Financial Information). The business model is a synthesis tool that describes the ideas, the purpose, the gain, the costs, the activities and the communication of the entire project.

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