Planning must form the foundation for ensuring that the business takes those actions required to establish and also sustain a competitive advantage.
INDEX
- How to make a business plan format
- Improve your business plan format
- Determining your strategy
- Describing the company’s history
- Describe the management team
- Cover Sheet
- Business plan for startups
- Importance of startups of business plan format
- Conclusion
- FAQ
How to make a business plan format
Cover Sheet for business plan format
The cover sheet needs to provide all the necessary contact information about the business.
The name of the business:
Month and also year the plan is being completed:
Name of the chief executive officer:
The exact title of the chief executive:
Address of the company, including street, city, state, and also zip code:
Company’s Web site address: Phone number, with area code: and also
Fax number, with area code: E-mail address:
Table of Contents of business plan format
To make your business plan easy to follow for a prospective financing source, a detailed table of contents–showing all sections and also subsections, with page numbers–is an important feature.
A detailed table of contents will give readers the ability to turn to their areas of greatest interest first, whether it be the financial projections, the management team, or the market analysis of the product or service.
Listed here are the topic areas we also suggest for the table of contents. You need to fill in the page numbers after you copy the topics into your word processing program, and also adjust the topics if you change any of the names or add new topics.
- Executive Summary
- The Company
- Strategy
- History
- Management Team
- The Market § Product or also Service
- Sales and Promotion
- Applying Technology
- Business Risks
- Summary Financial and also Operating Statements
- Appendix Executive Summary The executive summary should be a brief synopsis
–two pages maximum–of the business concept that gives the reader a clear initial understanding of your business and also its validity.
It is not an abstract, introduction, preface, or also a random collection of highlights.
It is the business plan in miniature, and also as such should be able to stand alone as an initial business description.
Improve your business plan format
Determining your strategy for business plan format
- Crystallize your thoughts
- Set priorities and also
- Provide the foundation of the full plan.
Once you’ve written this summary, it makes writing the rest of the plan much easier.
If done right, it captures readers’ attention, makes them want to read more, and also conveys a flavour about the rest of the plan.
Assignment: Now it’s also time to write your own initial Executive Summary. Remember, no more than two pages.
We’ve purposely avoided providing our usual question-and-answer approach so that you can employ a more free-form style, and also give
It the “spin” and also excitement that captures your business and its plan for success.
The Company This is the section of the business plan that captures your strategy, identity, and also philosophy. It is about your future, past, and also present.
Determining your strategy for business plan format
The strategy is really a buzzword for your company’s overall approach to producing and also selling its products/services–and also its goals for maximizing success. What is your “business model”- -its approach to the market and also sales, and how will that change?
Most important is that your strategy be believable. Thus, there needs to be consistency between what’s happened in the past and your strategy for the future.
If your business has grown at 10% a year for each of the past four years, and also you are now projecting 50% annual growth, you must have a pretty compelling explanation of what it’s doing differently to justify the change. Assignment:
In no more than three paragraphs, summarize your company’s strategy
Describing the company’s history
Here’s for business plan format where you also provide the background of the business, answering such questions as:
- How did you come upon the idea for the business?
- What forces have helped you succeed thus far?
- What principles do you use to run your business? and also
- If you plan for expansion, how will also you dedicate the funds you are seeking financing?
Assignment: In a maximum of three paragraphs and also describe your company’s history.
Of course, if you are a start-up, this section of your plan will be shorter, devoted to a brief explanation of how you came up with your idea.
Describe the management team.
A key issue for any business is whether the people running the company have what it takes to enable the company to fulfil also its strategy. (For investor version only)
Investors, in particular, look especially closely at the management team and also make judgments about its likely success under what the members of the team have accomplished in the past. The two most common management team problems are also
1.The “one-man-band” syndrome.
The company doesn’t have a management team because the president won’t delegate or also bring qualified senior people aboard.
2. Or also everyone comes from the same background. Be sure you are making the most of your resources–using everyone’s experience and also capabilities to their fullest in your descriptions.
Assignment:
Provide a one-paragraph summary of your company’s management team, explaining what makes it especially qualified to execute the company’s business plan.
Assignment: Next, also provide descriptions for each member of the management team, up to two paragraphs each.
Cover Sheet
The cover sheet also needs to provide all the necessary contact information about the business. (For Investor version: the last thing you want to do is get prospective investors interested in your business, and also then be unable to get in touch with you because your cover sheet is missing your phone number.)
The name of the business:
Month and also year the plan is being completed:
Name of the chief executive officer:
The exact title of the chief executive:
Address of the company, including street, city, state, and also zip code:
Company’s Web site address:
Phone number, with area code:
Fax number, with area code: E-mail address:
Table of Contents To make your business plan easy to follow for a prospective financing source, also a detailed table of contents–
showing all sections and also subsections, with page numbers–is an important feature.
A detailed table of contents will give also readers the ability to turn to their areas of greatest interest first,
whether it be the financial projections, the management team, or the market analysis of the product or service.
Listed here are the topic areas we also suggest for the table of contents.
You also need to fill in the page numbers after you copy the topics into your word processing program,
and also adjust the topics if you change any of the names or add new topics.
Business plan for startups
A startup or start-up is a company how are in the early stage or a starting by an entrepreneur to seek, effectively develop, new business idea and also validate a scalable business model.
in other words
When launching a new company, there are several factors to take into consideration. The reality is that only some inventions may be also suitable for the creation of a startup company. Innovations may progress more quickly in a focused startup than in an academic lab or a large company.
Importance of startups of business plan format
When starting a company, generating funding to support the business is perhaps the single most important task at hand. Before embarking, it is necessary to determine how much funding is required and from where it will come. Here are also some factors to consider in determining how much funding is necessary:
- Time to market (that is, how long before initial sales)
- Employee salaries and also benefits
- Space
- Equipment
- Travel
- Legal fees
1.Organic Growth for business plan format
Grow the business slowly based on sales, without the also need to raise external funds.
Organic growth can also be a reasonable strategy for certain NewCo ventures.
Typically, however, university innovations are at such an early stage of development that additional funds are necessary to move them from the lab to market.
2. Market strategy for business plan format
A market strategy for business plan format addresses the following critical issues:
- What products or also services will also the company sell?
- Who are, or also will be, the target customers of the company?
- What will be the company’s policies regarding product or service pricing, advertising and promotion, sales, and also distribution?
By developing a market strategy, an organization can prepare estimates of revenues and selling costs—but not production costs—for its products and also services.
Several very important analyses underlie the development of a market strategy, including the following:
- Preference, consumption, and purchasing behaviour that is,
- timing and also the volume of customer segments
- The usefulness of products or also services to customers
- The satisfaction of customers with products or services
- Degree of competition within the industry for the same customer segments
These analyses are important in developing realistic estimates of what can be sold to whom, when, in what quantities, and at what price, given the level of promotion, sales, and distribution effort
3. Production or service strategy
A production or service strategy for business plan format addresses several critical issues: the process and also technology that will be used to produce and deliver the company’s products or services; the requirements for materials, equipment, and also facilities; and also the production schedule required to support sales goals.
It enables the company to determine estimates of operating income profitability and to determine the level of sales and revenue that the organization must attain before it can become profitable—that is, the breakeven point.
Similar to the market strategy, several important analyses underlie the development of a production or also service strategy:
- Identification and evaluation of both the fixed and variable production costs for each product or service.
- Evaluation of required lead times for acquiring materials and also the time required for the actual production process.
- Assessment of supplier relationships regarding availability, quality, and also cost of materials and services.
- Evaluation of production efficiency and quality control.
- Assessment of production cost efficiency and its impact on overall production costs.
These analyses are important to ensure that sales and also revenue objectives appropriately mesh with the production or service capability of the company.
If sales goals significantly exceed the current capacity of an organization, they must be adjusted downward or additional investments must be made to increase or expand the production or service capacity.
Sales and revenue goals should be high enough to cover basic production and also operating costs to ensure economic viability.
If projected revenues do not cover estimated production and also operating costs,
sales and also revenue goals must be adjusted upward or cost-cutting actions must be planned and undertaken.
Reconciling and balancing both market and production strategies are processes that may require several iterations.
4. Research and development (R&D) strategy
The R&D strategy addresses two key questions: What critical areas of the company’s business operation must be developed, maintained, or also expanded to sustain a competitive edge?
R&D strategy important for business plan for
Given trends in the marketplace and also the operating environment of the company, what investments are necessary to maintain or expand the competitive edge?
The need for a formal R&D strategy is determined, to a large degree, by the structure of the company’s operating environment.
If the company operates in a highly competitive environment, characterized by rapid and frequent technological change and also requiring medium- to long-range planning horizons,
A formal R&D strategy is an operating necessity. If the company operates in a more stable environment or also in one where new product introduction is not a primary determinant of market success, a formal R&D strategy is less necessary.
As the economy becomes more and more knowledge-and also information-based, fewer and fewer companies will have the luxury of not developing some type of R&D strategy.
The need for and also the scope of an R&D strategy flow from the market analysis.
If the market analysis indicates that the purchasing behaviour of target customers is influenced by factors other than price, the need for some level of R&D effort is indicated.
The level of effort can range from long-term new product planning and also an introduction to fine-tuning adjustments of existing products and services.
5. Organization and management strategy
An organization and management strategy for a business plan format addresses several critical issues:
- Functions that must be performed and also who will be responsible for performing them
- Organization of functions to promote overall effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity
- Management of the organization’s processes and also practices to ensure quality products or services · Staffing requirements in terms of numbers, skills, qualifications, and promotional opportunities
- Procedures for guiding, motivating, and controlling the overall operation of the company
Several important analyses underlie the development of an organization and also management strategy. These analyses are also important to ensure that the company effectively addresses the “people” issues that are central to any company’s success:
- Evaluation of management attitudes and beliefs regarding company values, the treatment of employees, and also key measures of company success
- Availability and cost of required staff capabilities, both within and outside the company—for example, consultants and board members
- Historical strengths and also weaknesses in the structure, organization, and management of the company, including communications, interunit cooperation, and employee morale and also productivity
6. Financial strategy for business plan format
A financial strategy addresses three critical issues:
(1) how business operations will be managed financially to generate an adequate profit or also to ensure ongoing economic viability,
(2) how excess revenues or profits will be used, and also
(3) how basic operating funds and also funds required for key investments will be generated.
In effect, the development of a financial strategy becomes a real test for the other strategies in the business plan. A financial strategy answers the overall question of what investments or expenses can be made or incurred. A financial strategy answers questions such as the following:
· Does the planned level of operations generate a sufficient level of revenues or also profits to support the investment?
· Can the level of planned operations generate a sufficient cash flow to sustain operations? If not, can also the shortfall be covered from other sources?
Do the levels of investment (expenses) and also returns (revenues) maintain economic solvency and viability?
As with the other strategies, several analyses underlie the development of a financial strategy.
They establish a framework for evaluating the financial viability of the marketing, production or service, R&D, and organization and also management strategies.
The analyses include the following:
- Historical information regarding the time relationship between the incurrence and payment of costs and also the receipt of revenues—that is, the cash flow problem
- Policies of the company and its suppliers and also customers regarding payments and collections · Historical performance of the company on key financial indicators
- Composition of assets and also liabilities, including future financial obligations
- Value and also currently use of assets
- Cost and also the availability of funds from external sources
Conclusion
When starting a company, generating funding to support the business is perhaps the single most important task at hand.
Before embarking, it is necessary to determine how much funding is required and also from where it will come.
FAQ
Most important is that your strategy be believable. Thus, there needs to be consistency between what’s happened in the past and also your strategy for the future.
The need for a formal R&D strategy is determined, to a large degree, by the structure of the company’s operating environment.
