What is a B-Plan ?
- Business plans are decision-making tools. There is no fixed content for a business plan. Rather, the content and format of the business plan is determined by the goals and audience.
- A business plan represents all aspects of business planning process declaring vision and strategy alongside sub-plans to cover marketing, finance, operations, human resources as well as a legal plan, when required. A business plan is a summary of those disciplinary plans.
What is the structure of a B-Plan ?
- Cover page and Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Business Description
- Business Environment Analysis
- SWOT analysis
- Industry Background
- Competitor Analysis
- Market Analysis
- Marketing Plan
- Operations Plan
- Management Summary
- Financial Plan
- Attachments and Milestones
What goes into a B-Plan ?
- Executive Summary: This is an articulation of the opportunity and an exciting and effective overall summary of the entire business plan. This section should only be one to two pages in length.
- Marketing: The focus of this section includes details about the target market, selling premise, trends, customer profiles, potential market share, etc.
- Operations: Included are the plans for production, delivery of product or services, resources, technology, etc.
- Competitive Analysis: Positioning, competitors, potential entrants, barriers, advantage, etc. are the focus here.
- Management Structure: Background/skills of key individuals
- Financial Plan: How will this business make money? Include an income statement and cash flows projections to five years (Year 1 by month, Years 2 and 3 by quarter, and Years 4 and 5 by year).
- Consistency: Ask yourself, “Do the sections relate?” (e.g., marketing to finance, investments in line with the financials, etc.)
How to make a B-Plan ?
Preparing a business plan draws on a wide range of knowledge from many different business disciplines:
- Finance
- Human resource management
- Intellectual property management
- Supply chain management
- Operations management and
- Marketing among others.
It can be helpful to view the business plan as a collection of sub-plans, one for each of the main business disciplines.