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 ?

  1. Cover page and Table of Contents
  2. Executive Summary
  3. Business Description
  4. Business Environment Analysis
  5. SWOT analysis
  6. Industry Background
  7. Competitor Analysis
  8. Market Analysis
  9. Marketing Plan
  10. Operations Plan
  11. Management Summary
  12. Financial Plan
  13. 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.