Business Planning
A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. The content and format of the business plan is determined by the goals and audience. It represents all aspects of the business; declaring vision and strategy along sub-plans to cover marketing, finance, operations, human resources, as well as a legal plan when required. A business plan is a bound summary of these disciplinary plans.
Business plans are internally and externally focused. External stakeholders include investors and customers. Internally focused plans target intermediate goals required to reach the external goals. A balanced scorecard allows success to be measured using non-financial measures.
Strategic plans are Business plans that identify and target internal goals, but provide only general guidance on how they will be met.
Operational plans describe the goals of an internal organization, working group or department.
Project plans, or project frameworks, describe the goals of a particular project, and address the project’s place within the organization’s larger strategic goals.
Typical structure for a business plan for a start-up venture:
- Cover page and table of contents
- executive summary
- business description
- business environment analysis
- industry background
- competitor analysis
- market analysis
- marketing plan
- operations plan
- management summary
- financial plan
- attachments and milestones
Download a sample business plan here.
