Transcript Bus Plan - Learnline

HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Beginning
The business planners should begin by
considering the following questions:
 Where is the business at present? This leads
to information gathering which will also help
answer:
 What are the objectives and goals that the
business is trying to achieve?
 What is the most effective way of achieving
these goals?
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 1
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Tasks ...
A business planners must undertake a series of
specific tasks to answer the 3 questions (previous
slide). This involves analysing and documenting:
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History
Goals
Assumptions
Quantification
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Resource allocation
Checking
Sensitivity analysis
Contingency planning
Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 2
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Elements of a Successful Business Plan
• Table of Contents
(1 page)
• Executive Summary
(1 page)
• Company Overview
(1 page)
• Products and Services
(1 page)
• Industry and Market
Analysis (~3 pages)
• Marketing Plan
(~4 pages)
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• Operations Plan
(~2 pages)
• Development Plan
(~2 pages)
• Management Plan
(~1 page)
• Financial Plan
(~3 pages)
• Offering
(1 page)
• Appendices (no
more than 15 pages)
Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 3
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Executive Summary
The Executive Summary of a Business Plan is a
one-page distillation of your entire plan, and often
is the last section to be written.
It’s objective is to capture the reader’s interest,so
that they want to read the entire plan. It is not a
summary of the plan; rather it should be
considered a chance to “sell” the reader on the
business opportunity.
Remember, most readers will never get any further
than your Executive Summary, so make it count!
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 4
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Executive Summary
Concept Description: The essence of the business.
Opportunity: What is the size of the market & its critical trends?
Solution: Describe the product or service & problem solutions.
Competitive Advantage: What is unique about the product?
Process: How is the product to be produced and delivered?
Positioning: What segment of the market are you addressing
and how will customers perceive the product or service?
Financial: What revenues will be achieved in year 3 or 4 and
when will the company breakeven? How much funding is
required? What is the exit strategy?
Management: Who are they and what is their experience?
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 5
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Company Overview
The Company Overview is a brief (one page) description of
the company you have founded or want to set up. It should
describe the structure of the company, and how will it be
organised. It should include:
 Introduction - including name, location & business
structure.
 Mission statement - a short inspirational statement of
vision and goals.
 History and current status.
 Objectives as a concise statement.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 6
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Products & Services Description
This section is a detailed description of the
products and/or services to be offered.
Begin to sell the idea here by generating some
excitement about the product/service.
Be factual, but be enthusiastic. When readers
have finished learning about the product or
service, they should be primed to wade into the
marketing and financial details of the venture.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 7
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Products & Services Description
This section should include:
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An introduction - that evocatively describes the
experience of customers dealing with your company as
they purchase the product.
Description - what exactly is the product or service.
Market Comparison - position the product or service in
its marketplace.
Proprietary rights - what patents, copyrights, trade
secrets, non-competitive agreements are in place?
Stage of development - where is the product in its
lifecycle (early, growing, mature, declining)?
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 8
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Industry & Marketplace Analysis
This section describes and outlines the industry
and the marketplace in which you will compete.
The focus in this section is on the industry and
marketplace as it currently exists – you may not
even mention your business here, unless it already
a part of the industry.
When finished with this section, the readers should
understand the dynamics, problems, and
opportunities driving the industry and marketplace.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 9
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Industry & Marketplace Analysis
This section should include:

An introduction - summarising the industry and
marketplace analysis.

Industry Analysis - providing a big-picture overview of
the size and scope of the industry.

Marketplace Analysis - carefully and analytically
describe the specific market that it is proposed to
operate within.

Marketplace Buyer Analysis - identify and segment
the customers in the marketplace.

Marketplace Competitor Analysis - identify potential
direct and indirect competitors.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 10
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Marketing Plan
The Marketing Plan will make or break the
prospects for the venture. A great idea is
meaningless if you cannot find customers, &
logical financial projections are irrelevant if nobody
buys the product.
In the marketing strategy you must convince
yourself and the reader, that there is a real market
for the product. The strategy is where you show
how you are going to fit into the market structure
previously described in the Marketplace Analysis.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 11
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Marketing Plan - Introduction
Create a seven-sentence marketing strategy statement:
1. The first sentence tells the purpose of the marketing
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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strategy.
The second tells how you’ll achieve this purpose,
focusing upon your benefits.
The third tells your target market – or markets.
The fourth, the longest sentence, tells the marketing
weapons you’ll employ.
The fifth tells your niche.
The sixth tells your identity.
The seventh tells your budget, expressed as a
percentage of your projected gross revenues.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 12
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Marketing Plan - Target Market
This section defines the target market, and describes the
unmet needs of the target customers. It should consider:
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What segment of the market is targeted?
What characteristics define target customers?
How big is the target market? What share will we capture?
Who are the customers, users, OEM's distributors &
retailers?
What needs does the product fulfil with the target market?
What problems are we solving for these customers?
What evidence is there that potential customers and the
target market wants our product?
How will we position our product with our customers?
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 13
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Marketing Plan - Product Strategy
Describe how the product has been designed to meet the needs of
the target customer, and compete in the target market:
 What specific product design characteristics meet the
needs of your customers?
 What differentiates our product in our target market?
 How does it differ from that of our competitors?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of our product?
 Why will customers in the target market buy our product
rather than the competitions? Why will customers switch
select us?
 How will we differentiate ourselves from our competitors?
 How quickly and how effectively can your competitors
respond to our business?
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 14
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Marketing Plan - Other Strategies
The plan also needs to define the following:
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Pricing Strategy and why it will be effective with the
target customer in the marketplace.
Distribution Strategy and explain why it is the best for
the marketplace.
Advertising and Promotion Strategy - it is critical to
inform the target market about the availability of your
product or service, and to continue to communicate your
benefits to that market.
Sales Strategy - remember, often “Nothing happens
until the sale is made”.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 15
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Marketing Plan - Forecasts
Summarise of your marketing expenses and revenue
forecasts here. Include enough information to inform, but
not so much that the reader is overwhelmed. For example
you might include a table summarising revenues for a
simple business that looks like this:
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 16
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Operations Plan
This section outlines how you will run your business and
deliver value to your customers.
Operations is defined as the processes used to deliver
products and services to the marketplace and can
include manufacturing, transportation, logistics, travel,
printing, consulting, after-sales service, and so on.
In all likelihood, about 80% of your expenses will be for
operations, 80% of your employees will be working in
operations, and 80% of your time will be spent
worrying about operating problems and opportunities.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 17
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Operations Plan
The plan should include the following parts:

Introduction - how you will provide value to your customers.
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Operations strategy - using operations to fulfil the
marketing strategy.

Scope of operations - who, what and why?

Ongoing operations - operating into the future.

Operating Expenses - a brief summary of anticipated costs:
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 18
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Development Plan
In this section, you will outline how you intend to ramp-up
your business.
This section is often woefully under-developed in many
business plans. Assuming you have a dynamic marketing
plan and customers do indeed come flocking for your
product or service, you must be able to deliver it to
them.
The Development plan is a road map of how you are going
to get from where you are now to where you want to be in
the future. It commences with a development strategy to
launch the company and its products.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 19
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Development Plan - Timeline
This is where a Gantt Chart showing the timetable for
product development is appropriate.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 20
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Development Plan
Include a summary of anticipated development
expenses and of the assumptions behind your
estimates.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 21
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Management Plan
The purpose of the Management Plan is to convince the
reader that you have a great management team to
complement a great business concept. When readers are
finished with this section, you want them to be confident that
your venture is in good hands and will be competently
managed -- by you! This plan should include:
 Company organisation - describe the business structure.
 Management team - who are they, and what are the key
roles and responsibilities. What additions are planned?
 Administrative Expenses - a summary of anticipated
administration expenses and of the assumptions behind
the estimates.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 22
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Financial Plan
It is important that you have strong, well-constructed financial
plans. It is highly recommend that you start with your revenue
projections then create a schedule or timetable of development
and operational activities. The financial plans should include:
 Financial Statements - income statements, balance sheets, &
cash-flow projections, for at least 3 years into the future.
 Ratio Analysis - compare critical financial ratios from your
plan to those of your industry.
 Financial summary - incorporating income, cash flow,
balance sheet, and growth.
 Financial Assumptions.
 Funding Requirements, and Sources & Uses of Funds.
 Business Risks - what are they, & how can they be avoided?
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 23
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Summary of Financial Projections
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 24
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Offering (Funding Request)
The Offering is where you make your pitch for money. If you are
seeking a loan, then you need to indicate to potential lender how
the loan will be repaid and what is the interest rate. It is
important that you clearly spell out the key terms of the proposal
and sell the advantages to the investor/lender.
 Investment Requirements - Using your cash flow analysis,
what investments do we require to achieve our plans? What
is the timing?
 Valuation of Business
 Offer - What is the structure of the deal we are offering or
seeking? How much money do we want?
 Exit Strategies - What is our preferred exit strategy? How
can investors realise a return on their investment?
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 25
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Appendices
The appendices are where you should collect all of the
documentation that supports the body of your business plan.
Required items
• Financial Statements
- Income Statement
- Balance Sheet
- Cash Flow
- Monthly and Quarterly
- Cash Flow Statements
- Break-even analysis
- Financial assumptions
• Management resumes
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Optional items
• Surveys and survey results.
• Development timeline.
• Operations layout.
• Sample menus, web
pages, advertisements,
etc.
• Anything else that will
help to illuminate and/or
sell your plan.
Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 26
HIT241 - BUSINESS PLANNING
Conclusion
Writing a business plan is an essential step for the
growth of every company. It describes the
organisational goals, and how to achieve them. The
business plan is especially important for:
 Developing new technologies and products.
 Obtaining external financial support.
 Managing mergers and acquisitions.
 Arranging strategic alliances.
 Building relationships with customers &
suppliers.
 Attracting and retaining key employees.
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Preparing a Business Plan - Slide 27