Business plan development sequence
The sequence of developing a business plan is baffling for many entrepreneurs. Planning plays a major role in creating a business, so sooner or later any project will face the question of how to develop a business plan.
Who develops the business plan
Development of an organization's business plan can be done in two ways:
By attracting agencies that provide services for the development of a business plan for projects. Today there are many such companies and the price range of their services is quite wide. From the side of the head, only control over the order of writing a business plan is needed.
Directly by the company itself. Many people think that this method is worthless, but this is only an illusion. To do such a job efficiently, you need a lot of experience. The writing process is time consuming.
Regardless of who is developing, the involvement of a leader is important.
There are two types of business plan depending on the way it will be used:
These two plans, even for the same company, will be very different. The second business plan is being developed in order to get:
It emphasizes the social usefulness of the business, as well as the fact that the person who invested in it (be it a lender or an investor) is guaranteed and will soon receive them back.
If the document is prepared for internal use, then the methodology for developing a business plan is different. It provides an assessment of the company's strengths and weaknesses. In this case, the management decides for itself whether it needs an outside opinion or not.
The article describes the main stages of developing a business plan, their content and the nature of the described activities. Together with the stages, the logic of their relationship and the basic principles of execution will be considered.
Key stages of creating a business plan
A business plan is the foundation of any company, be it an ice cream kiosk or a large steel industrial enterprise. Moreover, a high-quality and competent project is not only a source and justification for attracting investments, but also a step-by-step action plan for the entrepreneur himself and his employees
The stages of drawing up a business plan are aimed at forming a document that will accurately and correctly describe the business, the surrounding competitive market environment, the existing opportunities and key parameters of the project's financial system required to attract loans, subsidies, grants or investments.
The key feature of an investment project is its practical applicability. Its description should not contain lengthy reasoning or factors insignificant for the implementation - only specific things related to the implementation of the project and the opening of your own business.
Based on these requirements, the stages of developing a business plan do not include the following processes:
- Preparation for drawing up an investment project:
- formulating goals for creating a business plan;
- compiling a list of sources of receipt information;
- definition of the end users of the project;
- formation of the structure of the document.
- The stage of direct development of the business plan:
- collection of initial data;
- layout of sections;
- integration into a single document of the investment project.
- Assessment of the quality of preparation and discussion of the finished project.
- preparation of reviews and conclusions by specialists interested in the implementation of the project;
- joint discussion of the identified deficiencies, comments and suggestions;
- revision and elimination of deficiencies , reconsideration.
- The final stage of drawing up a business plan:
- approval of the final version by the person responsible for creation;
- transfer to interested parties ;
- protection.
Next, we will consider the content of these stages in more detail.
Preparation for drawing up an investment project
The process of preparing for the development of a business plan includes analytical activities that allow you to collect the initial data necessary for the formulation of sections of the document.
Many people know such a well-known expression as “planning failure is planning failure”. Often, many aspiring entrepreneurs ignore the importance of writing a business plan and resort to this stage only when it is required to attract investors or the return on business does not come on time.
Sequence of business plan development
At the same time, the business plan is a necessary initial stage that must precede the implementation of the project. The success of the project itself depends on its correct compilation and consideration of all aspects of entrepreneurial activity. In this article, we will reveal the sequence of developing a business plan and dwell in detail on the stages of drawing up a document.
A business plan is an invaluable guide to starting and growing a business.
It must be understood that a business plan is not a simple formality that will be required to obtain funding from investors and lenders. Subsequently, this document will become a step-by-step guide that will allow you to calculate your strength at all stages, competently analyze the market, determine the target audience and calculate the break-even point.
Where to start?
In order to substantiate your business idea on paper, there are many factors that need to be considered and researched to ensure that your business is successful.
The business plan will help identify potential weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Analyzing this data will help you make informed decisions about your business before starting legal registration and financial spending.
Experts identify several types of business plans, which are developed depending on the project format and scope of activity.
- organizational ;
- technical ;
- investment ;
- social ;
- economic ;
- mixed business plan.
The article describes the general requirements for developing a business plan. The features of the requirements of banks and the design of investment projects will also be given.
General requirements for the business plan
Taking into account the general requirements for the business plan allows you to correctly and competently describe the investment project. The importance of professional development is difficult to overestimate, since potential investors will study the attractiveness of investments in your business using this document. This does not mean that the project should contain advertising slogans or biased data that increase its visual appeal. It is important to ensure the correctness and objectivity of all conclusions and calculations, as well as the correct structure and design, which will significantly increase the chances of successful investment attraction.
General requirements for a business plan are formulated as follows:
- in order to keep the attention of people studying the project, its volume should not be more than 50 pages;
- the project is based on specific indicators, figures and facts, and all textual and additional information refers to their description;
- a high-quality summary that characterizes the essence of the business plan in a convenient and understandable form and a small amount of presentation;
- presentation of the content in an accessible and understandable business language, without the use of highly specialized terms, but also without vulgarisms and elements of simple colloquial speech;
- the data and calculations used must be relevant, truthful and confirmed by existing sources of information. It is not necessary to include in the project data or figures that are not confirmed by sources or calculations;
- the project must contain a description of all risks that may negatively affect the course of work and whether the implementation;
- the company's development strategy should be correctly described and contain ambitious but achievable goals and effective tools for achieving them.
Compliance with the general requirements for the business plan will allow you to get a well-designed investment project that will attract the attention of potential investors. You can download such a project from our website. This is a full-fledged ready-made business plan, with a competent structure and calculations of important financial and economic indicators. You can also order an individual turnkey business plan, created taking into account the specifics of entrepreneurship in your field of activity.
Specific requirements for the business plan
In addition to general requirements for a business plan, there are specific ones that must also be taken into account in the development process:
- Development deadline. It is important to define a clear time frame during which the project will be written and approved. If the terms of development are not met, then the relevance of the resulting project will not correspond to the changed realities of the market, and it will require revision. To prevent such situations, you must adhere to certain rules:
- when delaying the preparation of analytical information and forms of documents that act as reference and additional material, you should parallel the development process and include these data into the project later - in the form of attachments;
- Important investment projects require strict adherence to the deadlines, and in order not to violate the deadlines for the provision of the document to the investor, additional development time is provided in advance, taking into account possible delays and force majeure circumstances ...
- Content and structure. Compliance with this requirement for a business plan is ensured by using standard content typical for most investment projects under development:
- title page
- table of contents;
- summary;
- privacy policy;
- marketing research and market analysis;
- production features of the business;
- the main parameters of the financial model and investment attractiveness project;
- description of the risk component;
- application.
This list can be called the main components of the business plan, which can be expanded depending on the situation.
Other specific requirements for developing a business plan:
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The relevance of this topic is very high, since planning is a continuous process of finding new ways and methods to optimize targeted actions through new opportunities.
So, the management of any enterprise constantly feels the need to make a choice. It must choose the best selling price, the size of the series of products produced, make decisions in the field of credit and investment policy, and much more. To ensure the possibility of making economically sound decisions, enterprises make and analyze calculations of alternative proposals and describe the expected results of economic activity. True, the managers of many enterprises (especially small ones) are inclined to believe that they should not waste time on so-called "formal planning" (that is, to write down the entire scheme of actions in detail on paper), since the economic situation is changing so quickly that it is necessary to constantly make changes and additions to the original circuit. Consequently, this part of managers believes that informal planning is sufficient in a rapidly changing economic environment, i.e. such planning, in which everything is kept in mind and there is no need to spend time fixing (recording) your actions.
However, scientists and managers of large enterprises consider planning to be of the highest order and believe that formal planning provides many benefits:
- helps the management of the enterprise to think forward;
- promotes clear coordination of efforts undertaken by the enterprise;
- forms a system of target performance indicators for subsequent control;
- prepares the company for possible sudden market changes;
- demonstrates the relationship between the responsibilities of all officials.
