A business plan is a guide that outlines the goals of a company and details how the company plans to achieve those goals. The company for the Final Project f

Purpose

A business plan is a guide that outlines the goals of a company and details how the company plans to achieve those goals. The company for the Final Project for Introduction to Business will be a publicly-traded company of your choice. You will select your company in the Module 2 assignment.

Business Plan Sections

Key elements and sections of a business plan are explained in the textbook: Introduction to Business, Gitman, pages 188 and 189.  Review the Score: Business Plan for a Start-up Business template Download Score: Business Plan for a Start-up Business templateOpen this document with ReadSpeaker docReader. You are writing a business plan for a publicly-traded mature company, but the sections and the explanation of the sections are still accurate. The Small Business AssociationLinks to an external site. also can be a source of explanation for sections of the Business Plan. Here are the sections that should be included in your final business plan:

1. Begin with Cover Page: Here is a cover page template Download cover page templateOpen this document with ReadSpeaker docReaderyou can use.
2. Table of Contents
3. Section 1: Executive Summary 
   • Brief one to two pages that includes the following information:
     • Company: Include the name of the Company, Business Legal entity
     • Mission Statement:
     • Product/Service Offering:
     • Customer Problem that the company intends to fill:
     • Target Market & Customers:
     • Sale/Marketing Strategy:
     • Organizational Chart
     • Business Model: Operations Management: The Transformational Process
       • What are the company's Inputs (supplies to make your product) 
       • Transformation (what happens to the raw supplies?) and
       • Output (What is your end product and how does the company get it to customers?)
     • Competitors and Competitive Advantage:
4. Section 2: Market Analysis
   • Company analysis:
     • Name of the company, location, population & region served
     • How long the company has been in operation
     • Number of employees
     • Values and Goals of the company
     • List a few company objectives (reason for the plan)
   • Customer analysis
     • Learn more about customers and customer behavior
     • Customer needs – segment
     • Marketing strategy planning may start with questions about customers. These questions may relate to customers’ demographic characteristics, and consumer buying behavior
     • Define the product market
     • Identification of target markets
   • Competitive analysis
     • What companies are the main competitors for your selected company?
     • Gathering competitor information
   • External market environment
   • SWOT analysis
5. Section 3: Company Description
   • Set forth the objectives for business plan. What elements will make the company a success? What are the needs of the customers and how will the company satisfy the needs? How is the company different from the competition?
   • How is the company positioning itself in the market?
6. Section 4: Organization and Management
   • What is the Legal Entity for the Business?
   • Who is in charge of the company? Research the company and include an organizational chart.
   • Research the Board. What are the backgrounds of the board members?
   • What departments do you have and what are the functions of each department? List a few job titles of key groups of employees.
   • Include a brief description of the Operational Management-Supply Chain-Product Manufacturing-Output (How does the company’s product or service reach the customers).
7. Section 5: Marketing and Sales Management
   • Name the Target market
     • Product: Goods and services, Brand, Product classes, Packaging, Warranty, Product life cycle, and New product development – if necessary
     • Place: Location of Business, Ideal market exposure, Distribution customer service level Channel of distribution, Number and type of wholesaler, Number and type of retailer, Coordination needed in the channel, Logistics
     • Promotion: Developing a promotion blend, Personal selling, Mass selling – which includes advertising and publicity, and Sales promotion. Promotion planning may vary according to: Promotion to business customers, Promotion to final consumers, The product life cycle and the marketing mix
     • Price: Pricing objectives?  Customer price sensitivity, Customer value and value pricing, Pricing and the product life cycle.
8. Section 6 Service and Product Line
   • A detailed description of the company’s product or service (from the customers' perspective). You should include information about the specific benefits of the product or service. You should also talk about the product/service's ability to meet consumer needs, any advantages the product has over that of the competition, and the present development stage the product is in (i.e. idea, prototype, etc.).
   • Information related to the product's life cycle. Be sure to include information about where your product or service is in its life cycle, as well as any factors that may influence its cycle in the future.
   • Any copyright, patent, and trade secret information that may be relevant. This should include information related to existing, pending, or anticipated copyright and patent filings along with any key characteristics of the products/services that cannot obtain copyright or a patent. This is where you should also incorporate key aspects of the products/services that may be classified as trade secrets. Last, but not least, be sure to add any information pertaining to existing legal agreements, such as nondisclosure or non-compete agreements.
   • Research and development (R&D) activities that the company is involved in or is planning to be involved in. These would include any in-process or future activities related to the development of new products/services. 
9. Section 8: Financials
   
   • Research the company and locate one of the following financial statements:
     • Profit/Loss Statement
     • Cash Flow Statement
     • Break Even Analysis 
10. Section 9: Appendix
    • You will include the Appendix as part of your Business Plan requirement for the class.  Research and locate one item from the following list:
      • Credit history (personal & business)
      • Resumes of key personal
      • Product pictures
      • Letters of reference
      • Details of market studies
      • Relevant magazine articles or book references
      • Licenses, permits or patents
      • Legal documents
      • Copies of leases
      • Building permits
      • Contracts
      • List of business consultants- Attorneys, Accountants, outside relevant contractors
11. References Page in APA format
12. Addendum Page: Your Resume
13. Addendum Page: The question for the embedded librarian and the answer

Timeline

Throughout the course, we will work on assignments that can be included in your Final Business Plan including the following:

• Module 2: Business Selection
• Module 5: Select a Legal Entity for your new Business 
• Module 7: Mission Statement – This will help you build out your Executive Summary
• Module 8: Organization and Management section-Organizational Chart
• Module 11: Operations Management: The Transformation Process
• Module 12: The Marketing Plan – Competitive Analysis
• Module 12: Demonstrate Your Learning – Reaching your customers
• Module 14: Cash Flow for your Business – Research your Publicly-Traded Company for a Financial Statement

Format

Your plan should be a minimum of 8 pages long (for the sections not including the cover page, table of contents, and references)  will include the following formatting:

• Cover Page:
  • Centered halfway down the page and include:
    • Company Name
    • Stock symbol
    • NAICS Number (at least one that pertains to your publicly-traded company)
    • Business Plan
  • Near the bottom, centered on the page include:
    • Your Name
    • Date
    • Class Name
    • Number of copies of Business Plan Ex: Copy 2 of 4
• Table of Contents
• Body of Business Plan
  • Neatly typed. Use MS Word single spacing, spell check, decide the font and size of font i.e. Verdana, size 12. The paper needs to be uniform. The Business Plan needs to be submitted without spelling errors and grammatically correct.
  • Bold the sections
• References: Use proper in-text citations (APA) and a Reference page at the end of the document formatted in APA Links to an external site.style. 

Notes 

• You must conduct part of your research through the VSCS Library. Ask a librarian a research question and share what you have learned through the Ask A Librarian forum. You will receive credit as part of your final plan for your question in the forum.  You should utilize the VSCS Librarian's suggestions as credible sources for the paper. 
• Your paper must be at least 8 pages in length. 
• Many parts of the business plan will be completed as class assignments. For example, you will complete the Mission Statement.  This will make the final project easier to complete!

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