Business Planning

STUDY BUSINESS PLANNING ONLINE

A business plan sets out the method for running a specific activity over a specific future period.

The specific activity could be the business operations of a sole trader or of a global conglomerate, it may also refer to the business as a whole or as a department, and it can apply to a business venture, charity or non profit making organisation.

The future period might be the first six months of a new company, five years in the life of an existing company or the entire duration of a project. Usually, there is a detailed focus on the next 12 months, which is set against a more general plan for the next three to five years.

A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your firm's resume. The basic components include a current and pro forma balance sheet, an income statement, and a cash flow analysis. It helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make good business decisions.

Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any loan application. Additionally, it informs sales personnel, suppliers, and others about your operations and goals.

It is simply a written document that describes the future path of a business. A good business plan explains the business concept, summarizes the objectives of the business, identifies the resources (both in terms of money and people) that will be needed by the business, describes how those resources will be obtained, and tells the reader why the business will succeed.

This course helps you to develop such a document in a way that is practical, has a clear focus and is able to be applied with minimal fuss.

Lesson Structure

There are 11 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Business Planning
   • The business plan
   • strategic and operational planning
   • feasibility studies
   • the executive summary.
2. Focus and Direction
   • Deciding on direction
   • visualising future business directions
   • vision and mission statements
3. Legal and Administrative Requirements
   • Legal structure of a business
   • business names
   • taxation
   • regulations
   • licenses and permits
   • types of business ownership
4. Developing Objectives and Strategies
   • Setting goals and objectives
   • SWOT and GAP analyses
   • strategies for achieving objectives
5. Planning for Growth
   • Planned as opposed to runaway growth
   • subcontracting
   • franchising
   • licensing
   • the growth plan
6. Risk Management and Contingencies
   • Approaches to risk management
   • identifying business risks
7. Systems
   • System components
   • the quality audit
   • benchmarking
   • business plans as a mechanism of control
8. Marketing Plans
   • The definition of marketing
   • marketing requirements
   • the marketing process
   • market research
   • implications of unplanned marketing
9. Operation Plans
   • Control of business operations
   • writing an operation plan
10. Human Resource Plans
    • The value of human resources
    • occupational health and safety
    • skills and competencies of different staff
11. Financial Plans
    • The importance of financial planning
    • establishment costs and start up capital
    • cash flow forecasts
    • profit and loss statements

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Describe what a business plan is, and it main components
• Differentiate between a vision statement and a mission statement
• Discuss legal and administrative requirements of a business
• Explain the importance of a business name
• Explain the importance of setting goals and objectives in a business setting
• Describe strategies for coping with growth
• Describe different types of business risks
• Explain marketing process
• Explain operations planning
• Explain the importance of human resources
• Explain the purpose of financial planning

What You Will Do

• Interview a business owner regarding their business plan
• Visualise the state of a current business in 12 months time
• Contact a Government Department to determine the relevant licenses, permits, approvals and registrations necessary to set up a business
• Interview current business owners to determine their strategies and objectives for the next year
• Identify aspects of a business that would need attention in high growth periods
• Identify risks to a proposed business
• Investigate mechanisms for protection of intellectual copyright
• Investigate the potential of a business currently for sale
• Evaluate the operations of a current business
• Develop an operations plan for a newly conceived business proposal
• Identify potential hazards of a proposed business
• Identify expenses relevant to setting up a proposed business