Do you want to expand your business, be more competitive in your industry or achieve certain goals? If you answered yes to any of the above, you need a formal business plan!
The Power In A Plan
Whether you have just started out, or been running for years, business planning can be the key to your success. This is especially true if you are looking to get finances; most often you must have a structured business plan.
Contact Erricia Bailey at IRCS for more details on how we can provide you with a robust plan to help you progress towards success in business.
What Is A Business Plan
According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, it is “a formal written document containing business goals, the methods on how these goals can be attained, and the time frame within which these goals need to be achieved. It also describes the nature of the business, background information on the organization, the organization’s financial projections, and the strategies it intends to implement to achieve the stated targets. In its entirety, this document serves as a road map that provides direction to the business.”
Written business plans are often needed to obtain a bank loan or apply for other kinds of financing.
Business plans are key decision-making tools. The content and format of the document is determined by the goals and its audience. For example, such a plan for a non-profit organization might discuss the fit between the operations plan and the organization’s mission. Banks are quite concerned about defaults, so such a plan for a bank loan will build a convincing case for the organization’s ability to repay the loan. Venture capitalists are primarily concerned about initial investment, feasibility, and exit valuation. A project requiring equity financing will, therefore, need to explain why current resources, upcoming growth opportunities, and sustainable competitive advantage will lead to a high exit valuation.
Preparing a plan for your business draws on a wide range of knowledge from many different business disciplines: finance, human resource management, intellectual property management, supply chain management, operations management, and marketing, among others. It can be helpful to view the total plan as a collection of sub-plans, one for each of the main business disciplines.
Eric S. Siegel, Brian R. Ford, Jay M. Bornstein, in The Ernst & Young Business Plan Guide say, “… a good business plan can help to make a good business credible, understandable, and attractive to someone who is unfamiliar with the business. Writing a good business plan can’t guarantee success, but it can go a long way toward reducing the odds of failure.”
Content in this article obtained from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.