Friday, June 22, 2012

The Business Plan


The Business Plan

A business plan is a document containing a written summary of the proposed venture, its operational and financial details, and its manager’s skills and abilities.

Purposes of a Business Plan
1.       to help the firm’s management
2.       to attract potential investors
3.       to serve as a legal document with which funds are raised

Parts of a Business Plan

1.       Definition of the business
a. Nature of the Company
b. Products/services offered
c. Nature of the industry
d. Opportunities available that can be exploited by the product or service to be offered
e. The rationale for the creation of the company
f.  The rationale for catering to the specific market

There is a need to elaborately describe the foregoing topics to provide a clear understanding of what the business is to the various users of the plan.

2.       Market research and analysis
a.        Situational analysis and target market
A detailed description of the environment or the company and the product, product line, or service line at the time the plan will be initiated and implemented.
b.       Marketing objectives and goals
To attain the objective, a goal or goals must be established like being able to sell to a certain area or group of establishments.
c.        Marketing strategies and tactics
Strategies are actions taken to reach the objectives. Example is direct marketing.
Tactics are how strategy will be carried out. Example is recruiting salesmen.
d.       Schedule and budgets
A marketing plan schedule must be prepared showing in detail every marketing activity and how much money must be allotted.
e.        Financial data and control
The financial data section must contain:
a.        Sales estimates on a monthly basis
b.       Cash flow requirements
c.        Break even analysis
d.       Estimate of inventory turnover
e.        Measures of profitability

3.       Development plan
This will show how the proposed product will be developed before it is finally scheduled for production.



4.       Manufacturing plan
This includes a description of: manufacturing facilities, location, rentals, and other manufacturing costs.

5.       Distribution and service plan
This provides the steps required to effectively bring the product to the market. Pricing, sales, service policies, market penetration, and timing are indicated.

6.       Organizational plan
This indicates how the total job is broken down into man-size jobs which are provided with specific job titles.

7.       Development schedule
This will provide information on the series of activities required to make the business idea a fully operational undertaking. Each stage must indicate the amount of time required for completion. The use of charts will help depict the stages in the schedule.

8.       Financial plan
A document indicating the financial requirements necessary to support a given set of plans in other areas.
Main components:
Projected Income Statement &Balance Sheet, supported by cash budget, personnel budget, production budget, purchasing budget, and break even analysis.

a.        The projected income statement is a forecast of all items in the income statement of the firm for a given period.
b.       The cash budget is the projection of future cash receipts and cash disbursements of the firm over various intervals of time .
c.        The personnel budget consists of salaries, outlays for supplies and equipment, and other related costs under the personnel department.
d.       The production budget is a projection of all expenses and costs related to production.
e.        The purchasing budget shows the total costs of purchases for direct materials considering the desired final and initial inventory.
f.         The break-even analysis shows the minimum sales volume needed to cover all costs at a certain price level. The purpose of the analysis ( cost-volume analysis) is to estimate the income of an organization that will occur under different operating conditions.

9.       Executive Summary
The executive summary section of a business plan is a summary of the highlights of your business plan. Even though the topic appears first in the printed document, most business plan developers leave the writing of the executive summary until the end. This summary is the doorway to the rest of the plan. Get it right or your target readers will not go further than the executive summary.
For a standard business plan, the first paragraph of the executive summary should generally include:
Business name, Business location, What product or service you sell, Purpose of the plan.

10.    Appendices( Contains backup materials)
a.        Resumes of principals
b.       Letters
c.        Market research data and survey results
d.       Leases and contracts
e.        Price lists from suppliers
f.         Facility layout
g.        Draft Marketing brochure
h.       Structure or e-marketing thrusts. If any

There are independent factors critical to every new venture and should be highlighted
in the business plan

1.       The People

     The most important determinant of success. The men and women starting and running the venture, as well as, the outside parties providing key services or important resources for it, such as its lawyers, accountants and suppliers.
     An ordinary plan can succeed if the execution is immaculate, but an outstanding
plan will surely flop without effective execution. Thus, the people involved in the
new venture are most important.
     Arthur Rock, a Venture Capitalist legend associated with companies like Apple, Intel and Teledyne states, “I invest in people, not ideas”

Three important questions need to be answered in every business plan

(a)    What do they know (about business)
(b)     Whom do they know (the customers, the people in the govt, etc)? and,
(c) How well are they known (their reputation that can be leveraged with
various stakeholders of business like suppliers, employees and govt
officials)?

Thus, a business plan should describe each member’s knowledge of the new venture’s type of products and markets – from competitors to customer


2.       The Opportunity

     A profile of business itself – what it will sell and to whom, whether the business can grow and how fast, what its economics are and who and what stands in the way of success.
     A good business plan begins by focusing on two aspects of opportunity –

(a) Is the total market for the venture’s product large, rapidly growing or both?
(b) Is the industry now, or can it become, structurally attractive?

     Investors look for a large and rapidly growing market because it is much easier to obtain a share of a growing market than to fight with entrenched competitors for a share of a mature or stagnant market.
     The business plan should establish the attractiveness of the industry in terms of growth potential. Building and launching of the product in the market place is the next emphasis point in the project report.
     If it were easy to spot the opportunities, they would have become extinct. They will
be killed before they are born.

3.       Pricing

     Difficult to guess but inevitable for any project report. Cash flow is equally important. The project report should include

(a) When does the business have to buy resources, such as supplies, raw materials and people services?
(b) When does the business have to pay for them?
(c) How long it takes to acquire a customer?
(d) How long before customer sends the business cheque?
(e) How much is the investment for each rupee of sale?
     Growth opportunities in terms of place, product, customer base, etc needs to be elaborated.

     Project plan also needs to discuss the mouse traps that the business can get caught into and plan to avoid them.
     Competition is the next issue that should be addressed in great detail. Following questions should be answered

(a) Who are the new venture’s current competitors?
(b) What resources do they control? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
(c) How will they respond to the new venture’s decision to enter business?
(d) How can the new venture respond to its competitors’ response?
(e) Who else might be able to observe and exploit the opportunity?
(f) Are there ways to co-opt potential or actual competitors by forming alliances?

4.       The Context

 The big picture – The regulatory environment, interest rates, demographic trends, inflation and the like – basically factors that change inevitably but cannot be controlled by the entrepreneur.

5.       The Risk and Rewards

          An assessment of everything that can go wrong and right and a discussion of how the entrepreneurial team can respond.
     The business plan remains same irrespective of the fact whether it is an entrepreneurial
venture or being launched by the established company. After all the market does not differentiate on the basis of whose money it is; whether of the investor or the shareholders.



ICST MANUFACTURING COMPANY
Manufacturing Plan (detailed)
For the Year Ending Dec. 31, 1996

Period                 Required                 Add Final                  Total                 Less Initial                  Units to be
                                 For                       Inventory               Required             Inventory                   Completed
                               Sales                  Finished Goods                                 Finished Goods

January                  100,000                     200,000                    300,000                    200,000                           100,000
February                110,000                     200,000                    310,000                    200,000                           110,000
March                    120,000                      200,000                    320,00                      200,000                            120,000
                       __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Total
 1st   quarter          330,000                      200,000                    530,000                    200,000                            330,000
2nd  quarter            320,000                      190.000                    510.000                    200,000                            310,000
3rd   quarter           310,000                      180,000                    490,000                    200,000                            290.000
4th   quarter           300,000                      170,000                    470,000                    200,000                            270,000 
                      __________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Grand Total     1,260,000                        170,000                 1,430,000                     200,000                     1,230,000
                       ____________________________________________________________________­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­______________________________________
                       __________________________________________________________________________________________________________






Distribution And Service Schedule
Cy1996

Steps                                                                                     Date                                                       Responsible Person
1.       Coordinate with production                                                        
And determine production output                   Jan 2-3                                                   Sales Unit c/o A. Yap
2.       Hire additional Salesman                                  Jan 5                                                       Sales Unit c/o B. Uy
3.       Direct Salesmen to commence selling           Jan 15                                                     Sales Unit c/o C. Tan


Development Schedule
1996

                                 Activity                                                                                                     Month

                                                                                                                     J- F-M-A-M-J-  J- A-S-O-N-D
A-E- A- P- A-U- U-U-E-C-O-E
                                                                                                                    N-B- R- R- Y-N- L- G-P-T-V-C

1.       Complete Planning Process                                                    ……
2.       Arrange Financing                                                                        …….
3.       Locate secure Facilities                                                                    …….
4.       Purchase Equipment                                                                              …….
5.       Hire Workforce                                                                         ______________
6.       Commence Operations
          Purchase Materials                                                                    ______
         Commence Marketing                                                                                     ________
       Future
           Develop Branch Distribution Centers
           Hire Management Personnel

…………………  initial concentrated effort
__________ ongoing maintenance

Purchasing Budget Summary
For the year Ending Dec. 31, 1996

                                                                                                              Direct Materials
                                                                                                       A                                                            B
Units required for production                                                  P 500,000                                              P 600,000
Add Desired Final Inventory
         Dec. 31, 1996                                                                           200,000                                                   200,000
Total Units required                                                                       700,000                                                   800,000
Less Initial Inventory
       Jan. 1, 1996                                                                                 280,000                                                  310,000
Units to be purchased                                                                    420,000                                                  490,000
Planned unit purchase price                                                         P 1.50                                                       P 1.50
Total Cost of Purchase                                                                P 630.000                                              P 784,000



Organizational Chart




Cash Budget
For the Year Ending Dec. 31, 1996

                                                                            1st quarter         2nd quarter         3rd quarter         4th quarter

Beg. Cash Balance                                            P 600,000         P 2,100,000        P 3,100,000        P 5,100,000

Add: Cash Receipts                                          9,000,000             8,000,000         10,000,000         12,000,000
                                                                       ________________________________________________________________________

Total                                                                   9,600,000           10,000,000         13,100,000         17,100,000

Less: Cash Payments                                       7,500,000             7,000,000            8,000,000           8,450,000
                                                                       ________________________________________________________________________

Ending Cash Balance                                     P 2,100,000         P 3.100,000         P 5,100,000        P 8,650,000
                                                                      _________________________________________________________________________
                                                                      _________________________________________________________________________


Projected Income Statement
For the Year Ending Dec. 31, 1996

Sales Revenue                                                                                                                                      P 39,460,000

Less: Cost of Goods Sold                                                                                                                       20,884,000

Gross Profits                                                                                                                                           18,576,000

Less: Operating expenses                                                                                                       7,854,513

Operating Profits                                                                                                                                    10,721,487

Less: Interest expense                                                                                                                                 230,000

Net Profit before taxes                                                                                                                           10,491,487

Less: Taxes                                                                                                                                                  3,619,195

Net Profit after taxes                                                                                                                              P 6,872,292
                                                                                                                                                                    ______________

Projected Balance Sheet
For the Year Ending Dec. 31, 1996


Assets

Cash                                                                                                                                                                       P 300,000

Marketable Securities                                                                                                                                            800,000

Accounts Receivable                                                                                                                                              650,000

Inventories
          Raw Materials                                                            P 203,480
          Finished Goods                                                             601,000                                                                 804,480
                                                                                                                                                                
Total Current Assets                                                                                                                                         P 2,554,480

Net Fixed Assets                                                                                                                                   5,439,742

TOTAL ASSETS                                                                                                                                                  P 7,994,222
                                                                                                                                                              

Liabilities and Net Worth

Accounts Payable                                                                                                                                                  P 350,230

Taxes Payable                                                                                                                                                              25,450

Notes Payable                                                                                                                                                            200,000

Other Current Liabilities                                                                                                                                           18,542

Total Current Liabilities                                                                                                                                     P   594,222

Long-Term Debts                                                                                                                                                      2,400,000

Total Liabilities                                                                                                                                                        2,994,222

Net Worth                                                                                                                                                                 5,000,000

TOTAL LIABLITIES AND NET WORTH                                                                                                          P 7,994,222
                                                                                                                                                                                   _____________

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