A Business Plan is a document that includes the qualification and characteristics of the business of an organization, its way of operating, the development of its strategies, its action plans to secure a market share, methods of financing for its investments, and the projections for expenses, revenues and financial results. The goal of the Business Plan is to provide the company’s managers with guidance to create a significant value to the customers and meet the relevant needs such customers are willing to pay for, in addition to providing a potential significant profit to investors, thus meeting the company’s cost-benefit expectations. This document must contain the following sections while observing the subsequent questions:
1. The Venture: Brief description of the business, its location and scope;
2. Description of the Business: What business is to be established? What products or services are to be offered? What is the target market and its size? What is the best way to offer the products to the market? What are the critical success factors for the business? What are the possibilities of growth of the market under study? What are the positive and negative points of the business?
3. The Market: What is the big market and the best segment status to compete? What is the size of the segment and its growth possibilities? What is the geographical distribution of the market? What are the seasonal fluctuations for demands? What is the estimated value and the location of the business? Highlight the positive and negative points of this market.
4. The Competition: What are the direct competitors to the business? What other substitute businesses or products will compete with the product? What is the size of competitors? What analysis can be drawn about the competitors? What is the company’s price strategy? What is the distribution strategy? What is the technical assistance strategy for the company’s products or services? What is the quality concept for the product? What selling methods are to be applied? What the means available for publicizing the products or services?
5. Description of the Venture’s Product: What is the technology used in the product? What is its current development stage? What function and application does the product have? What innovative solutions can be used to serve the market? What are the regulations and technical standards governing the product? What analysis can be drawn on the relation between the product and the environment?
6. Price: What is the price competitiveness? What is the price strategy to be used? (in this case, study the prices that exist in the domestic market and the price of the similar imported products). What margins are appropriate to work with?
7. Suppliers: Where are the suppliers located? What inputs are imported? How to obtain the necessary inputs for the product? What are the delivery times for the inputs and the minimum quantities required for the product?
8. Productive Process: What is the flow of the productive process? – present an example of the process core, what is the planned number of employees? What will the installations of the business be like?
9. Marketing / Commercial Plan: What are the potential customers and their locations? What is the best way to attract the customers? What will the sales channels for the product be? How will the sales promotions be conducted? What are the best suppliers of inputs? How much should be invested in advertising? How will the distribution system for the products, and the technical assistance thereof, be operated? Who are the opinion makers for the product? What is the potential and sales estimate for each the product?
10. Costs: Cost estimates shall be generated for those inputs directly involved in the production of the asset – fixed costs and overhead, as well as the level of reliability of forecasts for the critical costs of the venture.
11. Investments: What is the infrastructure required to be obtained for the business to operate?
12. Organizational Aspects: What are the skills and knowledge of each partner, director and employees of the company? What organizational structures will support the venture?
13. Financial Plan: What is the sales volume required to obtain profits? What are the financial sources for the company? What is the shareholding of the organization? Present a cash flow spreadsheet for the first 10 quarters (in BRL) and NPV for the venture.
14. Partners: What are the possibilities for establishing partnerships for the venture?
15. Entrepreneurs: What are the motivations for creating this venture? What is the experience of the entrepreneurs? What are the main barriers and threats to the venture?
16. Venture Phases: What is the time required for developing each phase of the venture: Implementation, Growth, and Consolidation?