Business Plan Outline

Business plans may be used to support finance applications, to source equity investors or to plan the future direction of a business or organization.

Business plans have a number of sections, the most usual are:

Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Analysis
Products
Operations
Key Management
Personnel
Funds Required and their Uses
Financial Data

Appendices
    � Cash Flow Projections
    � Budgeted Profit & Loss/Balance Sheet
    � Financial Statements (prior 3 years)
    � Market Studies
    � Significant Contracts

An Executive Summary is a brief overview of the plan and may make or break the success of the business plan. If a reader is interested in the document after perusing the Executive Summary then they may read the whole document thoroughly.

The key points of a Business Plan are:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Purpose of the plan

Describe the company
Analyse the market
Marketing and sales activities
Personnel and management
Financial data

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Business name
Trading names
Locations
Core Business
Market description
Main products/services
Our competitive advantages
Products and Services
Primary target market and your position in the market
Analyse the business
Analyse your competitors
Analyse customer service techniques

MARKET ANALYSIS

Marketing strategy
Selling Strategies

PRODUCTS

Status of your current technology
Product/service's current position within its life cycle
New technologies or scientific approaches
Key future research and development activities
Government or approval requirements

OPERATIONS

Production or conduct service operations
Production or operating advantages
Present capacity
Supplier/backup supplier
Standard costs for production
Safety issues
Environmental issues

KEY MANAGEMENT

Names
Qualifications
Skills/Experience
Primary roles

PERSONNEL

Primary duties
Reward and compensation method
Organisational structures

FUNDS REQUIRED AND THEIR USES

Funding sources and terms
How these funds will be used
Overall funding strategy

FINANCIAL DATA

Projections for the next three years
Key assumptions
Financial analysis