Enterprise Business Plan
What business to open? What do I want from my business? Do I need a business plan? – such a set of questions torments future businessmen with sleepless nights. And if only you personally can answer the first two of them, then we are ready to give a confident and clear answer to the third: of course, you need a business plan!
But from exactly why you need it, will depend on the format of the business plan and, ultimately, the fate of your future business. For example, if you open a small and not too complicated enterprise, such as a self-service car wash or a resale of goods, it would be enough to make a small table of income and expenses in Exel just to make sure that you do not go bankrupt. But with such a business plan, you will have to develop your business exclusively with your own funds.
If you have conceived a serious project that will require equally serious financial investments, you will have to join the game with investors. And, you can be sure, you will have to play not by your rules.
The bad news is that all serious companies and departments that can influence the financing of your business, have invented their own rules and standards of business planning. Well, the good news is that all these standards have long been known and it’s quite realistic to “fit” your document. So what are the main business planning standards and what do they suggest?
TACIS Standard
This standard was developed in the early 90s specifically for the CIS countries by the European Union. This standard is interesting primarily because it takes into account the specifics of business in the countries of the community. In the most general form, a business plan according to TACIS standards includes the following sections:
Introduction
A brief description of the document. What kind of product do you offer? In what market conditions? What is the project team? How will the funds be distributed?
Business strategy.
Marketing plan. It includes both a marketing analysis and a description of the marketing strategy.
Production strategy. In this section, you need to tell exactly how you will deploy production, what infrastructure for this is represented in your chosen locality, whether you have enough resources, exactly how you plan to integrate your production, what equipment you need and how much you will have to invest in its purchase.
Business management system or organizational plan. This section will affect all personnel issues of the future enterprise: which specialists and in what quantities will you need, what competencies should they have, what will be the size of the remuneration fund? Here it is about the management of the company.
Financial plan. This section will consist mainly of tables with calculations of the cost of production, as well as profits and losses. In addition, you need to attach a cash flow forecast, balance sheet and data on the overall profitability of the business.
Risk analysis. Here it is important to consider the most probable risks of the project, both technical and financial.
KPMG standard
KPMG is an international network of companies focusing on accounting, tax and advisory services. Of course, world-renowned experts could not fail to create their own sample business plan. Here is the structure KPMG offers to its customers and partners:
Summary. This includes data on services or products, a story about the company’s mission, and a brief overview of the entire business plan.
Products and services. Here the information that the company offers to the market, given in the first section, will have to be disclosed in more detail.
Market analysis includes a story about the use of a product or service, competitor analysis, demographic analysis, and SWOT analysis.
Target markets. What consumers are your products intended for? How far geographically are you ready to go in selling your products? What will the price be?
Promotion strategy. Here you will need to tell how you plan to promote your products and services to the market, which advertising channels you want to use for this, as well as predict sales.
Management – a section in which you need to tell not only about the organization of work and personnel, but also about the costs of creating production and consumption of assets.
The financial analysis. The information here will be similar to the one that TACIS offers in a similar section, but it will also add company risks and quantitative analysis.
UNIDO Standard
UNIDO is an organization that the UN has created to fight poverty, including by supporting the business of developing countries. UNIDO business plans are considered one of the most detailed – each section is divided into a mass of sub-items:
Plan summary. This section provides concise information on the project as a whole: what it is, what investments it requires, what is the term of the loan, what are the guarantees of return, etc.
The essence of the project. It includes a story about the company’s products, its detailed description, information about consumers and sales markets, evaluation of competitors, as well as a story about the strengths and weaknesses of the business.
