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College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. Define Business Concept
2. Understand the Market
3. Have clear strategic position and consistent business focus.
4. Have the ability to attract, motivate, and retain employees
5. Respond to global opportunities and trends
2
Topic One
3
Business Concept
•Meeting needs is the basis of all business.
• If not, you should ask yourself how your company will be truly
competitive. 8
The Basic Business Concept worksheet
9
Topic Two
10
Understanding the Market
• It is not enough to have a great idea or new invention as the
basis of your business; you must also have a market that is
sufficiently large, accessible, and responsive.
22
Strategic Position and Consistent
Business Focus (cont’d)
• To help clarify your company’s position and focus as part of the
business plan process, you should define a Statement of Mission.
23
Topic Four
• Satisfied employees are far more likely to want to see their company
succeed, and they can dramatically alter a company’s bottom-line.
26
• Examine your management style and policies as part of your
overall business planning process.
27
Topic Five
RESPOND TO GLOBAL
OPPORTUNITIES AND TRENDS
28
Respond to Global Opportunities and Trends
• Target market.
• Competitors.
• Suppliers.
• Labor.
• Legal issues.
• Partners.
• Social responsibility.
30
CSIT 308
TURNING IDEAS INTO SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as
follows:
1. Lay out your basic business concept.
2. Gather data on the feasibility and specifics of their concept.
3. Focus and refine the concept based on the data they compile.
4. Outline the specifics of their business.
5. Put their plan in compelling form.
• The focus of this session is on steps 2 and 3: gathering and interpreting the
data you need. Solid information gives you a realistic picture of what
happens in businesses similar to yours, as well as a better understanding of
your own company. You can then evaluate and refocus your concept in light
of your newly acquired information.
GATHERING INFORMATION
•Savvy investors use a business plan not merely to learn about a new
business concept but as a means to judge whether an entrepreneur has
the knowledge and exercises the due diligence necessary to run a
business.
• You are merely looking for information that will answer the key questions
about your business. At the same time, your research must be thorough
enough to give you, and those reading your plan, confidence that the
answers are accurate and from reliable sources.
• For example, if you are manufacturing dolls, you might identify your target market
as girls between the ages of four and 10.
• One of the questions you need to address in your plan is,
• “How large is the market?” For this, you may have to consult only one source, the
Census Bureau, to find a reliable answer. However, other questions that arise,
such as,
• “What are the trends in doll-buying habits?” may require consulting three or four
industry sources or undertaking your own market research to compile information
you can trust.
• To get some answers, you will have to conduct your own market
research by talking to potential customers, meeting with other
business owners, or observing foot traffic at similar or nearby
establishments.
Mr. P. BOAKYE-SEKYEREHENE – CSCD 9
Starting Your Research (cont’d)
• As you start the business plan process, use the Research Questions worksheet in
the Chapter 2 of the recommended Text Book to record the general questions
you have at this point and the issues you will investigate.
• Look not only for specific current details but also for trends and patterns.
• How much information you gather will be, to a large extent, a result of your
resources, both of time and money.
• If you are working on a business plan for a one-person business while holding
down a full-time job, you don’t need to compile the same amount of
information appropriate for a large corporation with a market research
budget and staff.
Mr. P. BOAKYE-SEKYEREHENE – CSCD 10
Stay On Top of your Material
• During the course of your planning process, you will accumulate a great deal
of information and many documents.
• Set up a way to organize the material you gather, such as your notes, ideas,
and contact information, right as you begin.
• Add information to the files as you go along. Otherwise, you may find yourself
unable to locate specific details you need when you are actually preparing
your written document.
• As you gather data, write down the source and date of information; otherwise
you may later find yourself with data and no way to verify or attribute it.
• Use the most recent data you can find; printed information is often at least two years old and a
lot can change in two years.
• Translate data into units rather than dollars whenever possible. Due to inflation, dollars may not
give you consistent information from year to year.
• Give the most reliable source the most credence. Generally, the larger the group sampled for
information, or the more respected the organization that conducted the research, the more
trustworthy the numbers you collect
• Integrate data from one source to another in order to draw conclusions. However, make sure the
information is from the same time period and is consistent; small variations can lead to vastly
inaccurate results.
• Use the most conservative figures. Naturally, you’ll be tempted to paint the brightest picture
possible, but such information often leads to bad business decisions.
•Of course, at this early stage, you’ll not have all the information you
need to know whether you can completely execute on your business
plan or even how much money you can reasonably expect to make.
•You will not, for instance, at this point have done a financial analysis, so
you won’t know what your costs and profits are likely to be.
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. How Your Business is Evaluated
2. Get Your Facts Right
3. Length of you plan
4. Using Language to Convey Success
5. Using Visuals in your plan
2
Introduction
• Although you may spend five months preparing your plan, the cold, hard
fact is that an investor or lender can dismiss it in less than five minutes.
• If you don’t make a positive impression in those critical first five minutes,
your plan will be rejected. Only if it passes that first cursory look will
your plan be examined in greater detail.
• The most important aspects of your plan must jump out at even the most
casual reader. Even if your plan is intended for internal company use
only, it will be more effective if it is presented in a compelling, vivid form.
• Highlighting specific facts, goals, and conclusions makes your plan easier
to review, more effective as a working document, and more likely to
make a positive impact.
3
Introduction (cont’d)
• As you start your business plan process, keep in mind the kind of
information, statistics, and graphics your readers expect to see
and that will enable your plan to make a greater impact.
4
Topic One
• Funding sources primarily look for answers to these questions concerned with
the heart of the plan:
• Is the business idea solid?
• Is there a sufficient market for the product or service?
• Are the financial projections healthy, realistic, and in line with the investor’s or
lender’s funding patterns?
• Is key management described in the plan experienced and capable?
• Does the plan clearly describe how the investors or lenders will get their money
back?
• Within the first five minutes of reading your business plan, readers must perceive
that the answers to all these questions are favorable.
6
How Your Business Plan is Evaluated (cont’d)
• When evaluating a business plan, experienced business plan readers
generally spend the first five minutes reviewing it in this order: first, the
Executive Summary; second, the Financials; third, the Management section;
and next, the Exit Plan and/or Terms of the Deal, if applicable.
• Funding sources primarily look for answers to these questions concerned with
the heart of the plan:
• Is the business idea solid?
• Is there a sufficient market for the product or service?
• Are the financial projections healthy, realistic, and in line with the investor’s or
lender’s funding patterns?
• Is key management described in the plan experienced and capable?
• Does the plan clearly describe how the investors or lenders will get their money
back?
• Within the first five minutes of reading your business plan, readers must perceive
that the answers to all these questions are favorable.
7
Increasing the Reader’s Interest
8
Increasing the Reader’s Interest (cont’d)
• Some venture capitalists and investors have specific areas of interest, or are
known for giving certain aspects of a plan more weight than others.
• Highlight those areas that are consistent with the particular investor’s funding
patterns when sending out your plan; do this in the Executive Summary and in
your cover letter.
9
Topic Two
10
Getting Your Facts Right
• The worst mistake you can make in a business plan is to make a mistake.
• If the reader of your plan knows a statement you have made is not true, you have
lost credibility, even if you were just mistaken, not trying to mislead.
• Your facts must not only be correct, but must also be attributable to a reputable
source. As you do your research and prepare your plan, keep track of the sources
of your information.
• You may want to indicate the source of your data in your plan, but even if you do
not include the source in your written plan, you need to be able to quickly tell a
reader or potential funder where you found your information.
11
Topic Three
12
Length of your Plan
• How long should the perfect business plan be?
• Limit the plan itself (not including the Financials and appendices) to 15 to
35 pages; 20 pages are enough for nearly any business.
• If you have an uncomplicated small business, you may not need 15 pages,
but anything less than 10 pages will seem somewhat unsubstantial to the
reader.
13
Length of your Plan (cont’d)
• Limit appendices to no more than the length of your plan.
• Make sure your business plan fits easily and comfortably into a
briefcase; you don’t want your plan to be the one left behind when an
investor goes on a business trip.
• These guidelines apply to most business plans. But if you are confident
that your business requires a different configuration, go ahead!
14
Period of Time Your Plan Should Cover
• Most plans should project three to five years into the future, or
until you have reached your anticipated exit strategy, whichever
is earlier.
• However, you need only include monthly financials for the first
year or two, depending on development time.
• For the second and third years, quarterly financials are usually
adequate; annual projections suffice for the fourth and fifth
years.
15
Period of Time Your Plan Should Cover (cont’d)
•Similar time guidelines apply to how much detail you should include when
describing your business operations.
•Quite thorough information should be provided for the first year or two; for
subsequent years, a more general Operations description is acceptable.
•Plans for existing businesses and in-house corporate use should include historical
performance information for the past five years, or the duration of your business,
if less than five years.
•If your business is longstanding, you may want to examine trends over the life of
the business, or the last 10 years; this gives you insight into cyclical patterns and
helps you anticipate events that are likely to recur.
16
Topic Four
• The language you use in your plan can give the impression you
are thoughtful, knowledgeable, and prudent.
18
Use Language to Convey Success (cont’d)
• Always be professional.
19
Topic Five
20
Use Visuals in your Plan
•In the case of your business plan, a picture may be worth more than a thousand
words.
•A thousand words, after all, most likely will not be read, but a picture will definitely
be looked at.
•Graphs, charts, and illustrations also are visually appealing; they catch the reader’s
attention, forcefully explain concepts, and break up the monotony of the text.
•As you do your research and prepare your plan, look for items that can have a
strong impact if presented in a more visual form, such as positive statistics on the
growth or size of market.
•You may also want to include some of these in any electronic presentation you later
put together.
21
Photographs and Illustrations
• Photographs can be extremely effective,
especially if your company is producing a
product that is unusual or difficult to
understand.
22
Graphs and Charts
• Graphs and charts are excellent
tools for communicating
important or impressive
information, and you should find
ways of including graphs or
charts in your plan.
23
CSIT 308
TURNING IDEAS INTO SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. What to convey in your Executive Summary
2. Targeting the Summary
3. Types of Executive Summary
4. Writing the Summary
2
Introduction
• Without a doubt, the single most important portion of your
business plan is the Executive Summary.
4
Introduction (cont’d)-
Write Your Summary Last
• The Executive Summary is so important, in fact, that some venture
capitalists prefer to receive just a Summary and Financials before
reviewing an entire plan.
• The Summary is the place where you bring all your thoughts and
planning together, where you make a whole out of the disparate
parts of your business, and where you “sum up” all that you
propose.
• So, if you have not yet completed the other sections of your plan,
proceed to the next sections and return to the Executive
Summary when you have finished the rest of your plan.
6
Topic One
• To do so, you want to convey your own sense of optimism about your
business.
• This does not mean using “hype”; it simply means using a positive,
confident tone and demonstrating that you are well-positioned to
exploit a compelling market opportunity.
8
What to convey in your Executive Summary (cont’d)
10
Targeting the Summary
• Ask yourself: “Who will be reading my business plan?”
• Since the Summary is what the reader reads first (and perhaps is
the only portion read at all), try to find out what “buttons” to
push.
12
Topic Three
•In addition, it tells the reader what you are asking for in the way of
financing — which you also state in your cover letter.
14
The Narrative Summary
• The narrative Summary is more like telling the reader a story; it can convey
greater drama and excitement in presenting your business.
• A narrative Executive Summary is useful for businesses that break new ground,
either with a new product, a new market, or new operational techniques that
require considerable explanation.
• It is also more appropriate for businesses that have one dominant element —
such as holding an important patent or the participation of a well-known
entrepreneur — that can be highlighted.
• Finally, the narrative Executive Summary works well for companies with
interesting or impressive backgrounds or histories.
15
The Narrative Summary (cont’d)
• A narrative-style Executive Summary has fewer sections than
the synopsis Summary.
16
The Narrative Summary (cont’d)
• A narrative Summary may do more “scene-setting” — recounting the
• sociological or technological changes that have led to the development of
your company’s products or services — than a synopsis Summary.
• You may place the topics of a narrative Summary in any order that best
showcases your company.
• The topics do not have to be covered equally; the business concept may be
described in three paragraphs and the management team in only one or
two sentences.
• Printing topic headings is not necessary, although you may do so if you wish.
17
The Synopsis Summary (cont’d)
• You may likewise place the topics of a synopsis Summary in the
most advantageous order.
18
Topic Four
19
Writing the Summary
• Clear, strong writing pays off in the Executive Summary more than in
any other section of your business plan.
• If you are unsure about your own writing ability, consider hiring a
professional writer for the Summary or asking help from a friend or
family member who is a good writer.
21
Length and Design of the Summary (cont’d)
• Use white space to make the page less intimidating.
22
CSIT 308
TURNING IDEAS INTO SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. Company Name
2. Mission Statement
3. Legal Issues
4. Product and Services
5. Management/Leadership
6. Business Location
7. Development Stage and Milestones Achieved to Date
8. Financial Status
2
Introduction
• The most challenging aspect of the Company Description section
is likely to be developing a “Mission Statement,” which concisely
describes the goals, objectives, and underlying principles of your
company.
3
Topic One
COMPANY NAME
4
The Company
• In many cases, the name of your company or corporation is not the
same as the name(s) you use when doing business with the public.
5
The Company (cont’d)
• The number and types of names you need depend on the kind of
business you are in, how you interact with the public, whether you
are incorporated, what kinds of and how many products/services
you have, and your own personal taste.
6
The Company (cont’d)
• If yours is a new business, and you have not yet chosen a name, consider one
that meets your current needs but also gives you flexibility over the years.
• If you plan a company where most customers will do business with you
because they know of you or your reputation, you may have no better name
than your own.
• Many consultants, service providers, and designers, use just their own name.
• You can also combine your name with words that describe what you do, such
as Erin’s Editing Services.
7
The Company (cont’d)
• However, using your own name or a business name that is very narrowly
descriptive may limit your ability to grow, change focus, or sell the company in
the future.
• Al’s Airplane Repair is more confining than Take-off Aviation Services, or even
Take-Off Transportation Services.
• The mere fact of having the rights to a catchy domain name, though, is not a
business in and of itself.
8
The Company (cont’d)
• In your business plan, include the legal name of your company
and any brand or trade names, dba’s, subsidiary company
name, and domain name
9
Topic Two
COMPANIES OBJECTIVES /
STATEMENT OF MISSION
10
• Many, if not most, successful large companies describe the main goal of their
internal planning process as articulating and clarifying their “philosophy” or
“mission.”
• The best, most effective Mission Statements are not mere empty words, but
principles and objectives that guide all other aspects and activities of the business.
• You should be able to sum up the basic objectives and philosophy of your
company in just a few sentences.
• One statement should encapsulate the nature of your business, your business
principles, your financial goals, your “corporate culture,” and how you expect to
have your company viewed in the marketplace.
11
• A Statement of Mission provides focus for your company and
should be the defining concept of your business for at least the
next few years.
12
• A finished Mission Statement might be: “AAA, Inc., is a spunky, imaginative food
products and service company aimed at offering high-quality, moderately priced,
occasionally unusual foods using only natural ingredients.
• We view ourselves as partners with our customers, our employees, our community,
and our environment, and we take personal responsibility in our actions toward
each.
• Our goal is moderate growth, annual profitability, and maintaining our sense of
humor.”
13
Topic Three
LEGAL ISSUES
14
Legal Issues
• In forming a business, you must address many critical legal issues.
• One of the first is which type of legal entity to choose for your company.
• This has the advantage of being easy, since there may be no papers to file
with the state.
• Being incorporated, on the other hand, provides you and your investors with
much greater protection from personal liability.
• Most investors (and some lenders) are usually more comfortable dealing with
an incorporated entity.
15
Legal Issues (cont’d)
• If you choose to incorporate, you will still have many decisions.
16
Topic Four
17
Products and Services
• This part of your business plan can be relatively short, or it can
be an entire section of its own.
19
Topic Five
20
Management & Leadership
• Next, include the name of the chairperson of the Board of Directors,
president, and/or chief executive officer.
BUSINESS LOCATION
22
Business Location
• List the location of your company’s headquarters, main place of
business (if different), and any branch locations.
• If you have more than one or two branches, you can list just the total
number (although you might want to include a complete list in your
plan’s appendix).
• If you have not yet secured a location but intend to do so, indicate the
general whereabouts of your intended operation.
• You will want to clearly indicate any positive milestones you’ve achieved.
25
Development & Milestones (cont’d)
• Begin by stating when the company was founded.
26
Topic Eight
FINANCIAL STATUS
27
Final Status
• You also want to give a brief idea of the status of your company in financial and
personnel terms.
• For example, readers will want to know how you have been funded to date and any
major financial obligations.
• You should also indicate any loans or investments you have received and on what
terms.
• If you are seeking funding, briefly indicate how much money you seek and for what
purpose.
• You will expand on your financial obligations and use of funds sought in the Financials
section of your plan.
28
CSIT 308
TURNING IDEAS INTO SUCCESSFUL
COMPANIES
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as
follows:
1. Your Economic Sector
2. Your Industry
3. Size and Growth Rate of Your Industry
4. Sensitivity to Economic Cycles
2
Topic One
3
Your Economic Sector
• The broad category into which your industry or business falls is the economic
sector.
• The four general sectors are
• 1) service,
• 2) manufacturing,
• 3) retail, and
• 4) distribution.
• Economic sectors experience trends, and it’s useful to note your sector’s patterns.
4
Topic Two
YOUR INDUSTRY
5
Your Industry
• Your business may intersect two or more industries.
• This gives you insight into the opportunities available for your
business.
• How does the growth rate for your industry compare with the
growth of the gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the
national economy?
• This comparison will give you an idea of the current health of your
industry. 8
Size and Growth Rate of Your Industry (cont’d)
9
Industry Maturity
• Industries don’t remain static; they may change dramatically over
time.
• For instance, the soft drink industry is relatively stable, and a few
major companies dominate the field.
11
Topic Four
12
Sensitivity to Economic Cycles
• Some industries are heavily dependent on strong economies,
either nationally or internationally, and it is crucial to understand
how vulnerable your industry is to economic conditions.
• And some industries, such as personal care products and low-cost entertainment,
are fairly immune to economic cycles.
• Considering the economic conditions or cycles that affect your business helps you
anticipate and plan for growth in good times and belt-tightening in difficult times.
14
Seasonality
• For many industries, certain times of the year produce higher
revenues than others.
• Technology changes the way products are made and sold, how information and
communication is managed, and how costs are reduced.
• The Internet has dramatically affected many aspects of even the most traditional
industries, including sales and distribution channels, customer service, and relationships
with suppliers.
• It is impossible to imagine all the technological developments that may affect your
industry in the next five years but it is useful to take note of the trends of the last five
or 10 years.
• If yours is an industry in which technology changes rapidly, assume that you will need to
be positioned to respond to change, and indicate in your business plan your strategy to
do so and the financing required. 16
Financial Characteristics
• No area of your Industry Analysis is more important than an
evaluation of the financial patterns characterizing your industry,
especially if you are new to the field.
17
Financial Characteristics (cont’d)
• Much of this information may seem difficult to locate if you are
just entering the industry.
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. Defining your Target Market
2. Lifestyle/Business-Style Description
3. Market Size and Trends
4. Competitive Position
5. Global Competition
6. Future Competition
7. Preparing the Competition Segment of your Plan
2
Topic One
3
Defining Your Target Market
• You may be tempted to describe your market in the broadest possible
terms, choosing to include all those who might potentially use your product
or service.
• Doing so gives you the comforting sense that you have a huge market to
exploit.
• You could end up defining the market for furniture as everyone who lives
indoors, hardly helpful if you’re trying to come up with a marketing plan
for your furniture store.
4
Defining Your Target Market (cont’d)
•Instead you need to identify the particular market segments you
wish to reach.
5
Demographic Description
• Begin describing your market by the most basic, objective aspects of the customer
base.
• These details are the specific and observable traits that define your target
market.
• Many marketing vehicles, such as publications, mailing lists, radio, and TV,
accumulate this kind of data about the market they reach.
• Thus, you are better able to judge whether such vehicles are appropriate for your
company.
• Remember, you want to define those characteristics of your target market that
meaningfully relate to the interest, need, and ability of the customer to purchase
your product or service.
6
Geographic Description
• Define the primary geographic area(s) you intend to serve. This definition should be as concrete as
possible, indicating whether your business serves a particular neighborhood, city, state, region,
nation, or portion of the international market.
• Look at the density of the area — whether urban, suburban, or rural — and, if customers will be
coming to your place of business, indicate whether the location is in a mall, strip center, business
district, or industrial area, or will be a stand-alone facility.
• Some businesses define their geographic market by climate, serving only cold-weather or hot-
weather locations.
• If you are making your product or service available globally — especially on the Web — you may
be tempted to view the entire world as your geographic target market.
• Even online, there are limitations to which geographic areas are your primary target markets. These
limits may be due to issues of fulfillment (e.g., shipping goods), language, licensing, or legal issues,
and there are certainly limits of realistic market demand from different areas.
7
Topic Two
LIFESTYLE / BUSINESS-STYLE
DESCRIPTION
8
Lifestyle / Business-Style Description
• In the Target Market section of your plan, convey a sense of the concerns and
interests of your customers.
• You want to relate to your customer as a whole, which makes you more
responsive to their needs and gives you ideas for marketing vehicles and
approaches.
9
Topic Three
10
Size
• You want to make sure your customer base is large enough to sustain
your business and, if seeking funding, to convince potential investors
that your company can grow to a size that will make their investment
profitable.
• You needn’t do a scientific study. But if you are unsure about your
market, or need to convince investors, you must gather data to
support your plan.
11
Trends
• Equally important as estimating the size of your current market is evaluating the trends that
may affect the market in the coming years.
• Doing so will give you a sense of your company’s continuing viability, the strategic
opportunities the market presents, and how the company must plan to respond to changing
behavior of customers.
• Based on what you have learned by analyzing your potential market, you are now ready
to prepare the Target Market section of your written business plan.
• Using the Plan Preparation Form on the next page as a guide, focus primarily on these three
areas:
• Description
• Trends
• Strategic Opportunities
12
Topic Four
COMPETITIVE POSITION
13
Competitive Position
• It is tempting to want to judge your competition solely on the basis of
whether your product or service is better than theirs.
14
Competitive Position (cont’d)
• The objective features of your product or service may be a relatively
small part of the competitive picture.
15
Topic Five
GLOBAL COMPETITION
16
Global Competition
• Your competition may not just come from across town or even across your country, it may
now come from around the world.
• If you sell a common product, even something as mundane as hardware, you’ll find many
international companies selling the same product to your potential customers online.
• If you’re offering a unique product, you may still face worldwide competition.
• These international competitors can often sell at prices below yours, even when shipping and
fulfillment is added to the final price.
• This can be a difficult challenge, and you must be aware of this global competition so that
you can find ways to distinguish yourself from them and compete successfully.
17
Global Competition (cont’d)
• Not only are products sold internationally, but services are as
well.
FUTURE COMPETITION
19
Future Competition
• Finally, in your competitive analysis you have to do a little fortune-telling.
• You must make a few reasonable predictions of what the competition will look
like in the future.
• New competitors enter markets all the time, and sometimes current competitors
drop out.
• Don’t take comfort in the fact that other companies have overlooked a particular
product or service.
• Once you show you can be successful, someone will want to take a piece of that
market from you.
• Who are your new competitors likely to be? How long will you have the field to
yourself before other competitors jump in?
20
Future Competition (cont’d)
• One of the most important factors to examine is barriers to entry:
those conditions that make it difficult or impossible for new
competitors to enter the market.
• Every company can gain a sense of how best to prepare for future
competition by examining the barriers to entry.
• This will be one of the first areas judged by potential funding sources.
21
Topic Seven
23
CSIT 308
TURNING IDEAS INTO SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. A Strategic Position.
2. Kinds of Strategic Positions.
3. Risk
4. Balancing Risk and Opportunities
2
Topic One
A STRATEGIC POSITION
3
A Strategic Position
• You can differentiate your company from its competitors in many ways.
• You may have felt a lack in the market or wanted to pursue a particular
passion.
• The key is to find the strategy that best aligns your strengths and interests to
real opportunities in the competitive environment.
• Your strategic position should be where you find the following coming
together:
• ■ Your strengths and interests
• ■ Industry trends and developments
• ■ Market changes and opportunities
• ■ Competitive changes and opportunities
• ■ Changes and opportunities brought through new technologies
4
A Strategic Position (cont’d)
• Defining a strategic position is particularly important for new companies that must
quickly distinguish themselves from the competition.
• Since your resources are always limited (especially in younger companies), having
a clear strategic position assists you in figuring out how to allocate those
resources.
• This not only saves you a lot of time and money, but also makes you more
confident of your business decisions, some of which may not be understood by
others.
5
A Strategic Position (cont’d)
• Don’t be confused: A true strategic position is not the same as an
advertising campaign or slogan.
6
Topic Two
7
Kinds of Strategies
• What makes a company different?
• Is it the nature of its products or services?
• The quality or cost?
• The geographic area or type of customers served?
• Perhaps the company has proprietary products customers can’t find elsewhere.
• There are many ways to distinguish yourself from your competitors, including:
■ Customer Perception Factors
■ Market Segment
■ Market Share
■ Operational and/or Technological Advantages
■ Proprietary Products, Technology, Abilities, or Relationships
■ Sales Channels
8
Kinds of Strategies (cont’d)
• Each of these strategic approaches offers opportunities but also
poses pitfalls.
9
Topic Three
RISK
10
Risk
• Every business involves risk.
• Only the most naive and inexperienced entrepreneurs believe their business “just can’t fail.”
• Use this section to sit down and think through the various risks facing your new endeavor.
This task might seem daunting.
• So why shake your enthusiasm? Because risk assessment helps you prepare for and prevent
threats to your success.
• If, for instance, you identify a major risk as the possibility that a well-funded competitor will
enter the market, you will want to take steps to quickly secure key customer contracts or line
up significant funding yourself.
11
Risk (cont’d)
• Evaluating your risks isn’t meant to be an exercise in fear (although if you are
intimidated by the risks involved, then perhaps you are not yet ready to start
your business).
• Many entrepreneurs think that if they describe the risks they’re likely to
encounter, they’ll scare off potential investors.
• Quite the contrary is true. For all but the least sophisticated investors, an
evaluation of risks shows them you’re willing to take a cool, hard look at the
situation facing you, and you understand the scope of the threats to your success.
• It reassures investors that, because you understand the risks involved, you’re
more likely to take steps to counter those threats.
12
Kinds of Risks
• It’s not just a matter of high risk or low risk. It’s also what kinds of risk.
13
Topic Four
15
CSIT 308
TURNING IDEAS INTO SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. Your Company’s Message
2. Marketing Strategy
3. Traditional and Online Marketing Tactics
4. Your Sales Structure
5. Preparing the Marketing Section of your Plan
2
Topic One
3
Company’s Message
•Every business sends a message in its marketing, based on the
strategic position the company stakes out for itself, emphasizes
particular attributes, such as “low-price leader” or “one-day
service.”
4
Company’s Message (cont’d)
The Four P’s of Marketing
• What messages do you give customers to motivate them to
purchase your product or service?
5
Company’s Message (cont’d)
The Five F’s
• “The Five F’s,” shown below, are a convenient way to sum up
what customers want.
1. Functions.
2. Finances.
3. Freedom.
4. Feelings.
5. Future.
6
Topic Two
MARKETING STRATEGY
7
Marketing Strategy
• Once you have clarified what you want to tell customers about
your company, you must describe how you disseminate that
information.
•These tactics often involve little or no extra cost and can be the source
of substantial increased revenues.
11
Traditional Tactics (cont’d)
• A few important strategies to consider in your marketing
approach are:
• Media Advertising
• Customer-Based Marketing
• Strategic Partnerships
• Special Offers/Promotions
• Premiums
12
Online Tactics
• Social media marketing offers an enormous range of marketing
opportunities.
• Add to this the fact that people are now connected to the online
universe virtually all the time via smartphones and mobile
devices.
13
Online Tactics (cont’d)
• A few important strategies to consider in your marketing
approach are:
• Social Networking Sites
• Blogs
• Other Social Media Tactics
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine
Marketing)
• Email Newsletters
14
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
(cont’d.)
• Ventilation shafts
– While ductwork is small in residential buildings, in large
commercial buildings it can be large enough for an
individual to climb though
– If vents are large, security can install wire mesh grids at
various points to compartmentalize the runs
15
Topic Four
16
Sales Structure
• Directly related to your marketing strategy is your sales structure — how you
achieve actual customer orders.
• In this section of your plan, describe the two main components of your sales
system: the sales force and the sales process.
• If your business plan document is being used for external funding requests, you
don’t need to go into great detail; it is enough to provide a general outline,
giving a sense of your understanding of what is necessary to produce sales.
• For internal planning, however, you should flesh out these concepts more
thoroughly.
17
Sales Force
• At the center of your company’s income-producing activities are
those members of your staff with specific sales responsibilities.
• These are the people who come in direct contact with your
potential customers and who most immediately determine whether
your product or service is actually purchased.
• These key staff members are your sales team, and you must
carefully plan how you make the best use of their skills and time.
18
Sales Process
• Finally, you need to identify the procedures you use in making
sales calls and presentations, and the level of results you expect
from your sales force.
• The Marketing Budget and Sales Projections worksheets and the Plan
Preparation Form on the next several pages help you organize
information or completion of your business plan’s Marketing section.
21
CSIT 308
TURNING IDEAS INTO SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. Operations Section
2. Facilities
3. Production
4. Inventory Control
5. Preparing the Operations Section of your Business Plan
6. Why a Technological Plan?
7. What Do You Use Technology for?
8. Choosing Technology
2
Topic One
OPERATIONS SECTION
3
4 Operations Section
• This session describes most of the subjects commonly included in
an Operations section of a business plan.
FACILITIES
5
6 Facilities
• In real estate the old saying is that the three most important
factors are location, location, location.
• For example, with retail operations, a bad location can mean you
just don’t attract enough customers to your store.
PRODUCTION
8
9 Production
• Every manufacturing business has a production process — the
way it goes about fabricating a raw or component material and
creating an item with greater usefulness or desirability.
INVENTORY CONTROL
11
12 Inventory Control
• Many businesses overlook the vital contribution that careful inventory management
makes to the profitability of a company.
• How much money you have tied up in supplies or finished product sitting in your
warehouse makes a direct impact on your bottom line.
• Every box of raw material is not just taking up space; it’s money sitting around, losing
value.
• Of course, if you don’t have sufficient inventory, you occasionally can’t make sales.
• Every business dreads the possibility of receiving lucrative orders it can’t fill due to
inadequate supplies.
• And sometimes you don’t just lose sales; you lose a customer. This is the risk in
maintaining too low an inventory.
13 Inventory Control (cont’d)
• The answer is to develop inventory management systems that substantially
increase the flow of information from the sales point to the production and
purchasing teams.
• Information can reduce the amount of guesswork that goes into maintaining
inventory.
• Suppliers can help. Work with them to see how to reduce the amount of time
necessary to receive goods and to explore the potential of lowering the amount
of minimum orders.
• Large businesses often have significant clout with suppliers, but even smaller
companies should look for suppliers who are willing to increase flexibility in their
orders and deliveries.
Topic Five
14
15 Operations Section of Plan
• In preparing the Operations section of your business plan, emphasize these aspects of
your operations:
• Key characteristics
• Competitive advantages
• Cost and time efficiencies
• Problems addressed and overcome
• The aim of this section is to show that you have a firm grasp on the operational
necessities of carrying out your business, that you understand how those operations
relate to your overall business success, and that you have taken steps to achieve
maximum efficiency at the least cost.
• You do not want to give a step-by-step explanation of how your company functions or
go into the specific details of your activities. Save that information for your internal
procedures manual.
Topic Six
16
17 Technological Plan
•Sometimes even the simplest technology issues prove to be difficult
and time-consuming.
•Often, we don’t even know the right terms to use or questions to ask.
18 Technological Plan (cont’d)
• Many decisions you make about your technology, such as the choice of your
database program, may be costly or cumbersome to change later.
• When outlining your technology plan, keep in mind how your company might
grow or change; try to choose technology that is flexible enough to grow and
change with you.
• All those extra “features” may just make your technology, whether it be a
software program or a telephone, harder to use.
Topic Seven
19
20 Technological Use
• If you walk into a computer store and say, “I need a computer,” the first
question the salesperson will ask is,
• “What do you need it for?”
• Base your technology choices on your actual and projected business needs.
• When you examine your business operations, look at which functions require
or could benefit from technology.
CHOOSING A TECHNOLOGY
22
23 Choosing A Technology
• Key issues when choosing technology include:
• Functions
• Ease-of-use
• Cost
• Security
• Ability to be upgraded and expanded
• Integration with existing data, technology, systems, and the
like
CSIT 308
TURNING IDEAS INTO SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. Your Management Team
2. Management structure and style.
3. Preparing Your Management Section
2
Topic One
3
Management Team
• Who are the people most important to your company’s future?
• Who are the people determining the strategies you will pursue?
4
Management Team (cont’d)
• In all but the smallest businesses, these tasks are assigned to or
shared by many people.
• Key Employees/Principals
• Board of Directors
• Advisory Committee
• Consultants and Other Specialists
• Key Management Personnel to Be Added
5
Topic Two
7
Management Structure and Style (cont’d)
•A company’s organization and management style act as powerful
invisible forces shaping both the daily working atmosphere and
the future of the company.
•But all too often managers, especially new managers, pay only
cursory attention to the development of their structure and style.
• But all too often managers, especially new managers, pay only
cursory attention to the development of their structure and style.
• Recognize achievement, both privately and publicly. Reward initiative with both
monetary and non-monetary awards. Acknowledge jobs well done. Solicit suggestions,
and be responsive to concerns.
10
Topic Three
12
Management Section (cont’d)
• If you are preparing the plan for financing purposes, you should
focus primarily on the relevant backgrounds of your
management team members.
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. Goals
2. Strategies
3. Milestones Achieved and Future Milestones
4. Risk Evaluation.
5. Exit Plan
6. Developing an Exit Strategy
7. Preparing the Development, Milestones and Exit Strategy
Section of Your Plan
2
Topic One
GOALS
3
4 Goals
• What do you want in the future, both for yourself and for your
company?
• The vision that you and the other decision-makers hold for your
company shapes the nature of your day-to-day activities and should
determine the priorities for the expenditure of your resources.
• You want to emphasize those actions that support your eventual aims.
• Innovator. Produce new and different products or services; change the way the market views the
product or service; act on your creativity.
• Quality Leader. Produce the product or service everyone would buy if price were no object; develop a
reputation for excellence; take pride in creating the best.
• Market or Industry Leader. Dominate the market in terms of sales and products; have a well-known
name and run a large operation.
• Niche Leader. Carve out a narrow place in the market that your company dominates; do only one
thing, but do it extremely well.
• International Market or Worldwide Market Seller. Sell or distribute products or services to a global
audience or to a specific country or region.
• Exploiter. Take advantage of the trends of the moment or copy the successes of others; take risks for
quick rewards.
6 Goals (cont’d)
• If you want a company that is a market leader, you must position
your company to grow to a substantial size.
• This process will help you understand and articulate your goals;
it is meant for internal planning rather than for inclusion in a
written business plan, especially one prepared for outside
funding.
Topic Two
STRATEGIES
7
8 Strategies
• You now must consider what business strategy will take your company from its
present situation toward your long-term goals.
• Developing an overall strategy gives you the basis for deciding on the priorities
for specific actions and expenditures of funds.
• Diversify. Add new product or service lines (or buy other companies), thus
broadening the nature of the company, in an effort to expand the overall
size and sales of the company, and making you less dependent on your
current products or services for survival.
• Go Global. Find and exploit a foreign market instead of, or in addition to,
your own. Even if you’re not planning on being a global company at
launch, consider the long-term international opportunities.
•But many new companies already have histories, sometimes impressive ones,
before they have a written business plan.
•You can inspire confidence in your company by indicating this past history in your
plan.
•Delineating the milestones you’ve achieved to date likewise shows the level of
commitment you’ve made to your new business.
•A potential investor can get a sense of the financial and time expenditures that
you’ve had to invest to reach the achievements to date.
12 Future Milestones
• How will you and your investors know that you are making sufficient progress
toward your goals? If your long-term goal is to reach sales of $3 million in year
five, how much do you need in sales by year two and year three?
• In the daily press of business, it can often seem that you’re making no progress at
all.
• At any given time, you’ll have a stack of bills to pay, troublesome customers, and
problems with your staff. So you need a reminder that you have, in fact, been
going forward.
• A milestone list allows you and your financing sources to see what you specifically
plan to accomplish, and it clearly sets out delineated objectives.
• These objectives are part of your business plan and are included with the written
document.
13 Future Milestones (cont’d)
• How will you and your investors know that you are making sufficient progress toward
your goals?
• If your long-term goal is to reach sales of $3 million in year five, how much do you
need in sales by year two and year three?
• In the daily press of business, it can often seem that you’re making no progress at all.
At any given time, you’ll have a stack of bills to pay, troublesome customers, and
problems with your staff.
• So you need a reminder that you have, in fact, been going forward.
• A milestone list allows you and your financing sources to see what you specifically plan
to accomplish, and it clearly sets out delineated objectives.
• These objectives are part of your business plan and are included with the written
document.
Topic Four
RISK EVALUATION
14
15 Risk Evaluation
• Investors make financing decisions based on an evaluation of the
potential risks versus potential rewards.
EXIT PLAN
16
17 Exit Plan
• When banks or individuals lend you money, it’s clear how they
expect to get their money back and make a profit: You are to pay
them out of income, with interest.
• They evaluate your business on the basis of whether they think there’s
enough profit in your operating budget to pay back the loan.
• But how do investors get their money back? Since investors become
owners of the company (through their stock holdings), their profit is
earned in a different manner than banks and lenders.
• Some investors may be putting money in for the long run, expecting
to take an active part in the development and operation of the
company and getting their reward through the distribution of profits.
18 Exit Plan (cont’d)
• Other investors, however, especially venture capitalists,
eventually plan to liquidate their investment — to convert their
holdings to cash or easily traded stock.
• Ideally, these investors want to know at the outset how they will
get a substantial profit out of their investment.
19
20 Developing an Exit Strategy
• After all, you’ve devoted substantial time and money of your own to this
company, and you should have an idea of the way in which you’ll reap
rewards.
• Annual income is the major motivation for many entrepreneurs, but ideally
your company will have worth beyond its annual profits, and you should
eventually benefit from that worth.
• If there is more than one partner or principal in the business, creating a clear
exit strategy can reduce the friction that comes from having unspoken exit
assumptions.
• One founder may dream of building a company worth millions with the aim of
selling it in the next few years, while the other founder may hope to build a
modest business to run for many years to come.
21 Developing an Exit Strategy (cont’d)
• Novice entrepreneurs often imagine being able to buy out their
investors, but this is not usually a realistic option.
22
Development , Milestones and Exit Strategy Section
23
Session 13 – FINANCIALS
College of Education
School of Continuing and Distance Education
2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
1. Getting Control of Your Finances
2. Types of Financial Forms
3. Guidelines for Preparing Your Financial Forms
2
Topic One
• Financial statements provide you with the information you need to make
decisions.
• Many managers mistakenly believe that they are in charge of the big picture,
while bookkeepers and bean counters get caught up with mere details.
5
6 Financial Forms
• For the financial portion of your business plan, the three most
important forms are:
3. Don’t be creative. Use standard formats and financial terms; otherwise you look
inexperienced to financing sources.
7. Be consistent. Make a decision and stick with it for all your accounts, otherwise you can’t
compare one year’s figures to another.
11 Summary
• The financial portion of your business plan will consist mostly of
the actual financial projections.