MGTU 410 Week 3  | Assignment help | Brandman University

Assignment 2: Outline Handout and Rubric

 

 

 

The business plan will need to be customized to include all of the areas below, and yet remember this application will be different depending upon whether the innovation is a product, a service, or both (product-service combination).

 

It is critical that as you write the Business Plan to incorporate citations from the text books used in the BBA program. Do not copy and paste from your (or others) assignments from previous classes (that is an Academic Integrity Violation). But do apply and cite the concepts from what you have learned.

 

The Outline will be based upon the data from the Literature Review and will also include additional research. The Outline and all papers in the capstone are to follow APA headings:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/664/01/

 

The Twelve Sections of a Business Plan:

 

1.                   Executive Summary

You will include this section in the Outline – but you will not be able to write this section until you have completed all of the research and written all of the other sections.

However it is good for you to know that:

The purpose of an Executive Summary is to write a brief description of your plan that allows the reader to gain the essence of the entire plan in less than two (2) pages. It is intended to give a busy executive the key information and lead the reader to the sections

that will answer the executive’s primary questions. It is not an introduction to the plan, as you may have written in typical papers. The Executive Summary is meant to raise the interest of the executive reading it to continue reading and evaluating the Business Plan. Keep in mind, this might be the only section the executive might read; if not interesting, they might dismiss the rest. This Executive Summary, although positioned first in the project, should actually be written last. That way you know what you are summarizing. Writing it earlier will cause it to tend towards a traditional introduction. The elements of an Executive Summary are:

●                  Usually starts with “There is a need” and is backed up by data. This includes a description of the unsatisfied need that creates the business opportunity/innovation

●                  Purpose of the plan (attract investors, bring a new innovation to a specific and identified and cited market, etc.)

●                  Introduction to market opportunity – what is the innovation, what is the industry, what is the value that it brings

●                  Brief description of the connection to the Fortune 500 company

 

2.                   Mission and Vision Statement & Innovation Description

The Mission and Vision should be carefully crafted. You should see evidence of how operational, financial, management and marketing plans are executed in light of the innovations mission and vision. You are writing about the Innovation not about the Fortune 500 company, and yet you have to show the connections.

 

Company Description (proposed new organization)

◉        Type of Business and Legal Structure (e.g., LLC, sole proprietorship)

◉        Distinctive Core Competencies, overview of the demographics, location, financial viability, etc.

In this section you will also show (but not repeat) the connection between your innovation and the Fortune 500 company, but you are not writing an Outline about the Fortune 500 company

 

3.                   Industry Analysis and Trends (state of the industry, market research, barriers to entry, identifying competitors, identifying market niche, expert advice, competitive analysis, strategic positioning). All with cited data from academic and business sources.

◉        The history of the industry

◉        Size of the industry

◉        Industry evolution

◉        The trend--where the industry is expected to be in five to ten years

◉        The key players in the industry (those who do something like this well and those who do not).

◉        Perform a competitive advantage analysis.

◉        Barriers and challenges to entering the market

◉        Environmental Scan

Significant factors in the macro environment

Clear statement of the opportunities and threats through SWOT analysis.       The SWOT connects to the research and results in data driven decision making. Other

issues include but are not limited to:

·          Copyrights, Patents, and Intellectual Property Rights

·          Research and Development Activities

·          Failures in the industry

·          Opportunities

·          Changes in the market

·         Products and services

Detailed Product/Service Description

·          Product Life Cycle

·          Copyrights, Patents, and Intellectual Property Rights

·          Research and Development Activities

 

4.                   Strategic Positioning, Strategic Intent (Measurable Goals)

Competition strengths and weaknesses (using SWOT, AAA, and other matrices)

 

5.                   Product / Service (define product or service, what makes the product worthwhile, liability concerns, expert advice)

◉        How does the position in the Product Life Cycle affect this Business Plan?

◉        How does the position in the Industry Life Cycle affect this Business Plan?

 

6.                   Management Plan (hiring projections, board of directors or advisors, outside professionals, licenses, expert advice)

Management and Ownership

◉        Board of directors and rationale for members

◉        Management staff structure - Organizational chart

◉        Key managers

◉        Plans to attract, develop, and retain key personnel

◉        Future additions to the current management team

◉        Compensation and reward plans (based upon Indeed.com data)

◉        Training and motivation plan (financial and otherwise)

◉        Insurance plans and costs

◉        Government rules and regulations that might apply

◉        Answer Drucker’s Five Questions as they relate to your business http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/5-essential-questions-entrepreneurs.html

 

7.                   Marketing Plan (defining the product, defining the customers, selling prices, market placing/segmentation, promotion, follow-up plan, and expert advice). Use http://www.fedstats.gov/ for more information

◉        What is the competitive advantage that this business will create?

◉        Major characteristics of the target market (what does the customer look like?)

◉        What is the demand of this target market?

◉        Nature of the competition?

◉        What are total sales to this market in geographic area?

◉        What are total sales expected in five years? In ten years?

◉        What percentage of this demand does this business expect to capture?

◉        What are the four Ps?

◉        Overall marketing strategy

◉        Specific marketing mix

◉        Strengths and weaknesses in ability to satisfy target market needs

◉        Communication plan internally and externally

◉        Channels of distribution

◉        Sales strategy (Customer Relationship Management Program)

◉        Product and service cost

 

8.                   Operations Plan (operations for product or service from the beginning to the end of the supply chain (Cradle to Cradle) of the supply chain, technology, expert advice). Key suppliers, Customers, Operations

◉        List of potential suppliers

◉        Production and Service Delivery Procedures

◉        Supply Chain process flow chart (how goods and services will flow from the supplier all the way through the organization to the customer). These are some examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=process+flow+chart&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=u niv&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiwj_qUwI3QAhXHh1QKHdwABsQQsAQISg&biw=192 0&bih=97

◉        Product return process

◉        Supplier Relationship Management

◉        Logistics

◉        Packaging

◉        Transportation

 

9.                   Financial Plan (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, personal financial statement [not included in student plan – but students need to be aware of this requirement], financial ratios, forecasts, expert advice).

●      Financial Analysis

◉        Funds required and their sources

◉        Current funding requirements

◉        Funding requirements over the next three years (key ratios to focus on)

◉        Use of funds

◉        Loss Control

 

●      Financial statements for first three (3) years (monthly first year and annually for years two and three) (may use template)

◉        Income statements

◉        Balance sheets

◉        Cash flow statements

◉        Determine capital requirements

◉        Determine funding sources

10.               Action Plan: Steps to take to implement business plan including performance evaluation criteria.

 

11.               Conclusions & Recommendations

·         Conclude why your business is a viable business venture (or a viable business/strategic path for the client company)

·         Explain why the student should or should not pursue the business venture at this time (or why or why not the client)

·         Business should pursue the path under investigation

 

12.               Appendices & Reference Section (Reference section will include at least 35 sources for research for the business plan and APA citation will be provided for each source). Examples for other Appendices include:

·         Key employee resumes, product and advertising samples, press clippings

·         First impression collateral (e.g. cover letters for sources of income, brand, printing, design, charts, graphs and tables, multimedia presentations, etc.)

·         Information that creates capital (market research, communication plan, financing, websites, trade groups and associations, etc.)