Contents
Assignment Objectives & Requirements:- 1. Owners
- a. Your Business Name, Address, E‐Mail
- 2. General Business Description (300 – 400 words)
- A. What business will you be in? What will you do?
- Mission Statement
- Company goals and objectives
- B. Business Philosophy
- a. What is important to you in your business?
- To whom will you market your product?
- Describe your Industry: Is it a growth industry? What long term or Short term changes do you foresee in the industry? How will your company take advantage of it?
- Describe your most important company strengths and core competencies: What factors will make the company succeed? What do you think your major competitive strengths will be? What background experience, skills, and strengths do you personally bring to this new venture?
- Legal form of ownership: Sole proprietor, Partnership, Corporation, Limited liability corporation (LLC)? Why have you selected this form?
- 3. Products and Services
- a. Describe in depth your products or services. (Technical specifications)
- b. What factors will give you competitive advantages or disadvantages? Examples include level of quality or unique or proprietary features.
- 4. Marketing Plan
- a. Market Research- Why?
- b. Market Research- How? Primary or Secondary Data?
- c. In your marketing plan, be as specific as possible; give statistics, numbers, and sources. The marketing plan will be the basis, later on, of the all‐important sales projection.
- Facts about your industry
- What is the total size of your market?
- Current demand in target market.
- Trends in target market—growth trends, trends in consumer preferences, and trends in product development.
- Growth potential and opportunity for a business of your size.
- What barriers to entry do you face in entering this market with your new company?
- How will you overcome the barriers?
- How could the change in technology, change in government regulations, change in the economy, change in your industry, affect your organization.
- Product
- Describe the most important features. What is special about it?
- Describe the benefits. That is, what will the product do for the customer?
- Customer
- Identify your targeted customers, their demographics
- Competition
- What products and companies will compete with you?
- How will your products or services compare with the competition?
- Strategy
- Outline a marketing Strategy.
- Promotion
- How will you promote your Product?
- What will be your promotional budget?
- Method of setting prices
- Compare your prices with those of the competitors. Are they higher, lower, the same? Why?
- How important is price as a competitive factor?
- Do your intended customers really make their purchase decisions mostly on price?
- What will be your customer service and credit policies?
- Distribution Channels
- How do you sell your products or services?
- Legal Environment
- Licensing and bonding requirements
- Health, workplace, or environmental regulations
- Special regulations covering your industry or profession
- Insurance coverage
- Trademarks, copyrights, or patents (pending, existing, or purchased
- Personnel
- Number of employees
- Type of labor (skilled, unskilled, and professional)
- Where and how will you find the right employees?
- Quality of existing staff
- Pay structure
- Training methods and requirements
- Who does which tasks?
- For certain functions, will you use contract workers in addition to employees?
- Inventory
- What kind of inventory will you keep: raw materials, supplies, finished goods?
- Average value in stock (i.e., what is your inventory investment)?
- Rate of turnover and how this compares to the industry averages?
- Seasonal buildups?
- Lead‐time for ordering?
- Suppliers:
- Identify key suppliers
- Credit and delivery policies
- 5. Financial Plan
- The financial plan consists of a 12‐month profit and loss projection, a cash‐flow projection, a projected balance sheet, and a break‐even calculation. Together they constitute a reasonable estimate of your companyʹs financial future.
- 6. Conclusion
Description
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