A business plan is usually stated in terms of dollars and grouped by

product family. The business plan is then translated into synchronized

tactical functional plans through the production planning process (or
the sales and operations planning process). Although frequently stated
in different terms (dollars versus units), these tactical plans should
agree with each other and with the business plan. Its a document
consisting of the business details (organization, strategy, and financing
tactics) prepared by an entrepreneur to plan for a new business.
The business plan sets the overall activities for the business &
addresses specific issues & concerns that typically relate to:
a) The nature of the firm which includes type of business, nature of the
enterprise.
b) The locations & facilities of the enterprise, such as the use of the
global supply chains, strategic alliances with partners, production
facilities & distribution channels.
c) The type of organization & the skills of the people required.
d) Levels of processing technology, such as the processing of material
resources into components, the assembly of components into finished
products & the distribution of products to a customer.
e) The type & nature of capital resources required, such as short term
bridging loans, long term debt financing & venture capital or market
capitalization from & initial purchase offering.
f) The interest of primary stakeholders, such as members of an
association, customers of a commercial enterprise, suppliers to a
corporation, donors to a political organization, community groups to a
government body & associates in retail organization.

The Market Definition in business plan should include:

a) The location of customers & the nature of their relationship with the

supplying organization i.e. is the customer a direct customer, an

indirect customer, a consumer of a product or service, or an influencer
of a potential consumer.
b) Information about projected market growth rates & demographic
information about future customers.
c) Impact of social changes including changing needs of customers.
d) Global & regional economic considerations & business conditions as
they affect customer needs
The business environment definition should include:
a) Information about current & future potential competitors, including
benchmarked information wherever possible.
b) Projections of business growth, including environmental threats &
opportunities.
c) Information on the availability of financial resources & sources of
funding required.
d) Information on potential & emerging technologies & their impact on
business performance.
Key Business Goals:
a) Projected business growth.
b) Targeted profitability.
c) Anticipated return on investment.
d) Desired market share.
e) Shareholder value.
f) Company Value.
g) Customer Service.
Business Stakeholders: Business stakeholders include all those
groups affected by the operations of the organization like the
community, the management team, the business owners and
shareholders, the members of an association, the workers, the
customers & the suppliers of the organization. All these business

stakeholders must be considered in the development of the

business plan.
Benchmarking: As per the APICS dictionary It is the process of
measuring the companys products, services, costs, and practices.
Two types of benchmarking existcompetitive, a comparison against
your industry best, and process, a comparison of a process to the bestinclass. During the development of the business plan may aspects of
operational performance must
be compared with the performance of other organizations.
Benchmarking can be done in many ways but these normally include
reciprocal site visits & mutual exchange of specific information betn 2
organizations. It is recommended to compare an organizations
performance with others that have clearly demonstrated that they are
the best in class for that particular process.
Strategic Data Sources for Business Plan:
a) Many companies deploy a process called environmental scanning
that basically provides input from the marketplace about trends
occurring within global communities where the organization is
operating or seeking to penetrate. It provides information about
demographics, likely changes in regulation, market growth potential,
general economic conditions, current market players, potential
competitors, current customer preferences & satisfaction levels with
current suppliers & more.
b) Also an organization needs to review its current capabilities such as
the skills of the workforce, the core competencies of the organization,
that available resources & the application of information technology for
competitive advantage.

c) Financial targets that are set by the executive team which includes
projected earning levels, business growth, market penetration, cash
flow generation, ROI targets & product volume targets.
d) Strategic goals set by executive team which includes desired levels
of customer service, planned quality improvements, cost reduction
goals, lead time reduction & productivity improvements.