Drawing up an effective business plan containing the main aspects of the activity with the analysis of the main problems and the proposal of the basic ways of their making decisions gives the opportunity to identify the causes of difficulties, to find out the ways of their elimination, and to evaluate the feasibility, prospects of the enterprise that is a pledge of the resultive strategy of its functioning.
business plan, product, market of goods, service, consumer, sale, enterprise, profit, competitor, financial plan
Business plans are required for all types of enterprises, becausethey contain all the main aspects of the activity with the analysis of the main problems and the proposal of the basic ways to make decisions. Such approach reduces the risk of business failures. Besides it the realism of a business plan is very important for investors, creditors and landlords.
If the content and the structure of business plans may differ then the content is unchanged regardless of the aspects of feasibility study of a new enterprise or the development of an existing one.
In preparing the resume, it should be kept in mind that creditors and investors pay close attention to the directions, areas of activity, the company's goals, as well as the peculiarities and convincing advantages of the project over others.
It is reasonable that future investors and creditors are also interested in the amount of project income and the amount of risk of losing money in an alternative case.
When describing a product (service), you should pay attention to the needs that they are designed to meet their useful effect and their differences from competitive ones. In characterizing the useful effect, it is necessary to emphasize the maximum satisfaction of market demands and to take into account the consumer properties of the product (service)and the price, which are decisive for the buyer and main for the competitiveness of the product (service). A visual image of the product and a sample of a product or the detailed description of the provision of services will give a clear idea of them, according to the characteristics of qualities, design, packaging and service. The expected profit based on the price of the product (service) and costs should also be reflected in the section «Description of the product (service)».
Special attention should be paid to researching of the market of goods or services. One of the most common reasons for business failures is the insufficient analysis of the market and potential consumers, their tastes, requests and funds. Therefore the entrepreneur should be made a sufficient amount of time to a thorough study of the market. It will lead to the determination of the range of consumers, the capacity of the market of goods or services and accordingly the volume of production, sale and required resources.
The implementation of a trial batch of goods or trial provision of services is given to the entrepreneur a valuable information about the market and the target audience of consumers: their categories, purchasing power, the amount of time spent on the sale of a product (service), the reaction of buyers to the price of products (service). Identifying the needs of buyers leads to the improvement of products (service), contributes to the taking and retention of certain niche in the market.
According to our sociological study of the target audience of the family cafe in the age segment the percentage ration is:
Diagram 1
When evaluating competitors it should be analyzed their business activities, paying attention to the stability of their state of affairs and the differences between their products (services) relative to competitive ones; advantages and disadvantages of their products (services), as well as the possibility of new competitors.
Building a competitive strategy, it is necessary to avoid the introduction to the oversaturated market of goods (services) and should be constantly analyzed the actions of competitors, emphasizing to the quality of products and services.
The main slogan of marketing is «to produce what is bought and not to sell what is produced». It is confirmed by studying the market and requests of potential buyers. The product (service) must be in demand arisen from the buyer's needs.
Quality and sales promotion are factors which are taken into account when choosing suppliers.
Attention should be paid to the scheme of distribution of the goods independently through wholesale organizations, stores, etc.; price formation: how the price of the product (service)will be determined, what profit is planned to obtain, to what extent the price can be reduced so that it will be given the opportunity to recoup expenses and make the sufficient profit; advertisement: how much money can be invested in it, in what form and what means to advertise the business; methods of stimulating consumers: how and for whose account to attract new buyers, to expand sales areas, to increase production, to improve product (service), to provide guarantees or additional services, etc.; formation and maintenance of a good opinion of business: how and by what means the company will achieve a strong reputation of its goods (services) and the company itself.
The production plan contained in the production process is necessary for entrepreneurs engaged in the production of goods or services.
The company should confirm with calculations that it can produce a certain amount of products (to present services) of good quality, indicating an operating enterprise or a newly created one; a capacity, where, who, under what conditions raw materials, products and components will be purchased; whether production cooperation is implied; what equipment will be required and where it will be purchased.
An analogous a sales plan is required in the case of creating a retail outlet, where the procurement of goods, the inventory control system and warehouse plan should be described and pointed out whether the appropriate premises for the store or the warehouse exist.
Possible costs and future changes should also be assessed.
One of the reasons for a business failure is an organizational confusion. Therefore, the organizational plan should be paid special attention, indicating partners whom the deal is organized and planned to establish its uninterrupted operation; specialists and conditions under which they will be employed for a full-time job under the contract or as part-time employees; how the work of each employee will be paid, on what principles and conditions the incentive will be implemented.
It should be noted that the employment of additional workers should be resorted if the profitability of the firm is increased and take in mind that the salary for employees belongs to the level of fixed costs, so strong confidence should be in their implementation.
The experience shows that entering business organizing own business should only with well-known, like-minded, initiative, striving for success people on whom you can rely on and entrust the solution to the issue of the joint venture. It is better if companions in different aspects of their activity will complement each other. It is the key to success of the company.
The financial plan summarizes in value terms the possible results of the earlier considered decisions taken. It includes: calculating of the value and determining the source of receipt of funds essential for the organization of the business, forecast the volume of sales, the balance of cash expenses and receipts, the table of income and expenses, the consolidated balance of assets and liabilities of the enterprise, and the schedule for achieving the break-even point.
Resorting to a loan or investing own funds, it should be known what income money will generate. It is important to make sure that the profit from using the loan will be higher than the cost of its attracting.
The forecast of the volume of sales gives an idea of the share of the market that will be covered with the produced products (services).
The main task of the balance of cash income and expenses is the check of synchronism of receipt of cash from the sale of products and their consumption, i.e. the determination of adequacy of these funds at any one time.
The break-even schedule gives the opportunity to determine the volume of production whereby the company will begin to make a profit.
It should be kept in mind that unsuccessful decisions in the field of finance can lead to unfortunate results or loss of a part of a profit. It is advisable to resort to the services of a highly qualified financier to avoid such an undesirable option.
Thus, drawing up a business plan makes it possible to identify the causes of difficulties and to find out the ways of their elimination before they occur and to evaluate the feasibility and prospects of the enterprise that is a pledge of the resultive strategy of its functioning.
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