Bbmm605: Business Plan - Assessment Answer

Part 1: DUE WEEK 4.1 2500 WORDS Project – Your Business Plan should be written for a new start-up venture; any (for-profit, not- for-profit, social, environmental, charitable) type (e.g. creator, distributor, landlord, broker of any type of asset – financial, physical, intellectual, human) and any size (small, medium, large) of business. Part 1 of your business plan should contain detailed discussions of the following:

• Executive Summary. At this stage only a draft of executive summary needs to be written, but it already needs to be clearly summarized: What the business going to produce; How the business is going to deliver value for its customers and other stakeholders; Why the business will exist and Why you are starting the business; and Where the business will operate. (200 words)

• Business Description. Provide name of your business and background, and briefly describe the industry your business will operate in. Explain, in sufficient details, any uniqueness or distinctive features of your business; how different your business is going to be compared to competitors; and why customers would buy from you and not from competitors. (500 words)

• Marketing Research and Analysis. Conduct extensive marketing research and analysis and identify potential target market for your products/services; trends and buying habits of customers buying similar products / services; existing competition and potential competitors; and estimated market share your business is aiming to capture. (500 words)

• Marketing Plan. Develop a detailed marketing plan – describe, in sufficient details, the products / services your business will offer; prices of your products / services compared to competitors, pricing strategies, discounts and loyalty rewards; place where your customers are going to buy your products and services; advertising and

promotion you are going to use to promote your products / services and how much it will cost. You need to conduct some research and analysis to provide data supporting your marketing plan. (500 words)

• Operations. Identify specific location where your business is going to operate and briefly describe advantages of the location; describe, in sufficient details, operational procedures of your business – how the business will operate – relate it to the business model of your business; briefly describe personnel requirements working in your business, qualification and experience that are required, wage rates; list suppliers of your business with a brief characteristics, and proximity to your suppliers. (500 words)

• Management. Briefly describe management team and the key personnel of your business (qualification, skills and experience, contribution to the business); legal structure of your business; stock and employment agreements, ownership percentage of the business; division of responsibility and accountability, division of workload and profit, etc. (300 words)

Part 2: DUE WEEK 6.1 3000 WORDS Project Part 2 of your business plan should contain detailed discussions of the following:

• Financial. Identify, outline, and estimate variable costs and fixed costs and the amounts. Support your estimated amounts by research you had conducted. Based on the data you had provided, estimate operational cost per month and calculate the Break-Even Point in Number of services and sales value. Consider a wage increase of 3% and overhead costs to go up by 5% due to price increases for the next year. Based on these price increases, calculate the new Break Even Point for the next year. (650 words)

• Social, Environmental, Entrepreneurial (SEE). Describe the corporate governance plan for your business and explain social, environmental, and entrepreneurial component of your business – identify and discuss SEE KPIs your business is going to monitor, measure, and report to stakeholders. Describe any Intellectual Property (IP) you are developing for the business and how you intend to protect your IPs. (650)

• Critical Risks. Discuss potential risks and any potentially unfavourable industry-wide trends destabilising the business (e.g. new entrants, price cutting by competitors, government actions, changes in consumer taste and societal demands, difficulties and unexpected problems beyond business control. (650 words)

• Harvest Strategy. Outline and discuss a plan for a liquidity event and exit strategy; transition of leadership and succession planning; IPO or sale of the business; whether you plan to franchise, or license any of your products or services. (550 words)

• Milestone Schedule. Develop a timetable or chart to demonstrate when each phase of the venture is to be completed; show the relationship and dependency of events and provide deadline for accomplishment. (500 words)

Overall, your Business Report should have the following structure:

1. Executive Summary (summary of what, how, why, where, when, etc.)

2. Business Description (background of the industry; potential of the new venture, etc.)

3. Marketing Research and Analysis (target market, market position, market demand, etc.)

4. Marketing Plan (pricing strategy, advertising plans, distributions, cost estimates, etc.)

5. Operations (specific operations of the venture, proximity to customers, suppliers, etc.)

6. Management (key people in the management and their CVs, legal structure, etc.)

7. Financial (sources of funds, operating cost, cash flow, break-even, cost controls, etc.)

8. Social, Environmental, Entrepreneurial (social, environmental, and entrepreneurial KPIs)

9. Critical Risks (potentially unfavorable industry-wide trends, risk assessment, etc.)

10. Harvest Strategy (transition of leadership, continuity, plan for liquidity event, etc.)

11. Milestone Schedule (timing and objectives, deadlines and milestones, Gantt chart, etc.)

12. Appendix or Bibliography (additional material that is not covered in the body, etc.)

Note: This is a bachelor level assignment and you will be marked also on:

• overall presentation of the report (e.g. formatting, cover page, table of context, etc.)

• structure of the report (e.g. headings used, flow of information and arguments, etc.)

• quality of the report (e.g. language used, arguments presented and discussed, etc.)

• bibliography (use of external information sources, quality, validity, relevance of information, consistency of a reference style, etc.)

Presentation: DUE WEEK 7.1 10 MINUTES You will be required to present your assignment in class at an allocated time and provide feedback to your classmates.

• the presentation to be 7 to 10 minutes long (4 to 5 minutes each student)

• the presentation to have around 10 slides (12 slides maximum)

• copyright information and graphical images used within the slides to be referenced

• in-text information used within the slides to be referenced

Note: This is a third year unit and requires a professional presentation, hence your will be marked also on:

• verbal communication (terminology, clarity of the language used, effective communication skills, cultural sensitivity, etc.)

• nonverbal communication (effective body, facial, eye, paralanguage communication)

• readiness to present at the allocated time (attendance and participation during presentation of others)

• timing and organisational skills of the group (time management of your group)

• interactivity with audience and professionalism (overall quality of presentation slides, impression of the presentation, answers provided after the presentation)

• peer review (constructive feedback provided to other students, objectivity and fairness of the feedback, suggestions for improvement, etc.)