Business Plan (Concept, Samples & Examples for Students)

Business plan content, samples, and examples for students

What is a Business Plan & Why do You Need to Create One?

Without a plan in mind, it is very difficult for anyone to reach their destination.

A business plan helps you formalize your goals and makes it easy to check on your progress as the business grows, as well as ensures that you have something to show to banks or potential investors to prove that you know what you’re doing.

Does one really need a business plan to do well? While it is certainly possible to reach success without one, a business plan is helpful in reaching your goals in a timely manner.

It is also mandatory if you intend to go after outside financing, such as a bank loan or angel investors.

What is It?
The simplest form of a business plan is simply a list of ideas you have. This may be enough to keep you on track yourself, but if you want to attract investors, you’ll need something more involved. It’s also a good idea to go a bit more in depth for yourself, as well. The more detail you record, the easier it is to reach your business goals.

What Does it Include?
A few things to keep in mind before starting:

Be conservative when considering how much money you need to operate.
Keep it simple; some detail is good, planning for every possible catastrophe is a waste of time however plan your first year in detail.

Include the what, why, where, and how you will market your business. It should include:

Your Mission Statement
Your Skills
The Business Profile
Business goals
Analysis of the industry
Steps you will take to reach your goals
Cash Flow Assessment

See How You Compare
Throughout the year, take a look back over your plan and compare your expectations to where you really are. This can help you shift your focus, if necessary, to get back on track. Since it can be easy to lose sight of your goals when you are faced with the daily task of running your business, having a plan can be handy. Simply refer to it whenever you need to be reminded of where you’re going. It’s a good idea to check it at least twice a year and make changes as your business shifts.

To Conclude
When you’re creating your business plan, you might find it helpful to look at sample plans to get a better feel for how yours should look. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a huge book: even two or three pages can be enough if you have all the information down. The length will also depend on whether you are showing it to someone else or merely working up the numbers for your own use. Writing a business plan creates a road map for the entire company. There are various sample business plans that you could refer, in case you want to create one. When writing a business plan, make sure to include the key components, such as an executive summary, an operation section, a management section, a marketing section, a finance section and an appendix.

Questions, samples, examples on Business Plan

Management (MBA) question (assignment, essay, project) on making a Business plan.

Question: Making a Business Plan (Report). I twill have the following format.

Executive Summary
A brief description/ explanation of the business idea? What is the problem your business solves? How will the business deliver this solution? How is this different or better to what is currently available? A Brief identification of Key staff and skills required to run the business.

Value Proposition and Business Canvas
A completed Value Proposition Canvas for your business with written explanation. A completed Business Canvas Model for your business with written explanation.

Market research / Target Market(s) and Competitors
An analysis (quantitative & qualitative) of the market/ sector you intend to compete in (including reference to Market research from MINTEL & other reports.) Is this a growing market? What is changing in the market? What are the key trends? This will most likely be based on national rather than regional data – but use regional/ local data if applicable and if available.

You need to undertake some <a href=”https://www.studymumbai.com/how-to-create-online-surveys/”>primary market research (such as survey)</a> to substantiate demand for your business idea and present the findings of this in your report.

Marketing/ launch/ plan
Launching your business (creating an identity, building awareness with your target market(s) How will you do this? Launch event? Pop up shop? Social media? Introductory offers? Endorsement from influencers/ bloggers?

Developing a marketing communication plan for your business. Online and offline – Targeted Promotional activity/publicity/ Events/Shows/ Selling activity/ Provide an explanation of your social media marketing strategy: How you will use and combine Instagram/ You Tube/ Facebook etc? and links to your web site.

How will you sell and distribute your products or services? Through social media? Website? Direct to customers or through intermediaries? Selling to commercial buyers? (other businesses?).

State your pricing strategy, competitive pricing? Value based pricing? (avoid simply competing on price). Use of a customer subscription model? Single unit vs. bulk purchases? (Your pricing strategy should relate to expected profit margins)

Identify the business premises/ location (unit to work from or high street presence?)

Finance:
Identify start-up costs- capital items/ monthly materials or stock/ overheads – This should be as realistic as possible. How much start-up capital will you need to start the business? Where will the start-up capital come from?
12 Month cash-flow forecast (Your figures will be projections based on realistic monthly sales & expenses.) You should provide some commentary in your report to explain key figures in the cash flow forecast eg: the monthly sales figures – how did you reach this figure? A cashflow template is provided on CANVAS.
A Projected Profit & Loss Statement for your first 12 months of trading. The Vision and business goals (turnover/ market coverage) for the first 12 months & for next 2-3 years?

Appendices:
You should Include in this section any relevant appendices which support your Business Plan. The appendices are not part of the 5000-word limit for this assignment. YOU SHOULD INCLUDE SUPPORTING MATERIAL SUCH AS:

Equipment lists

• A map showing the location of the business premises
• Copy of Primary research questionnaire
• Identification of the different suppliers
• Price lists
• Staffing requirements for the business – over next 12 months
• Regulations/ Licences required for your business

Question) As a JGU student, you got to know about the French company “Sodexo” and dreamt about starting and managing a similar yet better company in the same domain. Now your dream has become a reality with Total Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (TSPL). TSPL is a new start-up that you have founded in the facilities management space. TSPL aims to target small to medium organizations in the Delhi NCR area to win and retain customers.

You have exhausted all your personal savings on this venture on the following;

1. Renting an office space on a lease at Sonipat city
2. Hiring one personal secretary, one accountant and one housekeeping staff (total 3 full-time staff members) for your office in Sonipat.
3. Official website
4. Buying a secondhand car for Official use

Since you have Just started, there are NO company revenues at present. Unfortunately, you need significant amount of cash now to fund your marketing and sales plans as well as hiring required manpower, in addition to other expenses as you deem fit.

You are now looking to get funding from an Angel Investor in order to start and expand your operations. You understand well that the Angel Investor will finance your venture only when your business-plan looks feasible and makes sufficient business sense. The document of course needs to be well drafted.

In this context, you have to draft a Business Plan, for presentation in front of an Angel Investor. Your Business Plan should iclude, but not limited to, the following components;

l. Executive Summary
2 The Opportunity
3. Vision, Mission. Strategy
4. The company and its products
5. Management Team
6. HR plan
7 Marketing Plan
B. Operations Plan
9. Financial plan
10. Any other section(s) deemed appropriate

Prepare a Business Plan for this scenario.

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