Components of a Business Plan
General Business Plan Format
OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
Trend Analysis
- Include an analysis of how the current and expected trends in the political, economic, social,
technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) factors will impact the development of this
business
- Consider whether this is the right place for this analysis
- It may be better positioned in, for example, the Financial Plan section to provide context to the analysis of the critical success factors, or in the Marketing plan to help the reader understand the basis for the sales projections
Providing strategies to capitalize on trends is a winning formula.
Industry Analysis
- Include an analysis of the industry in which this business will operate
- A common approach is to apply the Five Forces Model (Porter, 1985)
- Consider whether this is the right place for this analysis
- It may be better placed in, for example, the Marketing Plan to enhance the competitor analysis, or in the Financial plan to provide context to the industry standard ratios in the Investment Analysis section
Of course, your trend analysis will also include a market-level analysis (using a set of questions, like those listed in Chapter 2) and a firm-level analysis (using tools like a SWOT analysis / TOWS matrix, various forms of financial analyses, a founder fit analysis, and so on), but those analyses are usually best placed in other sections of your plan to support the strategies and decisions you present there. The market-level analysis will inevitably fit in the Marketing Plan section, but the firm-level analysis might be spread across some or all of the Operating Plan, Human Resources Plan, Marketing Plan, and Financial Plan sections.