Warranties

Warranties are a seller's promise to stand behind its products. Most major purchases like
computers or cars come with a warranty, as do smaller purchases, like stereos or other
electronic housewares. Warranties are not required by law, but are frequently found on
most products. If you are making a purchase, you should consider the individual
characteristics of a warranty, as each can vary in the amount of coverage it provides. At the
minimum, warranties are required to provide what the product implies that it will do; for
example, that a blender will blend or a hair dryer will dry hair. Most warranties are good for a
fixed time, then they expire. You can protect yourself by buying products from companies
with good reputations and taking good care of your new purchase. There are consequences
to not taking care of a product as most warranties require that you use the product in a
certain manner.

Business planning
Every business must develop a business plan. The business plan's primary purpose is to
improve the entrepreneur's control over the business and to avoid common mistakes. It is
not an overstatement to say that a business will fail or succeed on the strength of its
business plan, so there is no substitute for a well-prepared plan. The business plan
documents the strategy for growing the business. Think of the business plan as a road map
that describes in which direction the company is going, what its goals are, where it wants to
go, and how it is going to get there. The business plan helps the entrepreneur focus on
setting the future course of the business. In developing the plan, the entrepreneur will
conduct research to determine a systematic and realistic evaluation of the company's
chances for success in the marketplace. In creating the plan, the entrepreneur must research
the company's target market and define its potential. The entrepreneur must be able to
prove through research that customers in the market need the good or service offered and
that a sufficient number of potential customers exists to support the business. Is the market
growing or shrinking? Are customers' needs staying the same or changing? A business plan
also looks at the risks the business faces. Chief among these is competitors. The business
plan must analyze the company's competition by gathering information on competitors'
market share, products, and strategies. The plan should demonstrate what distinguishes the
entrepreneur's products or services from others already in the market. It is also common for
businesses to fail because the owner fails to invest or seek sufficient capital to run the
business. A good business plan should address this issue as well.