 Business Plan -Guidelines and Assessment

The guidelines are intended to help students of the National University of

Modern Languages and Sciences in the preparation of the Business Plan
necessary to obtain their qualification. The Business plan is a team work.
A successful Business Plan will present a thorough and critical review of
relevant literature and of current subject knowledge. It will demonstrate high
levels of analytical and critical awareness, the ability to synthesise theories,
and the ability to relate theory to practice. The theoretical base will be tested
against practical demonstration of your project

This document covers the “Entrepreneurial Project” and specifies the

appropriate goals, as well as information relating to student responsibilities
and appropriate format. It is intended that the guidelines are valuable to
students and provide comprehensive written guidance to enable students.
This will help to ensure that the challenge presented by the team work is
manageable and enjoyment and satisfaction maximized.

Typically, holders of the Business Plan report will be able to:

a) deal with complex issues like initiative & risk taking, innovation and
creatively, in order to their own business.
b) demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems,
and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or
equivalent level;

1. Business Plan Length

The length of a business Plan should not exceed 2500 words. The actual
word count is to be declared explicitly on the student declarations page.
Summarising and compressing the information in your business Plan is one of
the skills that students are expected to acquire and demonstrate as part of the
business Plan process. The word count does not include the abstract,
acknowledgement, title page, contents page, glossary, tables, appendices
and end material.

If the Business Plan is to exceed this word-count or be shorter (i.e. plus or

minus 10%) there is a strong necessity to meet the word-count requirements
unless good cause is given. Please discuss with lecturer for plus + or minus
– , 10% of word count.

2. Structure and components of the business plan.

The arrangement of the completed Business Plan is in three stages,

preliminaries, the body of work, and end material.

 Preliminaries (to be arranged in the following order)

Covers
Front sheet/Title Page (Appendix A)

1
 Declarations (appendix b)
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents (Appendix D)
Glossary (Appendix E)
 The Body of Work
 The End Material
References
Bibliography
Appendices
Back cover sheet:

3. The Components of the Business Plan

Title - The title should be succinct yet clearly specify the content of the report.
This should be descriptive and explicit rather than poetic or implicit. It may be
agreed and finalised with lecturer as part of the final draft. It may be different
from the original proposed title.
Acknowledgements - The student may wish to thank those people who have
been particularly helpful in the preparation of the Business Plan.
Consideration of persons external to the NUML is particularly appropriate.
Facetious acknowledgements are not acceptable.

Abstract - The purpose of the abstract is to summarise the entire business

Plan, including a description of the problem, the student’s contributions, and
conclusions. (Appendix C)

Declarations and Word Count - a declaration page signed by the student

MUST be included. See Appendix B of this document for the pro forma of the
Declaration. “All group members do not forget to sign the Declaration”

Introduction - The purpose of this section is to contextualise the study. This

means that the significance or importance of the subject is set out. Team
interest may inspire selection of the Business Plan business, but ultimately,
its importance to others (relevance to customers, market etc) should be
specified.

Body of Work - The sections of each business Plan will differ, but in any case
should progress logically, starting with a critical review of existing knowledge,
presentation of a summary or synthesis. Students MUST include these
necessary contents in the body of their business plan these are as follows.

Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Strategies
Competitive analysis
Design and Development Plan
Operations and management plans
Financial components.

2
Conclusion - This section explains the relations between the body of
knowledge and the case or new finding (market findings, experience, learning
etc). It should present the case for the business Plan’s success in meeting its
goals, as well as any shortcomings and limitations that apply. It may suggest
further work or future strategies of the business. It is not meant to be a
summary or restatement of the entire business Plan, which belongs in the
abstract. If the student has developed any strong personal opinions about the
business this is the place where such content is appropriate.

Appendices - Often the concepts of the study can be clarified in graphic form,
or data presented in tabular form. Normally, this material should be entered
into the text at or near the place it is referred to in the text. Where such
material would be inconvenient to include in the text itself, it can be included
in an appendix. As a general rule, if figures, tables, charts or quotes are less
than a full page and can be conveniently included in the text, you will want to
do so, since reference to appendices is awkward for the reader. All such
material, in the text or at the
end, should be titled and sequentially numbered. Tabular material presented
in landscape format, should be bound with the top of the table to the spine.
Appendices are labelled alphabetically, although if there is little such material
and it is all of a similar nature, it may all be included in one Appendix.
Appendices are referenced in text in parentheses (Appendix A) not (see
appendix A). “Students MUST not attach more than five (5) appendixes in
their business plan.”

4. Presentation

Writing Style
The level of writing must be appropriate to the level of the master’s degree.
Specifically, keen attention should be paid to correct spelling, grammar,
punctuation, sentence structure and clarity of style. Also, it is the student’s
responsibility to edit the text for typing errors, uncover all spelling errors. Note
that a spell-check programme does not uncover all spelling errors e.g.
principal and principle can be confused.
Normally, there should be no first person references (I, we, us) in the
business Plan. If self reference is required, reference may be made to “the
author” or “this study”. The exception to this is in the conclusion section,
where personal comments may be appropriate.

Page Layout
Pages should be numbered in sequence at the top right hand corner, starting
with and including the title page.
Margins and headings: the specifications are 38mm (11/2”) left margin,
31mm (11/4”) on the other three sides. The page number should be above the
top margin line. The right margin should be unjustified (left ragged), since the
spacing between words used to make the right margin even inhibits
readability greatly, while adding little aesthetically. Headers and footers are to
be used with discretion. Please do NOT include your name in any header or
footer.

3
Tables and charts should be numbered in sequence by chapter, eg Table 3.1
is the first table in Chapter 3. Each figure should be properly referenced and
accompanied by a descriptive title that completely explains the contents of the
figure.

It is not acceptable to insert photocopies of tables into the body of the

business Plan. Tables should be word processed into the business Plan. In
broad terms this principle also applies to diagrams - no photocopies from
books etc. There will, of course, be occasions when a photocopy of a table or
a diagram is specifically required in order to illustrate points odd to the
original. Use of such photocopies must be cleared with the lecturer. Similar
principles
apply to the appendices with regard to tables and diagrams. It is recognised
that there will be circumstances (eg a business Plan portion advertising)
where photocopies are necessary. Another example might be a sample of a
completed questionnaire. The business Plan must be word processed, and
final copy must be printed single sided on A4 paper. Spacing may either be
set at double or one and a half line spacing. Spacing greater than double
spacing is not acceptable. The body of the business Plan should be in font
size 12 and Arial.

Legibility
Both the draft and final copies of the business Plan must be produced in such
a manner that the text is entirely legible. This means a text suitable for good
quality reproduction from a photocopier.

Black Printing
Black printing for all Masters Business Plans.

5. Soft Copy
A soft copy of your project is required this means write your entire Business
Plan in a Writeable CD and submit it with the business plan report.

6. Business Plan Paper Work

Please keep all your paper work used in preparation of your business plan.
That may include photocopies, printed pages, hand written works, rough
pages of your work and also the work on the computer in soft copy form. This
may be asked later on by your lecturer for quality and plagiarism purposes.

4
Appendix A – Pro Forma-Title Page

Business Plan submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the

Entrepreneurship

Management Sciences Department

at the
National University of Modern languages and Sciences
at
Islamabad, Pakistan

Please ensure group members names in BLOCK CAPITALS

NAME(s) ROLL NO.
Group leader
Member 1….
Member 2…
Course
Class, section, evening/ morning
Lecturer

DATE

5
Appendix B - Pro forma
Declarations
To include plagiarism and ethical issues statements and word count is a
formal requirement.

DECLARATIONS
we declare the following:
(1) that the material contained in this business Plan is the end result of our
group and that due acknowledgement has been given in the bibliography and
references to ALL sources be they printed, electronic or personal.

(2) the Word Count of this Business Plan is ...................................

(3) that unless this business Plan has been confirmed as confidential, I agree
to an entire electronic copy or sections of the business Plan to being placed
on T material , if deemed appropriate, to allow future students the opportunity
to see examples of past business plans.
I understand that if displayed on T Material it would be made available for no
longer than five years and those students would be able to print off copies or
download. The authorship would remain anonymous.
(4) I agree that our business Plan can be judged by the management team in
order to a plagiarism detection, where it will be checked and compared
against work submitted from this university or any other university or online
business plans on web E.g. Entrepreneur.com.
In the event of the management team detecting a high degree of similarity
between content within the service this will be reported back to my lecturer,
who may decide to undertake further investigation that may ultimately lead to
disciplinary actions, should instances of plagiarism be detected.

SIGNED:

Name Signature

Member 1….
Member 2…..

Please remember to sign this declaration and include it before submitting your
business Plan for binding.

6
Appendix C

Abstract – Example

Increasing speed of globalization puts pressure on companies conducting

international business. Therefore, multinational companies (MNCs) need
managers with an enhanced understanding of
international business and an improved coordination and configuration of HQs
and subsidiaries. Expatriate assignments are critical for developing
international managers and penetrating critical capabilities throughout global
dispersed companies. But expatriate failure and repatriate turnover rates
reveal severe adjustment difficulties during the assignment and after return.
Nevertheless, to meet demands out of globalization and reach objectives of
foreign assignments, companies need to support expatriates succeeding
overseas and especially retaining them after they come home.

To investigate repatriation practice this business Plan uses a case study

approach. The aims are to explore repatriates’ experiences and business
practices at X plc. By conducting face-to-face interviews, six repatriates were
interviewed about their pre-departure, overseas and especially
their experiences after return. Additionally, they were asked about their
perception of support they received by the company and their
recommendations about what should be improved at the X plc. The responses
were content-analyzed to search for patterns among the answers. If problems
for repatriates are widely similar, support practices can be standardized
whereas individual difficulties support personally-tailored programmes. With
the responses, the
repatriates’ recommendations and the existing literature several conclusions
could be drawn. And although this project is focused on repatriation it does
not only provide recommendations for repatriation but also for expatriation
and therefore covers the whole transition cycle management at X plc.

7
Appendix D

Table of Contents – Example

1.Introduction...............................................................................................1
2. Marketing Strategy...................................................................................5
3.Marketing Analysis...................................................................................16
3.1. Marekting…………...............................................................................16
3.2 Data Gathering……………………………...............................................17
3.3 Data analysis.........................................................................................18
3.4 Discussion……………...........................................................................18
Recommendations.......................................................................................51
6 Limitations and Conclusion.......................................................................55
References..................................................................................................56
Appendix 1: The structure of the X plc Group ............................................69
Appendix 2: Content sheet..........................................................................70
Appendix 3: Interview 1 ..............................................................................76
Appendix 4: Interview 2 ..............................................................................84
Appendix 5: Interview 3 ..............................................................................96
Appendix 6: Interview 4 .............................................................................112
Appendix 7: Table 3…. ..............................................................................119
Appendix 8: Interview 6 ..............................................................................142

8
Appendix E

GLOSSARY – Example
Abbreviations used in the Business Plan
AMEX = American Stock Exchange
CME = Chicago Mercantile Exchange
DJIA = Dow Jones Industrial Average
EMH = Efficient Market Hypothesis
FTSE = Financial Times Stock Exchange
NASDAQ = National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation
System
NMS = National Market System
NYSE = New York Stock Exchange
S&P = Standard and Poor Stock Index