Elements of a Business

Plan
 Business Plan
• A successful entrepreneurship starts with a bright
idea. But is that all? Not really. You should convert
your ideas into a well-organized format in order to
attract investors. This is called a business plan. A well-
crafted business plan not only gets you investors but
also gives you a better idea about your business and
its possibilities
 Executive Summary
• This is the most significant part of your business plan and
the part where you grab your reader’s attention.
• It should be well-scripted, crisp and clear.
• It should be written in a way that prompts a potential
investor to read the entire business plan.
• It is better to write the entire business plan first and then
come back to the executive summary.
• Executive summary is a brief synopsis of your entire
business plan.
 I. Company Description
• Investors would like to know about your company before they
invest their money in your plan.
• Your company should have a well-defined vision, mission, goals
and core value statement.
• Analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, threats and
opportunities facing your enterprise are to be mentioned.
• Investors would also like to know about your organizational
structure
• The experience and competency of the people at decision-
making levels ( management).
 Outline of Business Plan
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• I. Company Description
• A. Business Name/ Title and its description-
• B. Vision
• C. Mission
• D. Goals
• E. Core Values
 Outline of Business Plan

• F. SWOT Analysis – Strength, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats
• G. Organizational Structure
• H. Qualifications of Management Team
 Outline of Business Plan

• II. Product/ Service Description

• III. Target Market
• IV. Sales and Marketing Plan – sales and marketing
strategies in order for you to increase the number of
customers and sales/ profitability
• V. Financial Analysis
* Fixed cost- cost that does not change with the level of
output. ( rent, furniture/ fixture, wage)
 Outline of Business Plan
• * Variable Cost – cost that changes with the level of output (
cost of raw materials, electricity, water consumption, gas,)
* Total Cost – Total Fixed Cost plus Total Variable Cost (
monthly for 4 months)
* Projected Total Revenue – Price of the Product multiplied by
the Quantity of output ( monthly for 4 months)
* Projected Profit – Total Revenue minus Total Cost ( monthly
for 4 months)
 II. Product/ Service Description
• Describe the product/service which you are going to provide
and what makes it unique.
• Give a strong reason which would make people prefer your
product/service over those provided by your competitors.
• Details like product life cycle also could be mentioned in this
part.
• If your product/service is based on an entirely new concept,
then you should explain the problem or need that it addresses.
• If the concept is interesting, stress on what extra benefits your
product or service will bring to the table.
 III. Target Market
• The selection of your target market is very critical to the
success of your business.
• Proper market research has to be done to ascertain
this.
• Details like projected market share, targeted customers
and main competitors in the industry are discussed
here.
• Present size, growth potential and trends in your target
market are studied in detail.
 IV. Sales and Marketing Plan

• Once you have your target market defined, you

should devise your marketing strategies with your
target market in mind.
• Marketing mediums, timing of marketing campaigns
and other strategically important decisions are to be
mentioned in this section.
 V. Financial Analysis
• We all know that ultimately, every business is about making
money. So proper revenue projections, break even analysis
and cash flow analysis have to be done and documented.
This will instill confidence in the minds of potential investors.
Assumptions made while making financial projections should
be clearly explained. Important points regarding all the issues
discussed in the business plan should be mentioned briefly in
the executive summary, as in most cases, the investor would
just glance through your executive summary
Thank you and God bless
Prof. Arnel M. Leonardo
Department of Social Science, Humanities
and Philosophy
College of Arts and Letters
University of Makati