Business Planning

by Williams, Edward E.; Thompson, James R.; Napier, H. Albert

• ISBN13: 9780867307757
• ISBN10: 0867307757
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Lebhar-Friedman Books

Summary

Understanding the vital points that can make or break a great business plan, that will guide your business growth and attract necessary financing.

Author Biography

Edward E. Williams, Ph.D., is the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor and Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at the Jones Graduate School of Administration at Rice University. He is the author of over 40 articles and 6 books on business and economics. James R. Thompson, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Statistics at the Brown School of Engineering at Rice University. He is the author or coauthor of 11 books and has published over 80 articles. H. Albert Napier, Ph.D., is a Professor of Management and Psychology at the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University. He is the author of more than 40 books on software applications.

Table of Contents

Every business should have a mission	9	(3)
Every business needs to define what the business does and identify a market opportunity	12	(3)
The entrepreneur must identify the external factors that may have an impact on the business	15	(4)
Business success depends on analyzing the nature and contemplating the future of the business	19	(3)
The business idea determines the key factors that result in business success	22	(3)
The major strengths of the business should be identified in detail	25	(3)
The major weaknesses of the business should also be identified in detail	28	(3)
A complete business plan should be prepared	31	(2)
The business plan should be specific and well written	33	(5)
Financial statements are the heart of the business plan	38	(3)
A strategic plan should be developed to determine what products or services the business is going to offer	41	(2)
An operating plan should be prepared to determine how to run the business effectively	43	(3)
The first year of operations is an important time for a new enterprise	46	(3)
Growth strategies may be affected by the goals and objectives of the business	49	(3)
There is no law that requires a business to grow	52	(3)
Simple growth calculations are easy to make and should be a focal point for the entrepreneur	55	(4)
Growth calculations may be expanded to include return on investment (ROI) analysis	59	(2)
Long-term growth may depend on the ability to get long-term financing	61	(3)
Operating leverage is a key element in determining the riskiness of a business	64	(3)
Deciding when and how the business reaches the break-even point is critical to its success	67	(2)
Trade credit is often overlooked as a key source of short-term financing	69	(4)
Bank financing may be available to certain businesses	73	(4)
Factoring may be an important source of funds available to a new business	77	(3)
Selling common stock to outsiders may be a big mistake	80	(4)
Venture capital is not available for most entrepreneurs, but it can be attractive for the few that qualify	84