Business Project Essays - Economy, Business, Strategic Management

Business Project Essays - Economy, Business, Strategic Management Business Project Writing a Business Plan Task You are the managing director of a start up company. The company has been in existence for 18 months and you now feel that you have a reasonable customer base. Until now you have been working from home and have only had one other person to help you with orders. Now you feel it is time to expand and you can only do that by obtaining finance. You have some people in mind to take on managerial roles but you know that to raise enough finance to employ them you will need to persuade a bank that you are a worthwhile risk. You feel sure that with a well written business plan this can be achieved. You can decide what the company does, who the management team is and what products/services it makes/provides. Sections you will need to include: 1. Management Team Plan a) Who is your management team (You can make this up, minimum of 5 including yourself) b) What positions do they hold c) What skills do they possess. d) What personality traits might they have. (8 marks) 2. Company Description a) Define your business concept b) Establish clear, measurable goals c) Define your target market d) Reasons for starting the business e) Describe the Entrepreneurial Opportunity (10 marks) 3. Product and Service Plan a) Identify the key products and services you will provide b) What are the key features and benefits your products/services will provide to customers c) Unique Selling Proposition- What is it, what is the value proposition that customer groups have. d) Describe Competitors Products e) Describe your products/services (8 marks) 4. Vision and Mission Statement a) What is the organizational culture of your business? b) What is your vision statement? c) What is your mission statement? (10 marks) 5. Organizational Plan a) What is your businesses organizational ethics? b) Provide an organizational chart for your company. c) Write job descriptions and job specifications for your management team. d) What legal structure will your business take? e) What legal requirements might there be for your business? (10 marks) 6. Marketing Plan Consider your USP. From this briefly describe your: a) Place Strategy b) Promotion Strategy c) Price Strategy d) Product Strategy (8 marks) 7. Growth Plan a) Describe your Growth Strategies b) Describe the effects of your Growth Plan on your Mission Statement c) Describe the effects of Growth on Operational and Strategic Plans (10 marks) 8. SWOT Analysis Prepare a SWOT analysis that identifies your company's strengths and weaknesses. It must also identify opportunities from your company's strengths or elsewhere and also threats to your company's success and survival. (10 marks) 9. Executive Summary Write a summary of your business plan that briefly explains the business concept, why it will be successful, and what it will take to accomplish your goals. Briefly explain the financing required and what investors will receive in return for supporting your business. (6 marks) (Total Marks 80) NB: This project is worth 20% of your term grade. Some class time will be allocated to working on this but the majority will be done as homework. A rubric will be created but the bands will be paired eg if a category is out of 8, then it will be 7-8, 5-6, 3-4, 1-2 with descriptors ranging from excellent standard to no standard displayed. Some sections of the project cover topics we have not as yet covered. I will be lenient to a certain extent when marking those sections but would advise students to research them well as we will be covering them in depth over the coming months. This is also a good opportunity for you all to improve your research and analysis skills, plus writing and presentation, so treat this as a very serious practice run. I look forward to receiving your project.