Model Business Plan Outline

Executive Summary
The executive summary provides a brief overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the company as well as the company's current situtation, vision for the future and resource needs. Each point made in the executive summary should be more fully documented in other sections of the business plan. The executive summary serves to "hook" and motivate the reader into continuing into the body of the plan. The executive summary should briefly address critical areas, including:

• Summary of the company's history.
  
• Brief description of the products/services being offered by the company.
  
• Summary of the management team.
  
• Overview of the market.
  
• Summary of the company's financial situation.
  

The Executive Summary should be able to stand on its own!

Business Concept
Provides an overview of the company and seeks to explain how all the pieces fit together. Sub-topics include:

• Expanded summary of the company's history.
  
• Proof that you have a through understanding of the market and your competition.
  
• Make a case for your distinctive competence and explain why you believe your strategies will be successful.
  

Marketing Research
This section provides the basis for decisions made in your marketing plan section. Include:

• Identify and define the market space in which you intend to compete.
  
• Size and trends of the market and its segments.
  
• Identify the major competitive forces you believe will affect your company's performance.
  

Marketing Plan
The marketing plan is the single most important component of your entire business plan. The central deliverables contained in the marketing plan are your sales forecast and the marketing budget for achieving the forecasted sales. The marketing plan should contain:

• Define your marketing strategy: Which market segements you will attack, which you will avoid and how you will position your product/service in each segment.
  
• Fully describe your product/service and characterize its stage of development.
  
• Define which channel(s) of distribution will you use and provide your rational for your choice.
  
• Describe your pricing strategy, why you made that choice and how it will be implemented.
  
• Outline your marketing communication program and discuss what components (paid advertising, publicity, sales promotion and personal selling) will be most important to the successful implementation of your business plan.
  
• Provide a compete sales forecast, and a capital and expense budget for marketing operations.
  

Production Plan
The production plan describes the means by which you will produce your product/service. Include:

• Describe how the product/service gets produced.
  
• Describe the production facilities required to produce the product/service.
  
• Characterize the human resources instrumental in the production process.
  
• Provide a production schedule consistent with the sales forecast.
  
• Provide a capital and expense budget for production.
  

Financial Plan
The financial plan shows how you will pay for your marketing and production activities. It includes:

• A tally of the funds required as well as their sources and uses.
  
• Cash flow statements for the planning period.
  
• Income statements for the planning period.
  
• Balance sheets for the planning period.
  
• Breakeven analysis for your products/services.
  
• Prepare a capital and expense budget for financial operations.
  

Organization & Management Plan

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Contingency Plan
Contingency planning requires your to evaluate your planning assumptions and asking yourself "What if such-and-such didn't happen?" or "What if my raw material costs increased by 10 percent per year rather than my assumed 3 percent?" Once you've asked yourself about what can go wrong with your plan, pick 3 to 5 that would invalidate your plan. Develop and summarize alternatives to address major violations of your planning assumptions. Some of the areas that you may want to include are:

• The expected inflation rate.
  
• The price and availability of raw materials.
  
• The state of the economy.
  
• The state of the industry.
  

Implementation Plan

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