by Nils Eriksson

Created on: May 25, 2009

General definition of a business plan

A business plan is a statement issued by the owners or managers of a business, outlining how they expect the business to develop over the years. It should cover the following areas: Management, HRM, Finance, Production and Marketing. Reference: Bus ireann (8th Edition)

A business plan for start-ups can be defined as a written document describing the nature of the business, product and service, the sales and marketing strategy, the financial needs, and containing a projected profit and loss statement.

In summary, a business plan consists mainly of 6 parts.

1. Executive summary,

2. General company description,

3. Product and service,

4. Marketing Plan,

5. Operational plan

6. Financial plan.

A business plan is often created to gain access to financial resources from banks such as: company loans, grants, subsidies and other critical sources.

Learning how to write a successful business plan for a start- up, this format is generic and can be used for any type of business plan, being for services or products.

Executive Summary
The executive summary, or statement of purpose, succinctly encapsulates the reason for writing the business plan. The summary or statement should be limited to approximately half a page in length and should touch on the overall aspect of the business plan itself.

Description of the Business The business description usually begins with a short explanation of the industry. Then the description should go more in depth and showing the position of your business within the industry that it is operating. The description must be clear, precise and trustworthy.

Description of the Product or Service

Under this section, you should conduct a thoroughly explanation of the products or services. A clear picture must be draw from the description, clarifying why your idea "product" is going to sell well. For instance, Why? Are your ideas better than the existing rivals? You must outline all the needs and requirements for your products to be successfully sold to the public.

Other information to address, would be a description of expertise of key people in the business. Whoever reads your business plan would want to know what suppliers or experts have said on similar issues. They may even ask you to clarify your choices of location or reasons for selling this particular product.

Market Plan
A very crucial aspect of the business plan. You must outline all the marketing strategies

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