{"id":420,"date":"2012-07-10T09:13:57","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T13:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markkirkwood.com\/?p=420"},"modified":"2012-07-20T15:54:29","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T19:54:29","slug":"business-plan-considerations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/?p=420","title":{"rendered":"Business plan considerations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business Planning Rationale & Considerations<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. Strategic & Business Plans Are Critical (With the following exception…)<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>XYZ Company: Which way should I go? Axis:\u00a0Where do you want to be? XYZ:\u00a0I\u2019m not sure. Axis:\u00a0Then it doesn\u2019t matter which way you go.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>II. Primary Reasons To Develop A Business Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To map the future in order to get where you need to be \u201con-time.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. To support growth & funding, or the \u201cinvestment\u201d of others in the project.<\/li>\n
  3. To develop & communicate a course of action.<\/li>\n
  4. To help manage a budget & cash.<\/li>\n
  5. To support a strategic launch and or exit.<\/li>\n
  6. To develop: organization, accountability & leadership.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    III. Key Considerations When Developing The Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Write from an external perspective with keen analysis and clear thinking.<\/li>\n
    2. Understand and plan for internal and external challenges.<\/li>\n
    3. Research\/understand supply side (i.e., manufacturing) and demand side (i.e., sales) issues thoroughly.<\/li>\n
    4. Understand your competition.<\/li>\n
    5. Attention to detail(s) (e.g., credible projections and assumptions, etc.).<\/li>\n
    6. Focus on the opportunity: Unique business propositions…\/Will it work?<\/li>\n
    7. Ensure all areas (not just key areas) are covered.<\/li>\n
    8. Exhaustive attention to detail in economic models and financials.<\/li>\n
    9. Executive summary must stand on its own.<\/li>\n
    10. Review the process, and develop adequate feedback loops along the way.<\/li>\n
    11. Assign clear and logical accountability throughout the plan.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      IV. Key Components of a Valuable Strategic Business Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Objectives<\/li>\n
      2. Executive Review<\/li>\n
      3. Technology\/Manufacturing\/Engineering Analysis (e.g., technology, processes, materials, costs, etc.). Test & Re-test this…<\/li>\n
      4. Market Analysis<\/li>\n
      5. Supply & Demand Analysis<\/li>\n
      6. Environmental Analysis<\/li>\n
      7. Company Analysis (i.e., mgt. & org,, IP, funding, history\/story, needs, key success factors, etc.)<\/li>\n
      8. Competitive Analysis<\/li>\n
      9. Business & Market Strategy (to manage \u201cthru 7\u201d above)<\/li>\n
      10. SWOT Assessment [carefully developed and answered]<\/li>\n
      11. Business Model<\/li>\n
      12. Financial Analysis \/ Economic Model<\/li>\n
      13. Tactical Implementation Plan for all Strategies<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        V. Now ask:<\/strong> “What components of IV are in place and actionable for XYZ Company?”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Business Planning Rationale & Considerations I. Strategic & Business Plans Are Critical (With the following exception…) XYZ Company: Which way should I go? Axis:\u00a0Where do you want to be? XYZ:\u00a0I\u2019m not sure. Axis:\u00a0Then it doesn\u2019t matter which way you go. II. Primary Reasons To Develop A Business Plan To map the future in order to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.markkirkwood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}