Business plan
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BPL12020goodplansandbusinessmodelsFinal.pptxBusiness Planning Lecture 1 What Makes a Good Business Plan Business Models Collaboration Tools
Claire Sinclair
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Engineers In Business Competition
A registered charity that promotes the importance and value of business education for engineers in order to improve people’s lives and the performance of the UK and global economies.
Increase participation in existing courses or competitions by offering a cash prize for undergraduate and graduate engineers £3,000 prize fund, typically awarded as:
Prizes will be judged by a panel following a pitching event early in the summer term
Winners from the University of York competition will progress to the National competition
For the top three individuals, or teams, together with an offer of mentoring support for winners, supplied by the prestigious EIBF network
A £1,500 prize,
A £1,000 prize
A £500 prize
Engineers in Business Fellowship: http://www.smf.org.uk/run-engineers-in-business-competition-at-your-university/
Professor Dick Whittington: [email protected]
You & your business idea
Market segments & value proposition
Marketing Strategy
Operations plan
Risk &
strategic options
Financial plan
Resources available
Resources needed
New Venture Creation
Framework
(Burns, 2014)
Last week -
Business Planning Bootcamp
Explanation of the module, the assessments, icebreaker
What you bring to entrepreneurship
Developing creative ideas
This week:
What makes a good business plan
Business models
Plus some tips
Technology and tools
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Reading
Bootcamp – creativity and finding ideas
Burns chapter 2: What you bring to entrepreneurship
Burns chapter 3: Finding your business idea
Today – business plans and business models
Burns chapter 1: The New Venture Creation Framework
Burns chapters 4 and 5: Structuring your business model and crafting your value proposition
Why Write a Business Plan?
Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.
(Peter Drucker)
Peter Drucker – 20th century management consultant and author
For: E.g. Chandler (1961)
Needed for investors etc.
Provides useful check list
Planning process
Test different views of the world
Against: E.g. Mintzberg (1978,1985)
Creativity
Intuition
Spontaneity
Fast response
Impossible to predict
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Why Write a Business Plan?
Crystallisation of our ideas
A yardstick by which we can measure ourselves
Essential for Investors
Shows you are serious about your business
If a business is designed to grow , it needs to have a business plan that is adaptable for the different audiences.
It could be presented to banks, external investors, grant providers, potential senior staff/partners
In classic SME world, often business plans are produced in a hurry, sometimes overnight, in order to be ready for a new pitch at an investor.
Additionally, SMEs rarely have enough time or money or people to carry out the research you would like to undertake and in the desire to achieve some measure of success, the data tended to become whatever information was needed to support the idea, i.e. not very rigorous
For some businesses there is simply no choice but to produce a business plan. However, whether you are compelled to write a business plan for the bank or not, you should at the very least go through the processes of business planning. It help sort your ideas out and identify any potential pitfalls before they happen. If you cannot answer any of the sensible questions it should ring a warning bell.
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Dangers of writing a business plan
Stifles creativity
You believe it’s true
Lack of flexibility
Ignore new opportunities
Constrains responsiveness
Killer Questions
What’s important to you?
What are you trying to achieve?
Name your first 10 customers.
How many months until you are cash positive?
What is your gross profit and how does it compare to the industry average?
Who is your nearest competitor and how will you differentiate yourself?
How long does it take to make one of your products/services?
How will you know if you’ve been successful and how will you measure this?
How will you organise to get things done as cheaply as possible to the highest quality?
Anyone who has watched Dragons Den or Sharktank will recognize that some entrepreneurs have great ideas but cant answer the killer questions. Business planning helps you to think these through and put together a better business as a result.
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Good business plans
Clearly state what the idea is, and who it is for.
Explain how your business will achieve its goals (marketing, staffing, operations, suppliers, etc).
Provide financial information:
The amount of investment required, where it will come from, and when/how it will be paid back
Cash flow
Breakeven point and likely profitability.
Summarise the idea and what is needed
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No formula…
“There is no unique formula for preparing a business plan.
There is no perfect size or level of detail.
There is no single magic list of contents.
There is not even a single, ideal way of ordering the content.
By understanding the intended audience for the plan, the expected uses and the overall objectives, it is possible for any competent person to put together a very satisfactory business plan.”
(Stutely, 2012:4)
But…
Link to VLE example business plans
There is a huge amount of information on the VLE to help you:
And the formative is based on a template:
Business Model
Charity
Financial
Social
Commercial enterprise
Social enterprise
Co-operative
Focus of objectives
Family business
Co-operative – a business owned and managed by the people who use their services or products.
Social enterprise – profit making organisation but where the enterprise has the aim of solving social problems or effecting social change. Eg: Body Shop, Fifteen.
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Business Models for Growth
Licensing
Franchising
Branch network
Portfolio of businesses
Direct sales – Amazon
Advertising – YouTube
Pay-per click – Google
Subscription – Amazon
Freemium – SurveyMonkey
Affiliate – eBay
Online Business Models
Fundamental Questions
Who will pay?
Who will use?
B2B or B2C?
Local< National< International?
Direct or indirect?
Agents and brokers
Wholesalers and distributers
Good questions for your team to discuss
How often, when, and where should we meet?
How will we stay in touch between meetings?
What do we need to do to be ready to submit our business plans on time?
What do we need to do to be ready to deliver our presentation on time?
How much work and time will we commit to get this done, being realistic about other competing activities?
What information do we need? Where will we find it? How will we obtain it?
Should someone be selected as the leader or coordinator of the group? If so, how?
Ask questions in lectures and seminars, or afterwards
Prepare and attend seminars; bring draft work, discuss your ideas and work-in-progress with seminar tutors
Formative feedback seminar
Through the University of York study skills centre resources
Office hours and by appointment
Summative assessment feedback
Come and see us!
How do you get feedback and support with your learning?
You co-create this module........
Attend and participate in lectures and seminars
Meet regularly with your team
Read the assessment briefs and supporting documents
Keep a learning journal
Read the recommended core textbook chapters and the VLE links
and
Have FUN!
Some points to remember about teamwork…
Working in teams can be motivating and fun, but it takes communication, energy, time (+ diplomacy, negotiation, patience, and accepting that you will probably not do everything as you would if you were working on your own…)
Groups usually take a while to learn to work together. It is normal to go through different phases.
Observations of previous Business Planning Teams: Barriers to effective teamwork
‘Distance’ (working methods, geographic/physical distance, technological, language) and differences in expectations, assumptions, and communication stemming from these factors.
Jumping to and/or forcing a solution/idea
Failure to engage everyone in the team
Not realising that there will be peaks and troughs of productivity throughout the project.
Lilian Soon
An overview of some collaboration tools and techniques to help accelerate and maximise the effectiveness of your team.
Actions & Next Steps
Team Meetings
Decide how you will work together
Write up your meeting schedule for review at Seminar 1
Start to investigate your enterprise ideas/s
Lecture next week
Marketing Dr Nicky Forsdike
Independent study
Reading, learning journal and team meetings.
Appendix
Study Skills
The Writing Centre
The Writing Centre is a free service open to all undergraduate students interested in discussing and developing their academic writing.
offers one-to-one drop-ins and appointments during which we can help you work on aspects of academic writing such as:
Planning and structuring your assignment
developing your argument
integrating sources into your writing
expressing yourself clearly and accurately
do not offer:
a proof-reading or correction service.
advice on content
https://www.york.ac.uk/students/studying/develop-your-skills/study-skills/writing/
The Maths Skills Centre
Appointment sessions
Online Resources on Yorkshare VLE
Drop-in sessions
SPSS & Statistics Workshops
www.york.ac.uk/maths-skills-centre /
www.york.ac.uk/student-skills-hub
