Formats of a Business Plan

November 15th, 2007 |

A business plan basically is a tool for making decisions. The content of a business plan is not fixed. In fact the format along with the content is decided according to the goals. Business plans generally contain all information that is required for making a decision regarding the pros and cons of pursuing a goal.

Most of the time banks are very particular about the default, thus a business plan made for any loan from the bank aims at building a convincing report for the company’s ability to give back the loan taken. And a business plan for any project requiring “equity financing” has to include an explanation as to why and how the current resources and upcoming opportunities for growth can head towards great exit valuation.

While making a business plan, knowledge from various disciplines of business is required, this may include; finance, marketing, human resource management, operations management and intellectual property management. A business plan can be seen as a collection of sub-plans. Each sub plan may be concerned about any one of the various business disciplines.

In terms of a “format” a business plan largely depends on the context of the presentation. One of the popular formats is the “elevator pitch”. It is generally used as a “teaser” to rouse the interests of possible customers or even ‘funders’. Organizations also prefer the oral presentation with an aim at triggering off an interest in the investors to go ahead and read the written text of the presentation.

These generally include only the executive summary along with a few key graphs. In case a new product or service is being launched, the presentation may also include a few things about the product. There is also the “internal operational plan” which includes details about all that is required by the management, this is not of any use or interest to the external stake holders. These are a bit more informal.

You may wish to read more at: Free Business Plan Templates and Sample Example Business Plans

Dixita is an article writer for various organizations across the globe. This is the first time I am trying out article writing for myself. For more information about me, do visit: Passive Income from your Website Every Month

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