What are the key elements in a business plan?

The components of a business plan are usually the same for big and small enterprises. The key elements in a business plan comprise of the executive summary, market analysis, company information, company organization, marketing and sales, product description and financials. The executive summary offers readers with an overview of the goals and profile of a company, while it tells investors information about why an organization would emerge successful. The market analysis segment describes the industry, offer information concerning the service or product’s target market, and describes how the service or product would meet the target market’s needs (QuickBooks, 2018) . Company information illustrates when an organization does and the things that a firm needs to accomplish in the marketplace. The element also illustrates how the services or products of a company satisfy the needs while at the same time listing the customers as well as give reasons as to why the service or product would emerge successful (The Hartford, 2018) . Company organization is vital to investors in the sense that it allows investors to understand why they should lend to a company. Irrespective of the company’s organization, the lenders want to have information about the executives of an organization, their degree of ownership, accomplishment records, and the experience in business. In the case of the marketing and sales segment, it discusses the marketing penetration approach, the strategy for boosting growth of an enterprise, and the subsequent communication and distribution channels, which would allow the company to reach its customers. For product description, it starts by illustrating the manner in which services and products affect customers. The description offers information regarding product life cycle, issues related to intellectual property, and planned research and development initiatives. In the case of the financials, they revolve around overall financial information of the business plan. This is particularly crucial when requesting funding. The financial data comprises of historical financial data of an organization, which includes cash flows, balance sheets, and income, statements for between three and five years (Charpentier, 2018) . These vital elements make it possible to determine whether a business plan is viable.

References

Charpentier, W. (2018). What are the key elements of a business plan? Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/key-elements-business-plan-56006.html

QuickBooks. (2018). 7 elements of a business plan. Retrieved from https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/business-planning/7-elements-business-plan/

The Hartford. (2018). Building your business plan. Retrieved from https://www.thehartford.com/business-playbook/in-depth/business-plan-components