What is a business plan?

A Business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals.

• Business Plans are decision -making tools.
• There is no content for a business plan.
• It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to each those goals.
• A Business plan represents all aspects of  business planning process ,declaring vision and strategy alongside sub-plans to cover marketing,finance,operations,human resources as well as a legal plan,when required.
• A Business plan is bind summary of those plans.

    Normal structure for a Business Plan

                    01.Cover page and the table of content
                    02.Executive summary
                    03.Business discription
                    04.Business environment analysis 
                    05.Industry background
                    06.Competitor analysis
                    07.Market analysis
                    08.Marketing plan
                    09.Operations plan
                    10.Management summary
                    11.Financial Plan
                    12.Attachments and Milestones

 

ten strategic reasons:Why need a Business Mnagement Team

1.Raising Capital

One of the key reasons why startup entrepreneurs don’t get the venture capital is because they are trying to raise capital alone. A business mentor of mine once said that venture capitalist prefer an average product with an excellent business team than an excellent product with an average business team.

If you should consider this statement; you will come to acknowledge that it’s the truth in its entirety. A business team is vital to the process of raising capital for your business; in fact, it increases your chances of securing the capital. Show me an entrepreneur that raised billions of dollars in capital and I will show you an entrepreneur backed by a strong business management team. Just like said in the investment world; money always follow management.

2.Taking advantage of new or existing opportunities

Having your own business management team will give you the leverage to take advantage of business opportunities effortlessly. A business team will be your eyes, ears and nose in the business world; they will not only help you sniff out opportunities but will also help you create opportunities out of thin air.

                "A business idea is just another idea. But an idea backed by a strong feasibility, a thorough business plan and a smart team is no longer an idea. It's now a solid business opportunity worth pursuing." – Ajaero Tony Martins

3. Strategic business development

Do you want to grow your business from the inside? Do you want to strengthen your bottom line? Then build your own business management team. Strategic business development is not the doing of an individual but a collective effort of a business team. Employee performance programs, staff motivation and operational excellence are part of the duty of a business team.

4. Rapid expansion and growth

Take a close look at companies that grows rapidly and stands strong in times of economic recess and you will find a strong business management team behind such companies. The massive outside expansion of any company is the handiwork of the business team. An entrepreneur visualizes while the business team draws the plan; critique the plan and executes the business plan. For instance, take a look at the rapid acquisition move taken by Oracle Corporation; buying up a total of 57 companies within five years. That’s the power of a good management driven company.

5.Business leverage

How is a company able to operate successfully in different sectors of the economy? How can an entrepreneur successfully run a business conglomerate? The answer is leverage.

                "Successful businessmen share the ability to hire people smarter than they are." – Dillard Munford

The leverage of a business team is the reason successful entrepreneurs became billionaires effortlessly. Leverage is the reason why entrepreneurs such as J. Paul Getty and Carlos Slim Helu are able to run over 200 companies without burning themselves out. The leverage of a business team is a form of intellectual leverage. Just as a man is known by the friends he keeps; so is a business respected by the management team it keeps.

                “People are definitely a company's greatest asset. It doesn't make any difference whether the company's product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps." – Mary Kay Ash

6.Increase confidence of the investors

Just like I stated above; money follows management and who provides the money? The answer is the investors. Nothing inspires or boosts the confidence of an investor than the professionalism of the business management team piloting the affairs of the company he/she invested in.

Have you tried raising capital before? Have you tried sourcing for contracts before? Have you tried sending a business proposal to another company before? Have you ever tried selling a business before? Or better still buying a business? Have you ever taken a company public before?

If you have engaged in any of these acts; you will come to accept the fact that one of the most popular questions investors ask is this:

                Who is on your team?

                Who on your team has taken a company public before?

                Who on your team has experience in business management?

The questions above are real life questions asked by investors because they feel comfortable hearing the fact that the managers of their investments are competent.

7. Increase the entrepreneur’s credibility and competence

Observe the words of successful entrepreneurs and drop out billionaires carefully; and you will see that they attribute much of their success to their team. Have you ever wondered why some drop outs end up successful business owners? The reason is because they built their business on the shoulders of intellectual giants; who happen to be members of their business management team.

An entrepreneur can never know it all and that’s why he/she relies on the calculative initiative of the business team. Show me an entrepreneur backed by a weak business team and I will show you an incompetent entrepreneur. So if being recognized as an entrepreneur of credibility and competence sounds good enough to be added to your resume; then build your own in-house business management team.

8.Strategic innovative thinking

Innovative companies are usually companies driven by a strong management team. Observe companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and Sony; and you will come to realize that these companies have being built, driven and sustained competitively on innovation. Now who are the engineers of innovation? It’s the business team; the brains behind the company. Tactical approach to issues, detailed competitive analysis and strategic thinking are benefits derived from having your own business team; so would you rather not have one?

9.Critical problem solving

How does a company survives a recession? How does a company survive in a fierce market? The answer still lies in the team. In the previous article I wrote, I highlighted the characteristics of successful business management teams and one of such characteristics is critical problem solving.

Entrepreneurs are known as critical problem solvers but I also want to add that problem solving is a product of collective strategies and ideas put together by a group of individuals; and such individuals in this case is your business team. Critical problem solving is the reason why teams go on brainstorming sessions. Now tell me, how do you create a brainstorming session when you don’t have a business team? I leave that for you to answer.

10. Increases the value of the business

Value appreciation is the last but not the least reason why you need a business management team. One of the most important assets of a business is the management team on ground because with a good business management team; every other asset can be synergized into yielding positive results for the company.

The reason why I call a business team your most important asset is because other assets are easy to create or control once the right business team is in place. So instead of focusing of improving your lifestyle; acquiring investments individually or running your business solely, I will advice you first build a business management team and the rest will fall in place.

As a final note, I want you as an entrepreneur to shift your primary aim from acquiring luxuries to building a business team because investment on a team is probably the best investment an organization can make.

Stages Of Marketing Plan

According to "Entrepreneur" magazine, marketing plans are a series of activities that help you develop your marketing objectives and formulate plans for achieving those objectives. Each of those activities, or "stages," is important to helping you develop a promotional strategy for your company's product or service. The four main stages of a marketing plan include outlining the situation analysis, describing your company goals, identifying your target market and deciding on your marketing tactics.

1. Situation Analysis

   • The situation analysis is the first stage of a marketing plan, and it helps your readers understand the market environment. In this stage, describe the market and economic conditions in your industry; any applicable laws, politics and regulations; and supply and demand trends for your product or service. One useful way to help you outline the situation analysis in this stage of your marketing plan is to use a SWOT analysis. To do this, first describe the strengths of your product or service, such as "lowest price." Next, describe the weaknesses, such as "perceived low quality." Then, describe the opportunities, such as "two new stores opening." Finally, describe the threats, such as "three new competitors entering the market."
     

   Objectives

   • The next stage of your marketing plan is outlining your marketing goals and objectives. Traditionally, your top marketing and management teams will be responsible for setting these objectives, and they are the result of research and your company's overall business goals. When writing your objectives, make sure they are SMART, which stands for "specific," "measurable," "attainable," "realistic" and "timely."
     

   Target Market

   • Identifying your target market is the next stage of your marketing plan. This refers to the groups of customers who account for the majority of your business. In the marketing plan, you want to describe everything you know about your target market, including demographic characteristics like gender, age, income bracket and ethnicity as well as psychographic characteristics like behavioral preferences and technology use. A market research company can help you better understand your target market, or you can conduct research yourself by doing web searches and observing your customers in person.
     

   Marketing Tactics

   • The last stage of your marketing plan is deciding which tactics you are going to use to promote your products and services, and then describing each of those tactics. An important consideration when deciding on your tactics is your target market. For example, if you know your target market members are generally early adopters of technology, you can use more technology-based marketing tactics like paid search, email marketing and social media marketing. Conversely, if your target market is an older population that tends to rely more on print-based media, you can use tactics like direct mail and television and radio ads. Identify each marketing tactic you plan to use, and a timeline for when you plan to use it.
     

Importance Of Marketing Strategy

The importance of marketing plans outweighs any other decision that can be taken in the realm of marketing strategies. Yes, marketing plan is essential to grab the market segment before any other player captures the market. What are the target groups? Which segment of the market presents higher revenue generating opportunities? These are some of the questions that marketing teams ponder over, in the pursuit of achieving a good plan. This is where the importance of marketing research comes into picture. The market research team analyzes and understands the requirements of the consumers. Conducts polls and researches and comes up with data and statistics that help to logically target a market. Another factor that governs the marketing plans is the marketing mix elements. Marketing mix elements are the sets of factors that help firms to achieve their targets of reaching the products to the consumers and also achieve organizational objectives. The importance of marketing mix is, that it takes into account the four P's of marketing, that are Product, Price, Promotion and Place of distribution.

What is Features of Principles of Management

01.Principles of Management are flexible

1.1Management principles are dynamic guidelines and not static rules.

1.2Modification and improvements is a  continuous phenomenon in case of principles of management.

02.Principles of Management are of Equal Importance

2.1All management principles are equaly important.

2.2No particular principle has greater importance than the other.

03.Principles of Management are  Universal

3.1They are applicable to all level of MAnagement

3.2Every organization must make best possible use by the use of management principles.

3.3Therefore ,they are universal or all pervaive.

04.Principles of MAnagement -Aims at Influencing Human Behavior

4.1 Human behavior is complex and unpredictable.

Importance of Management Principles

Follwing are the main importance of the Principles of Management

                                                  01 .Improves understanding

                                                  02 .Role of management

                                                  03 .Direction for Training of Managers

04 .Guide to Research in Management

01.Improves Understanding

From the knowledge of principles managers get indication on how to manage an organization.The principles enable managers to decide what shoud be done to accomplish given task and to hadle situations which arise in management.These principles make managers more efficient.

02.Direction of Training of Managers

Principle of management provide understanding of management process what managers would do to accomplish what.Thus,these are helpful in identifing the ares of management in which existing & future managers should be trained.

03.Role of Management

Management principles makes the role of managers concrete.Therefore these principles act as ready reference to the managers to check whether their decisions are appropriate.Besides these principles define managerial activities in practical terms.They tell what a manager is expected to do in specfic situation.

04.Guide to Research in Management

The body of amangement principles indicate lines along which research should be undertaken to make management practical and more effective.The principles guide managers in decision making and action.The researchers can examine whether the guidelines are useful or not.

Human Resource Management for Organization

In today’s organizations, to guarantee their viability and ability to contribute, HR managers need to think of themselves as strategic partners. In this role, the HR person contributes to the development of and the accomplishment of the organization-wide business plan and objectives.

The HR business objectives are established to support the attainment of the overall strategic business plan and objectives. The tactical HR representative is deeply knowledgeable about the design of work systems in which people succeed and contribute. This strategic partnership impacts HR services such as the design of work positions; hiring; reward, recognition and strategic pay; performance development and appraisal systems; career and succession planning; and employee development.

Employee Advocate

As an employee sponsor or advocate, the HR manager plays an integral role in organizational success via his knowledge about and advocacy of people. This advocacy includes expertise in how to create a work environment in which people will choose to be motivated, contributing, and happy.

Fostering effective methods of goal setting, communication and empowerment through responsibility, builds employee ownership of the organization. The HR professional helps establish the organizational culture and climate in which people have the competency, concern and commitment to serve customers well.

In this role, the HR manager provides employee development opportunities, employee assistance programs, gainsharing and profit-sharing strategies, organization development interventions, due process approaches to problem solving and regularly scheduled communication opportunities.

Change Champion

The constant evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization results in the need for the HR professional to frequently champion change. Both knowledge about and the ability to execute successful change strategies make the HR professional exceptionally valued. Knowing how to link change to the strategic needs of the organization will minimize employee dissatisfaction and resistance to change.

The HR professional contributes to the organization by constantly assessing the effectiveness of the HR function. He also sponsors change in other departments and in work practices. To promote the overall success of his organization, he champions the identification of the organizational mission, vision, values, goals and action plans. Finally, he helps determine the measures that will tell his organization how well it is succeeding in all of this.

The HR administrative expert is not about being perfect in producing and handling the papers. The paperwork is not about being the administrative expert. The administrative expert is about the reengineering HR Processes and restructuring HR Organizations.

During the reengineering and outsourcing HR Processes, the HR Employees became the specialists in the administrative area, who can easily handle the redesign of the HR processes and this knowhow can be used for the whole organization.

The HR Administrative expert skill and competency is about bringing the flexibility to Human Resources and it also allows building flexible HR Function, which meets the criteria of the business strategy fully.

Why Is Motivation Important?

Motivation plays a critical role in achieving goals and business objectives and is equally as important for companies that work in a team-based environment or in a workplace comprised of workers who work independently. Making sure each employee's workplace goals and values are aligned with the organization's mission and vision is important for creating and maintaining a high level of motivation. That can lead to higher productivity, improved work quality and financial gain across all departments.

1. Significance

   • Motivation has become increasingly important for organizations and companies of all sizes that want to reach their organizational objectives in a competitive marketplace. Top performers of an organization consistently provide high-quality work, maintain a high level of productivity and overcome obstacles or challenges. Helping all employees maintain a high level of motivation can help keep employees committed to working hard and contributing as much value as possible to the organization.

   Tactics

   • You can use a variety of strategies to improve motivation. Managers who serve as leaders within the organization can help convey the right messages to engage employees and help them grow within their positions. Motivation can be increased with incentives, feedback, rewards programs and ensuring that the workplace meets basic needs and requirements for each employee. Common types of motivational tactics include: events that raise employee morale; training and education to help employees learn new skills and grow within their positions; recognition programs to highlight hard work and reinforcing positive messages during company or team meetings.

   Benefits of Motivation

   • Motivational strategies can help improve employee performance, reduce the chances of low employee morale, encourage teamwork and instill a positive attitude during challenging times. Employees with a high level of motivation typically work harder and can overcome common workplace challenges with ease; this helps the organization reach its objectives and improve operations overall.

   Warning Signs

   • Any company or organization that notices a significant decline in productivity, high employee turnover or that cannot reach its goals successfully may need to consider the role of motivation among its employees. Low motivation can trigger a variety of detrimental events that affect the organization in the short term and in the long term. Unmotivated staff members are at risk of resigning, delivering poor-quality work and even making it difficult for other employees to do their jobs efficiently.

   Prevention

   • Reducing the risk of low motivation among employees typically requires a strategic plan and a combination of different activities and tactics that help improve employee morale. Companies that invest time and resources toward improving their employees' well-being and workplace experience can look forward to a high return on their investment as employees become more productive, maintain a positive attitude, commit to their roles and duties and maintain a strong work ethic.

What is Entrepreneurship

Introduction

This is the era of the entrepreneur! Through the world, growing numbers of people are realizing their dreams of owning and operating their own business.Entrepreneurship is thriving. The past two decades have seen record numbers of

entrepreneurs launching new businesses and each year. American entrepreneurs alone start 3 to 4.3 million businesses each year and 84 percent are doing that for the first

time.

I. The World of the Entrepreneur

A study by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) found 11.3 percent of the adult population in the United States is working to start a business. North America, South America and Latin America lead the world in entrepreneurial activity.

II. What is an Entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is one who creates a new business in the face of risk and uncertainty for achieving profit and growth opportunities and assembles the necessary resources to capitalize on those opportunities. While we may not be able to teach entrepreneurship, we can teach the skills of small business management. This is an important distinction to make to students. Noted psychologist David McClelland characterized high achievers/entrepreneurs as possessing these traits:

• Desire for responsibility

• Preference for moderate risk (risk eliminators)

• Confidence in their ability to succeed

• Desire for immediate feedback

• High level of energy

• Future orientation (serial entrepreneurs)

• Skill in organization

• Value of achievement over money Other characteristics of entrepreneurs include:

• High degree of commitment

• Willingness to accept risk, work hard and take action

• Flexibility

The Benefits of Entrepreneurship

The primary benefits entrepreneurs enjoy include the opportunity to:

• Create their own destiny

• Make a difference

• Reach their full potential

• Generate impressive profits

• Contribute to society and be recognized for their efforts

• Do what they enjoy and have fun at it!

IV. The Potential Drawbacks of Entrepreneurship

With these potential rewards, Entrepreneurship also presents risk and uncertainty.

Entrepreneurs may experience:

• Uncertainty of income –”The entrepreneur is the last one to be paid.”

• Risk of losing their entire investment

• Long hours and hard work

• Lower quality of life until the business gets established

• High levels of stress

• Complete responsibility

• Discouragement

  

V. Behind the Boom: What’s Feeding the Entrepreneurial Fire?

The rapid increase in entrepreneurs has been a result of:

• Considering entrepreneurs as heroes

• Entrepreneurial education

• Demographic and economic factors

• Shift to a service economy

• Technological advancements

• Independent lifestyles

• Commerce and the Internet

• Additional international opportunities

The Cultural Diversity in Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs are found in virtually every walk of life including:

• Young Entrepreneurs

• Women Entrepreneurs

• Minority Enterprises

• Immigrant Entrepreneurs

• Part-time Entrepreneurs

• Home-Based Businesses

• Family Businesses

• Copreneurs

• Corporate Castoffs

• Corporate Dropouts

VII. The Power of “Small” Business

Because big business is more visible than small business, most people underestimate the role of the small firm in the U.S. economy.

The definition of a “Small Business” is:

1. One which is independently owned and operated and not dominant in its field.

2. Eligibility requirements are based on the specific industry.

• Retailing – annual sales/receipts not exceeding $3.5 to $13.5 million.

• Services – annual receipts not exceeding $2.5 to $14.5 million.

• Wholesaling – yearly sales must not be over $9.5 to $22 million.

• Agriculture – annual receipts not exceeding $1.0 to $3.5 million.

• Construction – General construction with annual receipts not exceeding $17 million.

• Special Trade Construction – annual receipts not exceeding $7 million.

• Manufacturing – maximum number of employees may range from  500 to 1,500 depending on the industry.

The most commonly used measure of small business is the number of employees on a firm’s payroll. The White House Conference on Small Business definition is: A firm employing 500 people or fewer.

The Committee for Economic Development states that a small business must meet two of four stated criteria:

1. Management is independent.

2. Capital is supplied and ownership is held by an individual or a small group.

3. Area of operation is mainly local; markets need not be local.

4. Size is small when compared to the biggest unit in the field.