Major Written Project
Overview – The major written project in MG 3133 New Ventures Creation L5 requires a team of two students to create a Business Plan for a start-up venture. A presentation of the project by the team is also required.
2. Learning Outcomes – As a result of taking this course, the student should be able to:
Analyze the key issues related to new venture creation. (analysis)
Analyze the milestones and related challenges in developing a new venture. (analysis)
Create a business plan. (synthesis)
Demonstrate effective teamwork and presentation skills. (application)
The written project (business plan) tests Learning Outcome 3.
The presentation (team of two) tests Learning Outcome 4.
Content – In your analysis you are expected to use the following instructions:
Preparation Of A Business Plan For The Launching Of A New Entrepreneurial Business Venture.
Instructions
The aim of the New Venture Creation course is to teach you how to plan the start-up of a new business venture. The best way for you to learn this, is by doing it, by writing a business plan. The plan will be for a properly researched and analyzed business idea, which needs a huge amount of work. It is also quite difficult to write well, without doing some sound preparation.
Preparation includes coming up with a strong business concept to base the plan on. You may need to test out several ideas before you come up with a promising concept. Next, you have to access the feasibility of the concept…are there enough interested customers? How much competition is there? Is the product market-ready? Do you stand a good chance of making a profit? It is only when positive answers have been found for these questions that it is worth investing the time and effort needed to write a business plan. It is our aim to help you make sure that your major written project Business Plan is as good as it can possibly be – and also to help you learn as much as possible about how to do this kind of task.
Note that 50% of your grade for this class comes from developing this business plan, 10% of your grade comes from presentation of the business plan (team of two) with questions/answers with the other 40% coming from the final examination. The learning outcome of the presentation is to demonstrate effective teamwork and presentation skills. The quality of your report impacts very strongly on your grade for this course. We believe that, since the business plan demands a great deal of time and effort this should be reflected in the metric for calculating the course grade.
The Business Concept Report
An idea for a business is not the same thing as a business concept, which also addresses customers and benefits. The report should come in two parts. Firstly, the report needs to address the following four questions:
What is the product/service being offered?
Who is the customer?
What are the benefits to the customer (or the value proposition)?
How do we get the product or service to the customer (or the distribution channel)?
Secondly, you also need to explain how you have quickly tested the idea.
The Feasibility Analysis
The Feasibility Analysis gives you a good idea as to whether the business is viable, by considering the four main risks that the business will face – the product/service risk, the industry risk, the market/customer risk, and the financial risk.
In the Feasibility Analysis you are not expected to get to the same length with your Business Plan. You have to do the preparatory work to test the viability of the new firm. Therefore, you need to start with the industry analysis which should be thoroughly done. So, you need to analyze the competitors, direct and indirect, local and international, if they exist, and provide their advantages and disadvantages. You may support your analysis with a competitor’s matrix.
Then you analyze the market and the customer. Who will be your first customer and how do you expect to draw customers? Then, you have to try to estimate your demand. Is demand sufficient enough to support the expedition?
Following this, you have to estimate your start-up expenses, one by one, and then group them. We do not expect a complete financial analysis at this stage, but rather a good estimate of your costs. Finally, you have to consider putting together the appropriate start-up team.
The Feasibility Analysis provides the basis for your business plan. Remember, the key question that you are trying to answer here is whether the idea is feasible and profitable. Sometimes, it just isn’t, and you need to face up to this possibility.
The Business Plan
What is a Business Plan?
A business plan tells the story of a business, the entrepreneur, and their market. It explains where the business is going, and how it is going to get there. It is especially important in the creation of new ventures, where it is often used as a fund-raising device. By dealing with the whole venture, a business plan is far more comprehensive in scope than a functional plan, which deals only with marketing, or with quality, or with operations. It has a greater reach, and more complexity.
The Rationale
In order to acquire and organize resources, an effective business plan is required. One reason for the high failure rate among new firms is that so few of them engage in the business planning process. However, for those new ventures, which require external funding, loans, supplier or customer contracts, a business plan is a prerequisite.
A business plan allows the entrepreneur to take account of all the various elements of the business, to ensure that they fit well together, and that no important areas have been overlooked. It thus improves the decision making process, by making it more objective and holistic, and provides a critical foundation upon which financial estimations can be made. Once the venture has been launched, the business plan acts as a control and evaluation mechanism.
The Style
The plan must be interesting, logically assembled and balanced. Accountants should beware of paying too little attention to marketing, and vice versa! Avoid industry jargon or excessive use of management-speak. Keep the language crisp, and try not to become too flowery. Make sure you highlight the weaknesses and threats, as well as the strengths, and explain how you will deal with them. State plans simply without over-selling them. Illustrate with tables, diagrams, pictures, if they communicate some ideas better than words. Make the presentation professional, without being distractingly beautiful! Be precise. What exactly are you going to do, when, with who, and what cost? Use quantitative targets if at all possible.
The Content
Business plans should commerce with a one, at most two, page summary of the entire plan, followed by a clear table of contents. They should conclude with the financial section, and finally appendices of supporting information. Between the table of contents and the financial section, however, the sequence in which material is presented may be adapted to suit the needs of the particular venture. Most of the material from your feasibility analysis will also be useful – suitably adapted, in the light of later decisions and research – for your business plan. The items shown below must be included in the plan, but the order in which they are presented may vary.
Indicative Outline
Cover Page
Executive Summary
Table of Contents
Business Concept
Product / Service
Customer
Benefits
Distribution
Unique Selling Proposition (distinctive strength)
Purpose and Core Values
Founding Team
Feasibility Decision: is the business concept viable/achievable?
Industry Analysis
Industry
Competitors
Market Analysis
Target Market
Differentiation
Market Share Projection
Operations Plan
Location/Facilities/Plant Layout
Processes/Systems/Suppliers
Development Status
Quality
Technology
Licenses
Distribution Systems/Logistics
Organizational Plan
Legal Structure Management Team
Organizational Chart
Philosophy/Core Values
Marketing Plan
Market Research
Target Market
Marketing Mix (incl. pricing, promotion, etc.)
Sales Forecast
Budget
Financial Plan
Needs Assessment and Capital Expenditure (sales forecasts and start-up expenses)
Income Statements for 2 years
Cash Budget on a monthly basis for the 1st year, yearly for 2nd
Balance Sheets for 2 years
Break-even Analysis
Major ratios
Appendices (will vary, but may include:)
Contingency Plan
Growth Plan
Resumes of key staff
Contracts
Maps
Designs
Detailed Market Research, etc
Bibliography/References
Presenting the Business Plan (counts for 10% of your grade)
You are required to present the business plan to your class. Being able to explain the idea, its feasibility, and the way you will make it work, are all very important aspects of starting a new business. You will have to convince funders, customers, employees, partners, and suppliers that the idea is a strong one, and much of this will be done in face-to-face presentations and meetings. Note carefully how much time you are given for the given for the presentation, and plan the length of your piece carefully. Avoid too much detail but make sure you answer the big questions, especially that of if and when the business will make a profit. Support your presentation with visual aids, but make sure that they are readable. (A cash flow forecast, even an income statement, cannot normally be read easily by your audience….pick out the highlights and use bullet points to convey them.)
Some Practical Advice
This will probably turn out to be just about one of the biggest, most complex pieces of course work you will do at College. It’s a very valuable learning exercise, but doing it well requires a lot of time. Start as early in the term as you can, reading ahead in the book to find out how to tackle new tasks. Plan your work, working out how much time you’ll need to be ready for each of the deadlines. Always allow a little space for editing and filling in unexpected gaps. Record your references, as soon as you detect them. Keep a file with all your material, which you can, and should, include in the Appendix. And remember: Your business plan should be as if it were a real business you are pursuing.
Student Evaluation: Business Plan Report (incl. Business Concept Report and Feasibility Analysis): 50%
Business Plan (presentation): 10%
4. Format – Each student will prepare the major written project using the following required format:
Title page – include the title of the project, the student’s name and DEREE identification number, the course number and name (e.g., MG 3133 A1 L5 New Ventures Creation), the project due date, and the instructor’s name
Table of Contents – identifies the sections in the written project and the associated page number for each section; a table of contents with no page numbers is not useful
Introduction – includes a brief statement of what you intend to accomplish in the project, and a summary of what follows in main body
Main Body – see content requirements above; the main body should include all of those sections identified in the content described in section 3 above, if they apply to the specific organization
Conclusion – includes a brief statement of what you have accomplished through your discussion in the main body of the project
References – identifies the academic sources and other published information which you have used; please refrain from using Wikipedia and other wiki sources, as generally, they are not considered to be academic sources
Graphics and Visual Aids – use visual aids and graphics appropriately and effectively within your text
Attachments – includes written material, visual aids and graphics that you choose not to place in the main text, but that is necessary for the reader
Appendix – includes related material not deemed necessary to be in the main text
Folder – Place the project in a folder of your choice; preferably, it should not be submitted only with the pages stapled or clipped together in the upper left corner
5. Mechanics – Each student should adhere to the following technical requirements:
Documentation: APA style
Word length: 3700 – 4000 words; it is compulsory to report the number of words at the end of the paper
Submission: The project must be word processed, and each student will submit the project electronically and in paper copy.
Typing: Use letter font 11 or 12. Please double space. Leave normal space between paragraphs. Use headings and subheadings where appropriate.
6. Project Due Date – All projects are due in excellent form on Wednesday March 09, 2016 (printed and submitted in class). Please follow carefully the progress of your work effort so that you will meet this deadline. Late projects but within one week of the deadline are capped 40/C. The date for the presentation of the project will be an announced by the instructor.
7. Evaluation – The written project will be evaluated using the Business Plan Evaluation Form, a copy of which is available on acgboard.
8. Contribution to Final Course Grade – The major written project is 50% and the presentation is 10% of the final course grade.
9. Students are also required to submit to their professors a Business Concept report within the first three weeks of the semester for approval of their project topic. This is a formative assessment, but necessary for the continuation of the project.
10. Originality and Authenticity – The rules of academic ethics apply when undertaking this major written project, including the requirements that the student undertakes the major written project without improper or unauthorized assistance from anyone. If it is determined that the project is not done individually and solely by the student, the instructor may grade the major written project as an F.
11. Turnitin – Each student must submit electronically the major written project to Turnitin prior to submitting it to the academic staff. A printed copy of the originality percentage should be submitted with the actual project.
If you have any questions, please ask.
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