Wiki business plan

For both companies and consumers that participate in online business, security concerns are very important. Many consumers are hesitant to buy items over the Internet because they do not trust that their personal information will remain private. Recently, some companies that do business online have been caught giving away or selling information about their customers. Several of these companies have guarantees on their websites, claiming customer information will be private. By selling customer information, these companies are breaking their own, publicized policy. Some companies that buy customer information offer the option for individuals to have their information removed from the database (known as opting out).

The following structure was adapted from Wikipedia:Content of a business plan.

Business plan

This article explains what goes into a business plan and why. It is not specific to any particular kind of business plan. Nor does it presume any specific layout. Please do not read the section headings as titles of business plan sections. For information on the various presentation formats of a business plan see the main article Business plan.

Though business plans have many different presentation formats, business plans typically cover five major content areas:

• background information
• a marketing plan
• an operational plan
• a financial plan
• a discussion of the decision making criteria that should be used to approve the plan.

Some of these content areas may be more or less important depending on the kind of business plan. There is no fixed content for a business plan. Rather the content and format of the business plan is determined by the goals and audience. A business plan should contain whatever information is needed to decide whether or not to pursue a goal.

Once a business plan has been developed, the key decision making points are usually summarized in an executive summary.

Executive Summary

The executive summary summarizes the key points of the business plan. It should define the decision to be made and the reasons for approval. The specific content will be highly dependent on the core purpose and target audience. To get a sense of the difference the purpose and target audience can make, here are three different sets of key points for an executive summary - one for a loan request, one for a start-up seeking venture finance, and one for an internal plan. Items unique to a particular kind of plan are highlighted in bold:

A loan request executive summary might contain the following information :

• company information: name of company, years in business, legal structure, minority and majority owners
• brief description of project
• amount and length of loan
• objective reasons why the bank should be confident that the loan will be paid back. This likely will include
  • financial track record
  • the future revenue stream
  • any contracts in place that might guarentee the revenue stream is more than just a forecast.

For a new venture, the executive summary might contain:

• company information: name of company, proposed legal structure, current legal structure, minority and majority investors.
• amount of investment requested
• expected terminal value
• description of market opportunity
• objective reasons why the market opportunity can be exploited by this particular team

For an internal project plan, the executive summary might look like this:

• company information: not applicable
• description of project
• project mandate: who requested the proposal, who is being assigned to carry it out
• strategic, tactical and financial justifications
• summary of resources needed: staff, funds, facilities

In some cases information will overlap. For example, some of the reasons why a loan is likely to be repaid might equally as well be used as justification for the kind of extraordinary return expected by venture capitalists.

In some cases the business plan as a whole contains similar information, but for one type of plan it is mere detail and for another it is a key decision making factor. For instance, both start-ups and internal projects need staff and facilities. However the staffing and facilities needs are considered details in a plan for start-up financing. In a plan for internal projects they are key elements and, in fact, may be the only resources needed.

Key points:

• Funding will come from a diverse size of monetary investments, from fifty cents to an unlimited amount.
• The products that will be used to create a return on investment will be created by and decided upon by the investors and community involved in the business.

Organizational Background

In a written plan information may appear in a separate section, an appendix, or may be omitted all together depending on the nature of the plan. If the plan is directed at people outside of the company, a brief synopsis may appear in the executive summary. This will be supplemented with a more detailed discussion else where in the plan.

Wikiversity was established around August 2006. It is part of the Wikimedia Foundation and is a sister project to Wikipedia, a rather large project. Participants of Wikiversity can use Wikiversity as a way to explore different modes of learning. Specifically, "learning by doing" is the prefered way to learn. Businesses, can involved different people from a myriad of different disaplines. Running a business can be an invaluable learning experience for those who participate in such an endeavor. Wikiversity is an open community. Anyone can join as long as they adhere to the community standards arived upon via the consensus of the community. In general, if particpants act civil, are bold, and assume good faith in others, things function fairly smoothly, and because Wikiversity is a wiki, that anyone can edit, it tends to grow.

With all that in mind, this business plan is a seed that may or may not grow. Theoretically, because there are over a billion users on the Internet, and because everyone has access and the rights to constructively edit this plan in good faith, it could potentially become something that is useful to both individuals and society on a wider level. It seems that social entities and systems come about because of a need and a want, and perhaps this plan could fullfill an unfilled need and want.

So in summary, anyone can join this organization, and anyone can help fullfill the mission that is decided upon by the participants.

Mission Statement

A mission statement is a brief (one sentence or less) description of a company or other organization's purpose. It typically explains what the organization provides to its clients, in general terms that most of the employees can relate to. Although a company might use its mission statement as an advertising slogan, a more common use is to remind executives and employees of the overall goal they are expected to pursue.

Do good.

Current Status

• number of employees

0

• annual sales figures

0

• key product lines

What do you say?

• location of facilities

Some servers most likely in Florda, Japan? or Northern Europe.

• current stage of development (start-ups)

On a scale from 1 to 10, a 0.

• corporate structure (options are:
  • Sole proprietor
  • Partnership
  • Joint Venture
  • Publicly traded corporation

^^ if micro to macro financed, could sorta be this

• • Limited liability company

maybe ^

• • Public utility
  • Non-profit organization

Co-op perhaps

• names of the majority investor, if any

not really applicable

History

• founding date

19 October 2007

• major successes

• strategically valuable learning experiences

Management Team

• Board members
• Owners
• Senior managers
• Managing partners
• Head scientists and researchers

Marketing Plan

The marketing plan has five objectives: If the product is a new product with no existing market, one must identify all substitute products. For each significant substitute product one must explain:

• name, features, why substitute, why proposed product better
  • Create a product with a subpage like /Wikimedia Computer/ /wPhone/ etc.
• switching costs and why new product justifies switching
• expected adoption dynamics
• expected role once market begins to develop (see above for existing products)

Pricing

• chosen price points
• proposed Pricing strategy
• research supporting chosen price points

Demand Management

In Economics Demand Management is the art or science of controlling economic demand to avoid a recession. The term is also used to refer to management of the distribution of, and access to goods and services on the basis of needs. An example is social security and welfare services. Rather than increasing budgets for these things, governments may develop policies that allocate existing resources according a hierarchy of need.

Distribution

• Distribution strategy
• List of major distributors
• Current status of negotiations

Promotion and Brand Development

• Promotion strategy

Operational Plan

Manufacturing/Deployment plan

• Supply chain requirements
• Production inputs
• Facility requirements - size, layout, capacity, location
• Equipment requirements
• Warehousing needs for raw materials, finished goods
  • space requirements

Information and Communications Technology Plan

• Systems needed
  • Operations: Billing, HR, SCM, CRM, Knowledge bases, etc
  • Websites: internal, public
• Security and privacy requirements
• Hardware requirements
• Off-the-shelf software needed
• Custom development requirements

Staffing Plan

Staffing Needs

• list of roles
• management structure
• for each role
  • number of employees
  • proposed compensation
  • availability

Asset Development Plan

Intellectual Property Plan

• intellectual property inventory
• portfolio development plan

Acquisition Plan

Some business plans gain competitive advantage by buying companies up and down the value chain. Some gain competitive advantage by buying up companies and consolidating them. Sometimes a business plan will seek to earn a superior return by adding superior management talent to an existing weak company.

For more information see Mergers and Acquisitions.

When acquisitions form a major part of the business strategy, the acquisition plan needs to be included in the business plan.

• acquisition strategy
• proposed acquisition targets
• effect on market structure (if consolidation plan is being proposed)

Organizational Learning Plan

The organizational learning plan discusses what lessons will be learned from the marketing, operational, and finance plans and how those lessons will be consolidated to gain strategic advantage.

• market sensing - organization's method for collecting information about customers (George Day)
• Strategic Staircase - the accumulation of future competencies by building on existing competencies. (Michael Hays, Costas Markides)

Cost Allocation Model

If variable costs play an important role in the business plan, it may be helpful to include a cost allocation model. This is particularly true if one has a unique business model that creates competitive advantage by transforming traditionally fixed costs into variable costs.

• Fixed cost
• Variable costs

Financial Plan

For more information, see Financial plan.

Current Financing

• key investors or owners
• angels, friends, and family
• existing loans and liabilities
  • terms, obligations

Funding Plan

• IMF
• World Bank

Financial Forecasts

• sometimes called pro formas
  • balance sheet
  • income statement
  • cash flow statement
• 1-3-5-7 year projections (depends on length of project)
  • for loans, repayment period determines length of projections, i.e. a six month loan doesn't need seven year forecasts
  • for investments point at which returns stabilize (terminal value) determines length of forcast
• annual, quarterly, and monthly versions should be provided
• graphs of key values often helpful: gross revenue, EBITDA, NPV, etc.
• financial portions of the marketing, asset development, and operations are often placed in this section rather than in the section discussing th plan. They are viewed as elaboration on the various line items in the pro-formas.

Risk analysis

For more information, see Risk analysis.

Risk Evaluation

• market risks- lack of surgeons; large geographical area so that we don't compete against our own clients;
  • new entrants to market
    • ease of entry
    • potential threat to market share- advratising companies
  • slower than expected adoption
• operational risks
• staffing risks- imbedding the right candidite for the right surgeon
  • availability of skilled workforce- x-pharma reps, x-equipment reps
  • union issues
• financing risks
  • liabilities
  • poorly worded investor contracts at risk for litigation
  • investor pull-out
  • lack of follow-on funding to complete project
• managerial risks
  • poor board or investor dynamics
  • agency risk particular to the venture

Risk Management Plan

Detailed plans are more often found as part of in internal plans. Plans written for funders may need to include a high level description if there are significant controllable risks.

• methods and procedures to limit liabilities
• reserve funds
• continuity of operations plan

Decision Making Criteria

• Break even analysis
• NPV
• IRR
• Balanced Scorecard

See also

• Wikipedia:Content of a business plan
• Wikipedia:Business plan