Developing and Implementing the Business Plan

Overview:

Introduction:

It is really participatory in this course. Participants are immediately tasked with coming up with business ideas or prospects for themselves or for their firm. They then start working on creating the necessary business plan. The course employs a workshop format in which groups are created, roles are established, and the creation of the business plan is a collaborative effort among all team members. Participants have the chance to use various business analysis tools to assess and choose the course of their ideas or efforts. Teams will also present their work to the other teams in the class and come away with a finished business plan that they may share with their coworkers and supervisors at work if they so desire.

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Explain the importance of a well thought-out business plan for the success of the organization
• Describe the structure of a business plan and how it caters to market and organizational needs
• Apply the business plan development process to create a well-structured, convincing business plan covering all vital elements
• Develop a business plan that includes a detailed, practical and effective implementation strategy
• Evaluate the progress of the implementation of the business plan and take necessary corrective steps

Targeted Audience:

• Department heads
•  senior managers
• managers and supervisors
•  project managers
•  team leaders
• sales managers
• marketing managers
•  entrepreneurs and others who would like to develop their business planning skills.

Course Outlines:

Unit 1: Understanding the business plan

• Definition of a business plan
• Types of business plans
• Benefits of a business plan

Unit 2: Business plan overview

• Components of a business plan
• The process behind the business plan
• The importance of the business plan to a firm’s value chain
• Securing the buy-in from stakeholders

Unit 3: Developing the business plan

• Mapping vision, mission and values
• Conducting a situation analysis
• Setting goals, objectives, and business strategies
• Developing tactics, programs and action plans
• Forecasting, pricing and applying breakeven analysis
• Sourcing, allocating and scheduling
• Understanding basic financial concepts
  • The income statement
  • The balance sheet
  • Cash-flow analysis
  • Program Budgets
• Writing the executive summary
• Creating appendices and references

Unit4: Implementing the business plan

• The communication phase

  • Job assignments
  • Reporting structure
  • Knowledge base
• The controlling phase
  • Dealing with deviations
  • Causes analysis
  • Providing constructive feedback
  • Corrective actions and adjustments
• The corrections phase
  • Goal revisions and expectations
  • Scheduling challenges
  • Budget adjustments and additional financial support requests
  • Resources demands and constraints
• Staying away from common business plan mistakes
• Concluding the business plan

Unit 5: Reporting on the progress of the business plan

• Types of reports
• The recipients 
• The information
• The quality
• The frequency