Business Planning Flashcards
(21 cards)
What are the basic principles of business planning?
Analyse
Review options
Set strategy
Forecast
What are the different types of business plan
Brief description of each
SIO = Startup, Internal, Operational
S – Startup Plan
A detailed plan for a new business. Includes funding needs, product/service description, market analysis, etc.
I – Internal Plan
A strategy guide for people inside the business. Less formal, used to align goals or plan team growth.
O – Operational Plan
A detailed breakdown of the daily operations. Who does what, when, and how.
What are the different organizational structures?
Functional Structure:
This structure groups employees based on their expertise and the functions they perform (e.g., marketing, sales, operations, finance).
Divisional Structure:
This structure organizes the company around specific product lines, regions, or customer segments, with each division having its own resources and functions.
Matrix Structure:
This structure combines functional and divisional structures, where employees report to both a functional manager and a project or product manager.
Flat Structure:
This structure has a minimal hierarchy, with few management layers and a wide span of control, allowing for more autonomy and decision-making at lower levels.
What are the contents of a business plan?
analysis
objectives
strategies
sales
marketing
financial forecasts
What are the different parts of a good business plan?
Parts of a business plan include:
- executive summary,
- description of the business opportunity including a SWOT analysis,
- marketing and sales strategy,
-the structure of the management team and other key personnel,
-the companies operations
-financial forecasts
How does a business plan aid decision making?
Company analysis
evaluating options,
forecasting outcomes,
aligning actions with long-term goals
Explain your understanding of SWOT analysis?
This is a business tool used to gain am understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in an organisation and external opportunities and threats – hence SWOT.
These factors can help shape the business strategy, highlighting areas of concern or advantage for the business.
Please tell me about cash-flow
A cashflow shows the forecasted incoming and outgoing finances over a given period, typically a year split into months.
What is a short term business plan?
Secure new projects
Improve efficiency
Increase client satisfaction.
What is a medium term business plan?
Expand services into new regions or sectors,
Invest in staff development and digital tools like BIM.
What is a long term business plan?
Sustainability and expansion objectives
Establish the firm as a leading national consultancy known for innovation and sustainability.
What can be used to review the effectiveness of business plans?
Key Performance Indicators
Performance Review
What is a KPI?
Key Performance Indicator.
Used to assess how effective a company is achieving their key business objectives
What is PESTLE?
Political Economical Social Technological Legal Environmental
a tool businesses use to assess external factors that can impact their operations.
What are McBains KPI’s
Timely service delivery
value for money
innovation
What would you expect to see on the executive summary of a business plan?
An outline of the contents of the business plan. Brief overview, headline financial figures, targets, company details.
What methods might your firm adopt to aid and assess profitability?
Timesheets
resource planning
fee/cost reconciliation
Project reviews
yearly performance reviews
Team meetings
director one-to-ones
Business Development Strategy
Pipeline monitoring
How could a Business Development Strategy help make your business more profitable?
- Targeted strategy to generate revenue.
- Business model may focus on new sectors, target clients/customers and evaluate the cost and route to market.
- The Strategy outlines actions to achieve goals and act as a guide to investment.
Give examples of non-fee earning staff and why they are important to a business
Admin, Bid team, IT Support
What is an Investment Appraisal?
It determines whether a project would generate the required level of return and be considered financially viable.
The investment appraisal should consider the rate of return, payback period and Net present value.
What does McBains business plan say?
McBains business plan comes from our parent company. I do not have access to it but I understand the objectives are largely financial.
Within the company they use SWOT and PESTLE to create a risk/opportunity register. Objectives are then created for each of the items.
Objective examples:
- Business growth and Development
- Waste management and recycling
- Carbon footprint reporting
Risk register info:
objective
timescale
owner
progress
Smaller teams used to do Roadmaps (plans, team structure, goals, deadlines)
https://mcbains.sharepoint.com/Support/SitePages/Performance-Management.aspx
