Aspiring entrepreneurs are faced with such a concept as a business plan. They don't understand why a business plan is needed. Some businessmen neglect to compile it. But in vain, because it contains all the main aspects of the future company, that is, this document is a kind of tool for organizing and conducting business activities.
A business plan is a document that will help you analyze your chosen idea for feasibility and reasonableness. This document can be read by both external and internal users. The first category includes investors, banks and other financial and credit organizations. The second group includes the founders, managers and other employees of the company. For investment purposes, a novice entrepreneur must demonstrate in a business plan the possibility of making a profit, the payback period of the project, possible risks when investing and other indicators. At the same time, the document can be used as a company management tool. Some successful businessmen have achieved high results due to the fact that they acted strictly in accordance with the drawn up business plan. This document should also contain calculations that will assess the feasibility of this type of activity. The entrepreneur indicates in the business plan possible expenses and incomes, that is, estimates the costs of purchasing equipment, manufacturing products or providing services (works). Based on these data, you can calculate the approximate amount of net profit and the payback period of the project. Also, the document should include information about possible risks, problems and possible errors. The document also stipulates ways of solving the alleged problems. In order for a business plan to be a kind of instrument for conducting business, it is necessary to determine indicators with which it will be possible to control the operation of the enterprise. That is, this document should spell out a kind of business strategy that helps to withstand the competition. When drawing up a business plan, the strengths and weaknesses of the idea are identified. For example, strong factors include the novelty of the product (service), the cheap cost of material and raw materials; weak factors include high production costs, lack of experience, etc. This document is being drawn up with a perspective of at least three years. It is not at all necessary to calculate the net profit, sales volume and other indicators for each month, it is enough to do it on a quarterly basis. When drawing up a business plan, a founder or several should be present, since it is he who models his activities and projects it into life. The document should not embellish the prospects, even if the plan is drawn up in order to obtain assistance from investors. Remember that in the future, because of your actions, you may have problems. Since the economic situation in Russia can change dramatically, a business plan is not a guarantee that the business will be successful. Therefore, in case of a sharp change in the economy, it is worth revising the decisions and making some adjustments to the document. A business plan is best paired with a specialist. From all of the above, the answer to the question "why do we need a business plan" can be as follows: this document is a kind of instruction for a novice entrepreneur, a plan is being developed in order to organize and run a business competently. With the help of it, you can build a certain strategy, plan the expansion of your business and the modernization of production.