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Assignment Description
This assignment requires you to identify and locate appropriate secondary information sources that would be required to develop the five major sections of a business plan. Note you are not required to write a business plan just work through the research process, like and identify potential sources of information, just as in a feasibility analysis. A business planning checklist is provided as an additional attachment for informational purposes, so that you can see where the five sections would fit within an overall written business plan and the types of questions /information each section would include.
You will then write a paper using the titles of five major sections of a business plan as the main headings. These are detailed below in the assignment process section.
Under each heading you should identify the sources of information you would include, a brief discussion of the information each source provides and why you believe it would be helpful in the completion of that part of the business plan. Subheadings should be used to enhance the appearance and flow of your paper.
Sources must be credible and will typically therefore come from government databases, trade associations, not for profit foundations, library databases, university research departments and business directories, etc . The course textbook and infoquest exercises provide a good starting point for locating these sources but others may be included. You may find the following website useful in helping you to systematically locate more.
http://virtualpet.com/industry/howto/search.htm
http://www.virtualpet.com/industry/mfg/mfg.htm
http://www.asbdc-us.org/Resources/SmallBusiness.html
Assignment Process
1) Decide on a business and industry that you would like to research – you might find the suggestions at the end of this document useful but if you have a new business idea or opportunity that you’d like to explore further, then get approval from your instructor to ensure it’s appropriate for the assignment
2) Locate appropriate credible, secondary business information sources for the following sections:
a) Management and Organization
i) Legal form of business (what options do you have?)
ii) Board of Directors (who, skills, experience)
iii) Key management and employee positions
(1) Skills required
(2) Salary scales
(3) Professional licenses/memberships
iv) Potential recruitment sources (where you will advertise or locate potential candidates)
b) Product/Services
i) Industry classification code for product or service
ii) Location/premises – size and purchase/rental cost per sq/ft
iii) Potential suppliers and subcontractors
iv) Legal protection- patent, trademark or copyright protection
v) Regulatory requirements – licenses, insurance
c) Marketing
i) Industry
(1) Current size and growth potential of industry
(2) Industry trends
(3) Geographic/seasonality characteristics
(4) Existing primary distribution networks
(5) Industry financial/profit characteristics/benchmarks
ii) Competitors
(1) Direct and indirect
iii) Target Market
(1) Characteristics (demographic, psychographic & size)
(2) Promotion (how, where, costs)
d) Operations
i) Major equipment required
ii) Potential Risks
iii) Ethics and social responsibility
iv) Any required legal reporting standards, including accounting
e) Financial P
i) Sources of finance
ii) Tax rate appropriate to estimated profits and legal structure of the business.
3) Write a paper identifying the information sources you will use in each section with a brief description of the information you expect each source to provide. Explain why you selected each source and why it will be helpful in completing the plan.
Mechanics
Include a cover page with your name, course and CRN # number, instructor and semester/session centered in the middle of the page.
Include a brief introduction that describes the potential business opportunity.
Your paper should be word processed, have one inch margins, be double spaced and use 12pt Times New Roman font.
Use headings and subheadings that correspond to the sections and subsections in the list above
APA format is only required for your reference page which should be a composite list of all the sources you include in the body of your paper.
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