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Business Plans For Dummies, 3rd Edition
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Business Plans For Dummies, 3rd Edition
by Paul Tiffany, Steven D. Peterson
Business Plans For Dummies, 3rd Edition
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
Part 1: Getting Started with Business Plans
Part 2: Describing Your Marketplace
Part 3: Weighing Your Company’s Prospects
Part 4: Looking to the Future
Part 5: Putting Your Business Plan into Action
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Appendix: A Sample Business Plan
Index
About the Authors
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
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Introduction
Business Plans For Dummies®
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go From Here
Part 1: Getting Started with Business Plans
Chapter 1: Preparing to Do a Business Plan
Identifying Your Planning Resources
Assembling Your Planning Team
Putting Your Plan on Paper or in Cyberspace
Chapter 2: Understanding the Importance of a Business Plan
Bringing Your Ideas into Focus
Understanding the Planning behind the Plan
Satisfying Your Audience
Chapter 3: Setting Off in the Right Direction
Understanding Why Values Matter
Clarifying Your Company Values
Creating Your Company’s Vision Statement
Chapter 4: Charting the Proper Course
Creating Your Company’s Mission Statement
Introducing Goals and Objectives
Minding Your Own Business: Setting Goals and Objectives
Part 2: Describing Your Marketplace
Chapter 5: Examining the Business Environment
Understanding Your Business
Analyzing Your Industry
Recognizing Critical Success Factors
SWOT: Preparing for Opportunities and Threats
Chapter 6: Slicing and Dicing Markets
Separating Customers into Groups
Identifying Market Segments
Finding Useful Market Segments
Becoming Market Driven
Chapter 7: Getting Up Close and Personal with Customers
Keeping Track of the Big Picture
Categorizing Your Customers
Discovering the Ways Customers Behave
Figuring Out How Customers Make Choices
Understanding the Global Customer
Serving Your Customers Better
Looking at a Special Case: Business Customers
Chapter 8: Covering Your Competition
Understanding the Value of Competitors
Identifying Your Real Competitors
Tracking Your Competitors’ Actions
Predicting Your Competitors’ Moves
Competing to Win
Part 3: Weighing Your Company’s Prospects
Chapter 9: Assessing Where You Stand Today
Doing Situation Analysis
Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses
Analyzing Your Situation in 3-D
Chapter 10: Profiting from Your Business Plan
Describing What You Do Best
Putting Together a Business Model
Making Your Business Model Work
Earmarking Resources
Chapter 11: Figuring Out the Financial Details
Reading Income Statements
Interpreting Balance Sheets
Examining Cash-Flow Statements
Evaluating Financial Ratios
Chapter 12: Forecasting and Budgeting
Constructing a Financial Forecast
Exploring Alternative Financial Forecasts
Making a Budget
Part 4: Looking to the Future
Chapter 13: Confronting Uncertainty
Understanding the Dangers of Ignoring Change
Defining the Dimensions of Change
Anticipating Change
Preparing for a Changing Future
Chapter 14: Thinking Strategically
Applying Off-the-Shelf Strategies
Changing Your Boundaries
Leading and Following
Tailoring Your Own Strategy
Chapter 15: Growing Up, Growing Bigger, and Growing Old
Facing Up to the Product Life Cycle
Finding Ways to Expand
Managing Your Product Portfolio
Asking Two Final Questions About Growth
Part 5: Putting Your Business Plan into Action
Chapter 16: Shaping and Shape-Shifting Your Organization
Recognizing That Form Follows Function
Putting Together an Effective Organization
Thinking and Organizing for the Future
Chapter 17: Leading the Way
Encouraging Leadership Roles
Developing Business Skills (And Having the Right Personality Traits)
Creating the Right Culture
Following Through with Your Vision
Bringing Your Plan to Life (And Making a Final Check)
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Chapter 18: Ten (Or So) Signs That Your Business Plan Needs Refreshing — or Worse
Your Business Goals Change Abruptly
You Don’t Meet Your Plan Milestones
New Technology Makes a Splash
Important Customers Walk Away
The Competition Heats Up
Product Demand Falls Sharply
Revenues Go Down or Costs Go Up
Company Morale Slumps
Key Financial Projections Don’t Pan Out
Too Much Growth, Too Fast
An Unwanted Surprise Pops Up
Chapter 19: Ten (Or So) Questions to Ask about Your Plan
Are Your Goals and Mission in Sync?
Can You Point to Major Opportunities?
Have You Prepared for Threats?
Do You Know Your Customers?
Can You Track Your Competitors?
Do You Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses?
Does Your Strategy Make Sense?
Can You Stand Behind the Numbers?
Are You Really Ready for Change?
Is Your Plan Concise and Up-to-Date?
What’s the Worst That Can Happen, and How Will You Deal with It?
Chapter 20: Ten (Or So) Business-Planning Never-Evers
Failing to Plan in the First Place
Shrugging Off Values and Vision
Second-Guessing the Customer
Underestimating Your Competition
Ignoring Your Strengths
Mistaking a Budget for a Plan
Shying Away from Reasonable Risk
Allowing One Person to Dominate a Plan
Being Afraid to Change
Forgetting to Motivate and Reward
Faking It
Appendix: A Sample Business Plan
SUITE 07 BUSINESS PLAN
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
II. COMPANY OVERVIEW
III. BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
IV. SUITE 07 — THE COMPANY
V. SUITE 07’s STRATEGY
VI. FINANCIAL PROCESS AND SAMPLE PROJECTION
VII. ACTION PLAN AND NEXT STEPS
CONCLUSION
APPENDIX I
APPENDIX II
APPENDIX III
Index
About the Authors
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 7
TABLE 7-1 The Buyer’s Five-Step Adoption Process
TABLE 7-2 How Businesses Behave When They Buy
Chapter 12
TABLE 12-1 Flavored Yogurt Revenue Projection for Yenta’s Yogurt Co. (YY)
Chapter 13
TABLE 13-1 Customer Personality Types
Chapter 15
TABLE 15-1 Major Characteristics of the Introduction Stage
TABLE 15-2 Major Characteristics of the Growth Stage
TABLE 15-3 Major Characteristics of the Maturity Stage
TABLE 15-4 Major Characteristics of the Decline Stage
List of Illustrations
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5-1: The Industry Analysis Questionnaire.
FIGURE 5-2: The four major components of analyzing an industry.
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6-1: Define market segments by asking three basic questions and then ans...
FIGURE 6-2: Consider these business situations.
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: A basic overview of people’s needs, as sketched out some 50 years a...
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: Fill out the questionnaire to get a quick take on your company’s st...
FIGURE 9-2: Compare your capabilities and resources with the critical success f...
FIGURE 9-3: The SWOT grid balances your company’s internal strengths and weakne...
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10-1: A company’s value chain has two types of links: primary activities...
FIGURE 10-2: The value-chain framework.
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11-1: An income statement subtracts the costs of your various business a...
FIGURE 11-2: The balance sheet captures what the company owns, what it owes, an...
FIGURE 11-3: A cash-flow statement monitors changes in a company’s cash positio...
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: The DuPont chart turns the DuPont formula into a pyramid, with ret...
FIGURE 12-2: The master budget resembles a projected cash-flow statement.
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13-1: You can break a business environment scan into four major groups o...
FIGURE 13-2: The technology diffusion curve points out that when a new technolo...
FIGURE 13-3: Product adoption occurs at different times for different personali...
FIGURE 13-4: The Probability and Impact Grid divides events into categories bas...
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: Generic strategies involve deciding whether to become the low-cost...
FIGURE 14-2: The experience curve traces the declining unit costs of putting to...
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: The product life cycle represents what’s likely to happen to sales...
FIGURE 15-2: The Ansoff Matrix describes different ways in which your company c...
FIGURE 15-3: The Growth-Share Grid divides your company’s products or services ...
Chapter 16
FIGURE 16-1: Dynamic capabilities.
Guide
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Appendix: A Sample Business Plan
Index
About the Authors
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