Brilliant Business Plan: What to know and do to make the perfect plan

241 Pages·2010·3.71 MB·English

by  Dr Kevan Williams

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Brilliant Business Plan introduces you to the key concepts of business planning,
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• Know how to create a winning plan
• Feel ready to present it and confident using it
A practical, step-by-step guide to writing a successful
business plan – every budding entrepreneur should start by
using this book. What to know
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Visit us on the web
www.pearson-books.com
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brilliant
business
plan

brilliant
business
plan
What to know and do to make the perfect plan
Kevan Williams
Pearson education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow CM20 2JE
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Website: www.pearsoned.co.uk
First published in Great Britain in 2011
© Pearson Education Limited 2011
The right of Kevan Williams to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
Pearson Education is not responsible for the content of third party internet
sites.
ISBN: 978-0-273-74252-4
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williams, Kevan.
Brilliant business plan : what to know and do to make the perfect plan /
Kevan Williams.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-273-74252-4 (pbk.)
1. Business planning. 2. Business writing. I. Title/
HD30.28.W5437 2011
658.4’01--dc22
2010037453
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior
written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in
the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron
House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. This book may not be lent,
resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of
binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior
consent of the Publishers.
No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned as a result of the material in
this publication can be accepted by the publisher or author.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10
Typeset in 10/14 pt Plantin by 3
Printed in Great Britain by Henry Ling Ltd., at the Dorset Press, Dorchester,
Dorset.
To my wonderful wife Liz and wonderful children Rose, Dan and
Sam for, as ever, their complete support. Must now be time for the
beach . . .
And to all of you who take the step and start your own business;
congratulations and my very best wishes.

Contents
About the Author viii
Acknowledgements ix
1 An introduction to writing your Business Plan 1
2 Getting started 17
3 Competition – show how you’ll beat them 31
4 Harnessing the power of marketing 59
5 Making money – the most popular part of the plan! 105
6 Funding your business 125
7 The people side of your Plan 139
8 Protecting your ideas 153
9 How to reduce your Plan to two pages – the
Executive Summary 163
10 Presenting your Business Plan 175
11 Your Business Plan in action 183
Appendix 1 Business Plan template 195
Appendix 2 Illustrative Business Plan templates 202
Appendix 3 PESTLE analysis 211
Appendix 4 Porter’s 5 Forces analysis 213
Appendix 5 Sources of information and support 215
Index 219
About the author
Having started as a driver’s mate and factory hand in a pop
(soft drink, not music) factory, I went through being an envi-
ronmental radiochemist, researcher, food scientist, business
development manager and trainer to find myself now a Director
within Norwich Business School at the University of East Anglia
and partner in a small research training and consultancy firm,
Idiomplus. Alongside this I spent 19 years in part-time educa-
tion from A-levels to PhD and MBA.
I’ve worked in the private, public and higher education sectors
and have set up and run a small business. I hope I am able to see
things from most sides.
Currently I greatly enjoy teaching postgraduate business stu-
dents, mainly in the areas of strategy, marketing, change,
leadership and working with organisations that are new to busi-
ness ventures and business activities.
I have been fortunate to have had published one previous book,
in 2009, a pocket guide to strategic management.
I live near Norwich, try to play golf, greatly enjoy car auctions
and adore being near the sea.
Acknowledgements
It has been a privilege to be able to write this book and my heart-
felt thanks go to Samantha Jackson at Pearson for believing in
me and to Rachel Hayter for her willing support and words of
encouragement.
Publisher’s acknowledgements
We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce
copyright material:
Simon & Schuster, Inc. for the figure on p. 47. Adapted with the
permission of The Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster,
Inc., from Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior
Performance by Michael E. Porter. Copyright © 1985, 1998 by
Michael E. Porter. All rights reserved.
In some instances we have been unable to trace the owners of
copyright material, and we would appreciate any information
that would help us to do so.