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6th
“Practical, professional advice presented in a highly accessible format. Based on the
e dition Based on methodology developed at Cranfield School of Management
Enterprise Programme at Cranfield School of Management, it contains 25 assignments with
worksheets and examples to help construct your plan, learning from others as you write.”
Internet Works
“A pleasing read, unlike many other books on this topic… full of practical and professional advice.”
Professional Manager
“Highly informative and instructive.” THE
City Business Magazine
The Business Plan Workbook has established itself as the essential guide to all aspects of
business planning for entrepreneurs, senior executives and students alike. Based on
methodology developed at Cranfield Schol of Management and using sucesful real-life BUSINESS
business plans, The Business Plan Workbook brings together the process and procedures
required to produce that persuasive plan. The step-by-step approach covers all the key
topics, including:
• validating your business idea; • keeping the books;
PLAN
• examples from the plans of successful • controlling the business;
entrepreneurs; • writing up and presenting your
• practical ways to research your market; business plan;
• developing your marketing strategy; • links to free business spreadsheets and
• raising finance; online tools.
• building a website; WORKBOOK
The many examples have been fully updated and include a cross-section of businesses at
The Definitive Guide to Researching,
various stages in their development, making the book invaluable reading for anyone in
business.
Writing up and Presenting a Winning Plan
Colin Barrow MBA was until recently Head of the Enterprise Group at Cranfield School of
Management, where he teaches entrepreneurship on the MBA and other programmes. He is
also a visiting professor at business schools in the United States, Asia, France, Ireland and 6th edition
Austria. His other books published by Kogan Page include Starting a Business from Home,
Practical Financial Management and The Successful Entrepreneur’s Guidebook.
Paul Barrow is an author, a visiting professor at Cranfield, and also a consultant advising
SMEs on growth strategies.
Robert Brown directed the Graduate Enterprise Programme at Cranfield where he led a
course on entrepreneurship.
£18.99 ISBN: 978-0-7494-5231-5
US $39.95
Kogan Page Kogan Page US
120 Pentonvile Road 525 South 4th Street, #241 COLIN BARROW, PAUL BARROW
London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19147
United Kingdom USA Busines and management/Smal AND ROBERT BROWN
www.koganpage.com business / Business planning
BARROW, BARROW
THE BUSINESS PLAN WORKBOOK AND BROWN
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THE
BUSINESS
PLAN
WORKBOOK
The Definitive Guide to Researching,
Writing up and Presenting a Winning Plan
6th edition
COLIN BARROW, PAUL BARROW
AND ROBERT BROWN
London and Philadelphia
Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book
is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept
responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or
damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material
in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or any of the authors.
First published in Great Britain by Kogan Page Limited 1988
Second edition 1992
Reprinted with revisions 1994, 1995 (twice)
Third edition 1998
Fourth edition 2001
Fi�h edition 2005
Sixth edition 2008
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or
review, as permi�ed under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication
may only be reproduced, stored or transmi�ed, in any form or by any means, with the
prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction
in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning
reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned
addresses:
120 Pentonville Road 525 South 4th Street, #241
London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19147
United Kingdom USA
www.koganpage.com
© Colin Barrow, Paul Barrow and Robert Brown, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2008
The right of Colin Barrow, Paul Barrow and Robert Brown to be identified as the author of
this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
ISBN 978 0 7494 5231 5
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barrow, Colin.
The business plan workbook : the definitive guide to researching, writing up and
presenting a winning plan / Colin Barrow, Paul Barrow and Robert Brown. – – 6th ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-7494-5231-5
1. Business planning. 2. Business enterprises– –Finance. I. Barrow, Paul, 1948– II. Brown,
Robert, 1937– III. Title.
HD30.28.B3685 2008
658.4'01– –dc22
2008010356
Typeset by JS Typese�ing Ltd, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
Contents
Preface vii
How to use the workbook 1
Why prepare a business plan? 6
What backers look out for 10
Phase 1: History and position to date 21
Assignment 1: Business purpose and aims 25
Assignment 2: A description of your business 34
Assignment 3: A description of your products and/or
services 53
Phase 2: Market research 71
Assignment 4: Customers 75
Assignment 5: Competitors 91
Assignment 6: A plan for market research 105
Phase 3: Competitive business strategy 129
Assignment 7: Pricing 142
Assignment 8: Advertising and promotion 150
Assignment 9: Place and distribution 166
vi Contents
Phase 4: Operations 181
Assignment 10: The selling methods plan 185
Assignment 11: Making, outsourcing and supplies 193
Assignment 12: People and related administrative
procedures 200
Assignment 13: Legal and regulatory factors affecting
operations 211
Assignment 14: Building a website 219
Assignment 15: Communication systems 232
Phase 5: Forecasting results 245
Assignment 16: The sales forecast 249
Assignment 17: Pro forma cash-flow statement 259
Assignment 18: Pro forma profit and loss statement 267
Assignment 19: Pro forma balance sheet 275
Assignment 20: Break-even analysis 284
Assignment 21: Financing requirements 295
Phase 6: Business controls 321
Assignment 22: Financial controls 325
Assignment 23: Sales and marketing controls 336
Assignment 24: Other business controls 339
Phase 7: Writing up and presenting your business plan 341
Assignment 25: Writing up and presenting your business
plan 345
Appendix : Sources of business help, information and advice 359
Index 367
Preface
In this workbook we have a�empted to distil the knowledge and experience
of the faculty at Cranfield School of Management gained in teaching the
many thousands of students, business executives, entrepreneurs, public
sector managers and those charged with running charitable, not-for-profit
and social enterprises, who have taken part in our programmes.
Business planning is at the core of organizational and business strategy
and is the essential precursor whether you are starting a new business,
expanding an existing one, gaining approval for funding for a project,
securing a grant or even entering a competition such as Dragon’s Den. Over
the years we have developed and tested this method of helping people to
research and validate their proposals, and then to write up a business plan
themselves.
Towards the end of each programme we invite a distinguished panel of
senior bankers, venture capital providers and others involved in appraising
proposal for external support of various kinds to review and criticise each
business plan presentation. Their valued comments not only have spurred
our programme participants to greater heights, but have given the faculty
at Cranfield a privileged insight into the minds and thought processes of
the principal providers of capital for new and growing enterprises.
This workbook brings together for the first time the processes and pro-
cedures required by the relative novice to write a business plan. Also in-
cluded throughout are examples from the business plans of entrepreneurs
and others who for the most part have gone on to start up successful
enterprises.
viii Preface
In addition, we have included criticisms, warnings, and the experiences
of backers, investors and of recently successful entrepreneurs when they
have a direct bearing on writing and presenting a business plan.
We don’t pretend to have made writing up business plans an easy task
– but we do think we have made it an understandable one that is within the
grasp of everyone with the determination to succeed.
Thousands of students have passed through Cranfield’s business plan-
ning programmes going on to make their mark in business, charities and
the public sector in this country and around the world.
How to use the workbook
The workbook contains 25 assignments that, once completed, should ensure
that you have all the information you need to write and present a successful
business plan. That is, one that helps to accomplish your objective, whether
it is to gain a greater understanding of the venture you are proposing to
start and its viability, or to raise outside money or gain support for your
proposals from senior levels of management. Throughout the book the term
‘entrepreneur’ has been used interchangeably with innovator, manager,
champion and similar terms used in a wide range of organizations in both
the profit and not-for-profit sectors. The definition of entrepreneur used is
that of someone who shi�s resources from a low to a higher level of value
added; this is the defining characteristic of almost everyone who writes
a business plan regardless of the nature of their organization, actual or
prospective.
The workbook does not set out to be a comprehensive textbook on every
business and management subject – finance, marketing, law, etc. Rather, it
gives an appreciation as to how these subjects should be used to prepare
your business plan. The topics covered under each assignment will o�en
pull together ingredients from different ‘academic’ disciplines. For exam-
ple, elements of law and marketing will be assembled in the assignment in
which you are asked to describe your service or product and its proprietary
position (patents, copyright, design registration, etc).
For some of the assignments you will almost certainly need to research
outside the material contained in this workbook. However, ‘technical’
