Want FREE Templates on Digital Transformation? Download our FREE compilation of 50+ slides. This is an exclusive promotion being run on LinkedIn.


BUSINESS PLAN EXAMPLE TOOLKIT


We have assembled 18 documents in the Business Plan Example Toolkit. All documents are displayed below on this page.

  Open all 18 documents in separate browser tabs.
  Add all 18 documents to your shopping cart.


"Strategic is not enough. One must be opportunistic," were the words of Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony. To capitalize on opportunities, a well-crafted Business Plan is paramount for any organization—right from startup to established Fortune 500 companies. At the core of every successful enterprise lies strategic planning, operational excellence, and robust performance management practices—elements beautifully encapsulated in a comprehensive Business Plan.

The Definitive Business Plan

A Business Plan distills the strategic, operational, and financial intentions of an organization into a written document. It serves as a roadmap to guide the firm towards its goals and also as a key sales tool when courting investors or recruiting talented personnel.

One example of a Business Plan is the one designed and implemented by Tesla Inc, a Fortune 500 company, during its early years. Tesla's Business Plan, created in 2006, spelled out in clear terms the company's vision—to create a range of increasingly affordable cars and drive the world towards sustainable energy. The document had specifics on the focal points of the company's Strategic Planning and outlined the path to achieve Operational Excellence through sequential steps.

Essential Elements of a Business Plan

While there’s some variation in the content of a Business Plan, a comprehensive document typically includes:

  1. Executive Summary: An overview summarizing the major points of the plan.
  2. Market Analysis: Presents a detailed overview of the industry and competition.
  3. Organization and Management: Describes the organization's structure and who’s in charge.
  4. Services or Products: Details about what’s being sold or what service is being offered.
  5. Marketing and Sales: Discusses marketing strategy and sales plan.
  6. Funding Request: Spells out the capital needed for the next three to five years.
  7. Financial Projections: Provides an outlook on future financial health.

Corporate titans like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon started with similar Business Plans that detailed their approach towards entering their respective markets. Each plan mainly focused on innovation, marketing, and sales strategies, which ultimately led to their current Digital Transformation and unprecedented scalability.

Key Principles for Writing an Effective Business Plan

For an invaluable piece like a Business Plan to deliver results, adherence to certain principles is non-negotiable:

Apple's original Business Plan stands testament to the effectiveness of these principles. Being a perfect mix of passion, pragmatism, and precision, it gave stakeholders a clear direction of where the company aimed to head, along with the strategy to get there.

Best Practices to Maintain Relevance

In rapidly changing business environments, it's best for your Business Plan to be a 'live' document. Regular updates acknowledging the market trends, reevaluating opportunities and threats (Risk Management), and adjusting operational and financial plans are essential. Amazon's relentless focus on customer service, for instance, is something that it embedded in its Business Plan and has tweaked it over the years based on market insights, spending patterns, and advanced analytics.

Remember, an effective Business Plan is your most powerful tool—it opens doors to financing, helps attract top-tier talent, and keeps the entire organization aligned. By focusing on best practices, maintaining agility, and revisiting the plan periodically, your organization can achieve its strategic objectives and steer ahead confidently.




CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS




SELECT CUSTOMERS
Since 2012, we have provided best practices to over 10,000 businesses and organizations of all sizes across the world—in over 130 countries. Below is just a very small sample of our customer base.



Did you know?
The average daily rate of a McKinsey consultant is $6,625 (not including expenses). The average price of a Flevy document is $65.







Browse our Business Toolkits
to quickly find the documents you need.
Each business toolkit is a collection of documents around a common management topic.





TOP 40 TRENDING TOOLKITS


  Show all available toolkits.

Download our FREE Strategy & Transformation Framework Templates

Download our free compilation of 50+ Strategy & Transformation slides and templates. Frameworks include McKinsey 7-S Strategy Model, Balanced Scorecard, Disruptive Innovation, BCG Experience Curve, and many more.