Posted: April 6th, 2015

Business Plan

Business Plan

Order Description

Controlled Assessment Time-Line – 4 Phases
Phase 1. Outline of the Summative Assignment
Information on the format of the Assessment (a business plan) will be made available in the first half of the module.
Phase 2. Around Week Five:
The case study for the business plan will be made available from around week five.  You can begin to work on the assessment from that date onwards.  You should expect to complete this work by the end of the term.
Phase 3. Thursday 30 April 2015 at 09.00 Release of Supplementary Information:
Further information will be placed on the VLE at 09.00 on the morning of 30 April 2015. You will now need to apply this new information to your business plan, making alterations to your existing plan where necessary. You have 3 hours in which to complete your plan with the new information included.
Phase 4. 30 April 2015 16.00 Submission Deadline:
Your completed assessment will need to be submitted via TurnitIn by 16.00 on 30 April 2015. (Details on how to submit your work via TurnitIn will be available to read on the VLE in the Assessment section of this module.)  It is strongly suggested that you submit your completed plan by 13.00 so as to avoid any technical problems that could occur at the last moment.  Late submissions will be capped at 40%.

Phase 1
Controlled Assessment brief:
This 1,500 word assessment allows you to explore how important an effective business plan is to the potential success of a business: how it can clarify your business idea, help to define your long-term objectives, and how it is vital for convincing a bank or an investor to support the business.
The assessment will test your skills in a number of ways, for instance:
•    Your knowledge of the syllabus
•    Your ability to apply those concepts in a practical situation
•    Your understanding of the concepts behind the development of suitable market research and sales planning
•    Your ability to identify key areas for research
•    your ability to display good, clear professional writing skills
The Business Plan will include the following:
1.    An Executive Summary (10 marks)

2.    A vision and mission statement (10 marks)

3.    A Market and Competitor Analysis (25 marks – maximum 600 words)

4.    A Sales and Marketing Plan (25 marks – maximum 600 words)

5.    A further 20 marks will be allocated for effective use of the Phase 3 Supplementary Information that will be released on the VLE on the morning of 30 April 2015.

6.    Presentation Skills: Further marks will be awarded for presentation style, use of correct referencing and professional and persuasive writing skills
(10 marks)

Guidance notes
1. Executive Summary (10 marks)
This outlines your business proposal. Often it is the LAST section to be written, as it is a consolidation of all the information you have put together in the plan, but it needs to go on the first page of the business plan.
Most potential investors may be unfamiliar with your business.  Your Executive Summary needs to be clear and concise. And remember, bank managers and investors often make provisional judgements based on the executive summary alone, so it also needs to be persuasive.
The Executive Summary highlights the most important points in your plan and should sum up six areas:
1. your product or service and its advantages – what makes it different/unique?
2. your opportunity in the market – where is the gap that you will fill?
3. your track record to date – what success have you had so far?
4. financial projections – brief summary of projections for the next couple of years – you may need to make some assumptions around these.
5. funding requirements and expected returns for the investor – what investment are you looking for and what will the investor receive in return?
6. the management skills within your team – who are your management team and what is their background/experience?

2. Vision and Mission Statement (10 marks)
Put simply, your mission is what you do best every day, and your vision is what the future looks like because you do that mission so exceedingly well.
Consider what would be an appropriate and inspiring vision and mission statement for this business.  You may wish to research statements from existing businesses in order to come up with your own statement for this business.

3. Market and Competitor Analysis (25 marks)
Your business may not work unless there is a viable market and you know how you are going to beat the competition.  You must show you have done the market research needed to justify what you say in your plan and support this by use of relevant data and statistical information.
In this section of the business plan you might focus on:
•    Using relevant statistics, data and numerical information to analyse the market sector and target market. This could include using suitable charts, graphs and diagrams.
•    The segments of the markets you plan to target, for example local customers or a particular age group.  You will need to outline the key characteristics of buyers in each segment (eg. age, gender or income)
•    How large each market segment is and whether it is growing or declining (you will need to undertake some research and use data to prove this)
•    You will need to illustrate the important trends in the market – and the reasons behind them – e.g. is the market growing or shrinking? Use of suitable charts/graphs would be appropriate.
•    Consider: are there any ethical or cultural considerations that may affect the market. These could be things like environmental concerns or providing for different religious or cultural beliefs
•    You may wish to mention what customers you already have and any sales you have already achieved
•    Show you understand who your competition is and what their products are – what makes you better and how will you beat them?
•    Be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, consider using a SWOT analysis to analyse this
•    Explain why people will move from established competitors and buy from you instead

4. Sales and Marketing Plan (25 marks)
This section is crucial as it often gives an indication of the business’s chances of success.  Here in the business plan you might show:

•    How the marketing mix (4 P’s) can be used to increase sales
•    How your product or service will meet your customers’ specific needs – what features and benefits does it provide?
•    How you will position your product – is it a luxury item for one-off purchases, or is it an every-day item that will be bought frequently?
•    Show how your price, quality and service will compare with competitors. If you are positioned as a luxury product, how will this impact your price?
•    List the key sales points for your product or service – why would people buy it from you at the price you charge?
•    Consider how you might brand your business – what logo, slogan and image would you choose and why?
•    Will you be able to make repeat sales and how will build relationships with customers? How could you encourage loyalty from your customers?
•    What techniques and approaches will you use to promote and sell your product Eg. using advertising, PR, direct mail or via email and a website, or considering digital marketing or social media
•    Outline the core messages you will use – what will you say to people about why they should buy your product/service?

5. Supplementary Information (20 Marks)
A further 20 marks will be allocated for good use of the Phase 3 Supplementary Information which will be released at 9am on the morning of 30 April 2015.
When incorporating the supplementary information into your plan, it is important to consider the implications. What impact will a particular piece of information have on the business? Will it be positive or negative and why? How should the business deal with any issues raised?

6. Presentation Skills (10 Marks)
You are expected to present your work in a business-like way, using the correct referencing techniques and language that is appropriate to the audience that you are addressing.
Using headings, sub-headings, sentences and paragraphs is expected. It is good practice to include a title page (in addition to the standard BPP cover page) and a content page.
Ensure you understand and use Harvard referencing correctly.

A minimum of 40% must be secured in order to pass this assessment.
Additional Guidance Information
Case-Study Information
The Case Study will be made available from around week five of your course.  You can begin to work on the assessment from that date onwards.  At 09.00 on the morning of the controlled assessment (30 April 2015) further information regarding this case will be made available.  You are expected to consider this supplementary information and to include it in your final submission.  The completed assessment must be uploaded onto Turnitin by 16.00 at the latest on the day of the controlled assessment.
Explanation of the assessment criteria and how the marking scheme works
Your assignment will be marked according to the Assessment Criteria for Level 4. The criteria are designed to test your knowledge of concepts i.e. your understanding of relevant marketing terms, ideas, theories, notions and principles and your ability to apply those concepts in a practical situation.  You will also need to show your understanding of what elements should be included in an effective business plan.
Word count policy
The maximum word count for the report is 1,500 words – any work which exceeds this limit will not be marked. Please note that title page, contents page, headings, references and appendices are excluded from the word count.
Candidates should show how many words they have used on the front of their assignment.

Referencing and the Harvard system
During the course of writing an essay, a report or an assignment, you would normally support your points and your arguments by referring to the published works of others. For the purposes of this assessment these references may be from work presented in journal or newspaper articles, government reports, books or specific chapters of books, or material from credible sources on the Internet (Wikipedia is not a credible academic source)

Giving a reference is the practice of referring to the work of other authors in the text of your own piece of work. Within your assignment, each time you use the work of others it needs to be referenced back to the ‘Bibliography’ at the end of the work; this gives the full details of the source item and should enable it to be traced. Referring accurately to such source materials is part of sound academic practice and a skill that should be mastered – it’s important to give credit to others whose ideas you have used.

The Harvard referencing is the mandatory approach and a full explanation as to how this system works is available in the Assessment section of the VLE.

Writing your report
The Business Plan should be presented in a professional manner. The writing should be clear, concise and persuasive.  The report should be well structured and the tone used should be business-like.
Please use Headings and Sub-Headings throughout the report to provide the reader with a logical flow of content. You may use presentation aids such as colour and diagrams to support the text where appropriate.
Candidates are advised to use a professional format for their work e.g. Arial font type, font size 11 or 12 and 1.5 line spacing to provide an overall proportion of 25% white space.