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    Creating Business Plans (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)
    Creating Business Plans (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)
    Creating Business Plans (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)
    Ebook102 pages1 hour

    Creating Business Plans (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)

    By Harvard Business Review

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    A well-crafted business plan generates enthusiasm for your idea and boosts your odds of success--whether you're proposing a new initiative within your organization or starting an entirely new company. Creating Business Plans quickly walks you through the basics. You'll learn to:

    • Present your idea clearly
    • Develop sound financial plans
    • Project risks--and rewards
    • Anticipate and address your audience's concerns

    Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives--from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarvard Business Review Press
    Release dateMay 6, 2014
    ISBN9781625272270
    Creating Business Plans (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)
    Author

    Harvard Business Review

    Harvard Business Review es sin lugar a dudas la referencia más influyente en el sector editorial en temas de gestión y desarrollo de personas y de organizaciones. En sus publicaciones participan investigadores de reconocimiento y prestigio internacional, lo que hace que su catálogo incluya una gran cantidad de obras que se han convertido en best-sellers traducidos a múltiples idiomas.

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    Reviews for Creating Business Plans (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)

    4.5/5

    23 ratings2 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Good starter guide for a startup venture. Provides basic help in writing Business Plan
    • 5/5
      A handy book on preparing business plans. Written precisely. Not a very detailed one, since it contains less than 100 pages excluding index, quiz, reference and further reading, but still it is one of the best step-by-step guides. Strongly recommend it. But it will be useful if you have some prior information and experience. You cannot make a BP from scratch just following the chapters of this book.

    Book preview

    Creating Business Plans (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series) - Harvard Business Review

    Creating Business Plans

    Get up to speed fast on essential business skills. Whether you’re looking for a crash course or a brief refresher, you’ll find just what you need in HBR’s 20-Minute Manager series—foundational reading for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives. Each book is a concise, practical primer, so you’ll have time to brush up on a variety of key management topics.

    Advice you can quickly read and apply, from the most trusted source in business.

    Titles include:

    Creating Business Plans

    http://hbr.org/product/creating-business-plans-20-minute-manager-series/an/16998-PBK-ENG

    Delegating Work

    http://hbr.org/product/delegating-work-20-minute-manager-series/an/16999-PBK-ENG

    Finance Basics

    http://hbr.org/product/finance-basics-20-minute-manager-series/an/16864-PBK-ENG

    Managing Projects

    http://hbr.org/product/managing-projects-20-minute-manager-series/an/16862-PBK-ENG

    Managing Time

    http://hbr.org/product/managing-time-20-minute-manager-series/an/17001-PBK-ENG

    Managing Up

    http://hbr.org/product/managing-up-20-minute-manager-series/an/16863-PBK-ENG

    Presentations

    http://hbr.org/product/presentations-20-minute-manager-series/an/16865-PBK-ENG

    Running Meetings

    http://hbr.org/product/running-meetings-20-minute-manager-series/an/17003-PBK-ENG

    Creating Business Plans

    Gather your resources

    Describe the opportunity

    Get buy-in

    HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS

    Boston, Massachusetts

    HBR Press Quantity Sales Discounts

    Harvard Business Review Press titles are available at significant quantity discounts when purchased in bulk for client gifts, sales promotions, and premiums. Special editions, including books with corporate logos, customized covers, and letters from the company or CEO printed in the front matter, as well as excerpts of existing books, can also be created in large quantities for special needs.

    For details and discount information for both print and ebook formats, contact booksales@harvardbusiness.org, tel. 800-988-0886, or www.hbr.org/bulksales.

    Copyright 2014 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

    All rights reserved

    Printed in the United States of America

    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu, or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.

    The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change.

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Creating business plans.

          pages cm. — (20-minute manager series)

       Includes index.

       ISBN 978-1-62527-222-5

    1. Business planning.

       HD30.28.C7325 2014

       658.4′01—dc23

                                         2014000382

    eISBN: 978-1-62527-227-0

    Preview

    Writing a business plan is an important first step in starting any new venture. Your goal is to provide a detailed description of your new product or service and a concrete strategy for making it a success, while also conveying a hearty dose of enthusiasm that inspires investors and other supporters to want to be involved with your project. This book walks you through the basics:

    • Articulating your business idea

    • Communicating your goals

    • Analyzing the industry

    • Introducing your management team

    • Distinguishing your business from rivals

    • Developing a compelling marketing plan

    • Describing your business’s daily activities

    • Providing sound financial projections

    • Anticipating potential stumbling blocks

    Contents

    Why Write a Business Plan?

    Getting started

    The structure of a business plan

    Describing the Opportunity

    Presenting your idea

    Executive summary

    Business description

    Analyzing the business environment

    Industry background

    Competitive analysis

    Market analysis

    Introducing Your Management Team

    Highlighting qualifications

    Presenting the team as a unit

    Bringing Your Product to Market

    Operations plan: Articulating day-to-day business

    Marketing plan: Promoting your value proposition

    Projecting Financial Risk and Reward

    Preparing your financial plan

    Anticipating readers’ concerns

    Attachments and Milestones

    Supplemental information

    Milestones

    Conclusion

    Test Yourself

    Learn More

    Sources

    Index

    Creating Business Plans

    Why Write a Business Plan?

    Why Write a Business Plan?

    So you’ve got a brilliant idea for a new product or service. You feel energized, inspired, and ready to forge ahead. Your first challenge: Write a business plan.

    You may be thinking: Why should I bother taking the time to draft a formal plan? Shouldn’t I just get going already? If you’re working at a large company and your boss asks you to put together a plan before you move forward with a new product extension, you may feel equally frustrated. What’s the point of this busywork?, you might think. Why can’t I just take the plunge?

    Don’t fall into this trap. Writing a business plan for internal or external ventures is beneficial in a variety of ways, including gaining buy-in and generating enthusiasm for your idea, improving your odds of successfully creating a new product or service, establishing a company, raising capital, generating sales, and sustaining your business over time.

    Whether you’re planning to build a new company from scratch, expand an existing firm, spin off from a parent corporation, or even start an initiative within an established organization, writing a business plan gives you an opportunity to thoroughly evaluate your idea. It’s

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