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The pre-preparation questions for the business plan activity.

1. Purpose Statement :

May be the answers of the following statement:

* What is our business? ( What product or service do we produce?)* Who are our Customers?* What do our customers need / Expect?* What values or standards underlie the work of our unit?* How does our unit contribute to the objectives of our manager, our entity, and the organization as a whole?* What is our group's reason for existence?Example: Disney: To make people happy - Schrage Lock Company: To make the world more secure

Mission:

Answer for the following questions:

* What is our immediate goal?* Is the goal measurable in a given time frame ( Usually 2 - 3 years)* Is the mission risky and challenging?* Will it keep the work unit sharply focused?* Does it help us fulfill our long-range purpose?

Example: NASA 1961: Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely on the earth before the end of thedecadeWal Mart 1977: Become a 1 billion company within four years.

Vision:

Is a vivid description of purpose and mission achieved view of the future. Dreaming and thinking ahead

Imaginative conceptualization of the future.

Vision creates a tangible image of the benefits from succeeding and unifies and motivates the individualsinvolved in accomplishing the mission. Key behaviour : Build common values ( of the involved), Communicate the vision effectively Involve people inbuilding the shared vision and Maintain alignment. Example: Martin Luther King : A black Girl and white girl walking together hand in hand to schoolMarriott : Every guest leaves satisfiedMicrosoft Corporation: A Computer on every desk and home in the world. Our dream is to put the power of computers - in business and at home - into people's hands so they can access, integrate, and use informationmore easily than ever before; what we call information at your fingertips.

Value Proposition

A statement indicating the key benefits and the price of what is offered to a specific customer group.

It is typically : has competitive focus and is concise.

Values are a set of deeply held beliefs that govern and guide our behavior in:* our relationship with customers* our interactions with Team members

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* Our relationships with others* Our commitment to excellence.

Critical Business Issue:

Something that is causing significant business problems:

 Typically : CBI causing pain NOW. CBI Needs significant effort to remove.The CBI can be derived from Performance of Last year - "Example : If you cannot get a right persons withdesired skill set last year is a critical business issue"

CBI 's are potential barriers to achievement of the business goals. They may include broad performancerequirements ( Such as profitability or growth), or specific problems and opportunities ( Such as correcting

internal weaknesses or responding to external threats)

CBI Examples:Our employee motivation level is very low.The market potential for product " A " in the chosen segment is very lowOur time to respond to customer queries is very highThe cost of doing business is lowering our profit levels

Key success factors:

Something that must happen for objectives to be met. The KSF typically - internal sub-objective - or externalassumption - linked to Critical Business Issue. KSF's are those factors that are necessary to achieve the business objectives.They may focus on the performance of key process, the development of key capabilities or technologies or theformation of critical partners that are required to achieve the business objectives.Business objectives and key success factors define the entity's goals and identify the requirement for success.

Example of KSF:The emerging 3G market place will open new windows of opportunity for our products.

We need to double our network bandwidthBy having a good set of distributors (partners) we can expand our reach to the market place.We need to get the patent application approved for the new enzym

Answers to these questions may give an insight. The business plan have to be started only after the completionof this questionnaire. No need for consultant or help to fill this up.