Framework
Business plan outline (Barringer and Ireland)
The question it answers
A founder preparing to approach investors asks: which sections should the business plan contain, in what order, and which one is written last?
- Origin
- Barringer and Ireland, 2018
- Diagram type
- Process by phase
- Level of analysis
- Firm
Diagram
Business plan outline (Barringer and Ireland)
- Summary and context
- Executive summary (written last)A short overview of the whole plan
- Industry analysisSize, growth, structure and trends
- Company descriptionHistory, mission, products or services, ownership, key partners
- Market and economics
- Market analysisSegments, target market, buyer behaviour, competitors
- Economics of the business (break-even)Revenue drivers, fixed and variable costs, start-up costs, break-even
- Marketing planMarketing strategy, product, price, promotion, distribution, sales process
- Delivery
- Design and development plan
- Operations planGeneral approach, location, facilities and equipment
- Management team and company structureManagement team, board of directors and advisers, structure
- Schedule and finance
- Overall scheduleMilestones
- Financial projectionsSources and uses of funds, assumptions, pro forma statements, ratio analysis
When to use it, and when not to
Use it when
A business plan has two readerships, employees and investors or other outsiders, so write it to serve both.
Pitfalls
Pitfall
The executive summary opens the plan but is written last, once the other sections are settled.
Sources
References
Listed A–Z by author surname, Harvard style. A source with a DOI links to https://doi.org/…; one without links to its page or says plainly that it has no DOI.
- Barringer, B.R. and Ireland, R.D. (2018) Entrepreneurship: successfully launching new ventures (6th edn). Pearson.No DOIpearson.comCited in 1 article