Guide to Business Plan

Overview

Understanding the business planning and strategy tool

Entrepreneurs often hear mention of the business plan. It is requested by investors, banks and even from commercial counterparts. However, not everyone knows that the primary function of the business plan is that of being a tool for the entrepreneur: it helps to evaluate the entrepreneurial project, to define and monitor its development plan, to manage the invested resources, besides planning organizational, productive and commercial actions. Attendees to this training module will acquire a comprehensive view of the planning tool par excellence, the business plan, through a guided demonstration to its composition, to its contents and to its numerous purposes, which make this tool profitably utilisable in the life of a company just as in the creation of a start-up. In effect, success in the launch of a new business depends on the capability of putting together the vision of the future with the accurate planning of the steps to be followed and the quantification of the economical-financial aspect of a project. The objective of the “Guide to the Business Plan” is to help entrepreneurs and directors to tackle these issues by providing basic concepts and useful tools to:

• analyse the market and competitive context;
• link the system configuration on offer to customer needs;
• evaluate the company’s structural and make or buy choices;
• understand the economic-financial consequences of the decisions made and revise the balance sheets;
• evaluate the risk associated with the project;
• understand the investors’ point of view.

 

Objectives

To make available a practical and operational guide for the understanding and compiling of the business plan, managing the critical steps in the planning of an entrepreneurial project, be it that of a start-up or of a consolidated company.  

Target recipients

The course is aimed at all those who wish to better understand the topic of company planning and learn how to effectively build their business plan: entrepreneurs, managers, professionals, consultants, students and all those who will find it useful to possess an overall view of the structure and strategies of a company’s business plan.  

Contents

The course is aimed at providing the knowledge of the basic structure and criteria for the design and realisation of an effective business explanatory tool, organised in adherence to investor expectations. The course answers such questions as:

• What structure and what content must a business plan have?
• How is the organisational plan structured?
• How is the business plan structured?
• How must a project budget be structured?
• What paperwork should be attached?
• What information are the investors interested in?

The course provides a view of the sections in which the paper describing the business to be planned is to be structured and makes use of a theoretical-practical format, alternating technical references with case histories. A practical exercise with a business case is also scheduled. "The "Guide to the Business Plan”is aimed at scrutinizing the topic of the development of an entrepreneurial project from the point of view of the strategic project set up and of the economical-financial aspects. During the two days in the classroom, the course will touch upon the following points:

• The Business Plan: Introduction;
• The Executive Summary;
• The Company;
• The Products/Services;
• The Sector Analysis;
• The Market Analysis;
• The Marketing Strategy;
• The Management Structure;
• The Operational Plan;
• The sector specific information;
• The economic and financial forecasts;
• The investment and funding sources plan.

 

Methods

In line with the Rome Business School’s general approach and the best international standards, the course is designed with the aim of providing excellent training with an emphasis to its concrete application in the job, professional and company markets. Therefore, the course involves both mainly one way teaching phases – to accurately transfer the reference conceptual models – and practical application sessions aimed at developing your operational and management capabilities. Your progress in the subjects taught will be tested and consolidated through exercises related to actual managerial cases.  

Modes of attendance

This course can be attended in three ways:

1. On campus
2. On line, via a cutting-edge web platform
3. In house, i.e. at your workplace

 

Benefits

Whichever way you choose to take the course, you will receive: CERTIFICATE At the end of the course, you will be presented with a named participation certificate. HIGH QUALITY LECTURES Our teachers are renowned trainers and managers who come from a multitude of operational and professional environments. They are therefore able to bring a wealth of up to date experience and competency. LEARNING MATERIALS All participants in this course will be provided with a wealth of documentation, including slide presentations, case studies and exercises. CAREER-SERVICE If you wish, participation in this course will entitle you to: Having your CV inserted in the Rome Business School database and distributed to companies, organizations and head hunters of the Rome Business School’s international network; The review and editing of your CV; Support in managing your job interviews. REGISTRATION IN THE ROME BUSINESS SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Participation in the Master’s course entitles you to be enrolled in the Rome Business School Alumni Association, the international network through which students of the Rome Business School can share ideas, experiences and projects.