Guidelines for Capsim Business Plan - Download as DOC

							                      Guidelines for Capsim Business Plan
        The intent of the Business plan in this course is to describe the general direction
of the firm. It is, in effect, the cover letter for the eventual annual report.

Specifics:

   1. Expected length: 0.5-3 pages
   2. Overall goal of the firm. Be both realistic and optimistic. I will use this as one of
      the criterion in the grading of the annual report: “How successful were you in
      carrying out your business plan?”
   3. General outline of the strategies to accomplish this overall goal. This should
      include input relative to the areas of individual responsibility if you have divided
      up the work within the firm.
   4. Some metrics (measurable goals): These can be sales goals, profit goals, market
      share goals, product development goals, etc. What you choose will depend on
      your overall strategy.
   5. Some logic to show the internal consistency of the various parts of the plan. This
      is especially important to the extent that you have divided up the work rather than
      work as a committee of the whole.
   6. All of this should be realistic given your company’s current position in the
      industry and recent past history. However, it should also include some attempt to
      expand the horizons of the firm (new products, more sales, etc.) That is, be sure
      that you are not expecting and planning for failure or stagnation.
   7. In the process of doing this plan, I suggest that you do at least a brief SWOT
      analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
      Look at each of these for the firm to determine what is realistic and what
      opportunities are available to the firm. Then design the business plan to reflect
      this.

   Given the test Monday and my not getting this to you sooner, you may take until
   Monday, Oct. 27, to turn in the business plan.