What are the types of business planning?

Business plans guide owners, management and investors as businesses start up and grow through stages of success. A business owner or prospective business owner writes a business plan to clarify each aspect of his business. A business plan includes objectives to anticipate and prepare for growth. Savvy business owners write a business plan to guide management and to promote investment capital. Types of business plans include, but are not limited to, start-up, internal, strategic, feasibility, operations and growth plans.

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Detail the steps to start a new business with a start-up business plan. Include sections describing the company, the product or service your business will supply, market evaluations and your projected management team. Provide a financial analysis with spreadsheets describing financial areas including, but not limited to, income, profit and cash flow projections.

Internal

Internal business plans target an audience within the business. Write an internal business plan to evaluate a proposed project. Describe the company’s current state, including operational costs and profitability. Calculate if and how the business will repay any capital needed for the project. Provide information about project marketing, hiring and tech costs. Include a market analysis illustrating target demographics, market size and the market’s positive effect on the company income.

Strategic

A strategic business plan provides a detailed map of a company’s goals and how it will achieve them, laying out a foundational plan for the entire company. According to the website, Clean Washington Center, a strategic business plan includes five elements: business vision, mission statement, definition of critical success factors, strategies for achieving objectives and an implementation schedule. A strategic business plan brings all levels of the business into the big picture, inspiring employees to work together to create a successful culmination to the company’s goals.

Feasibility

A feasibility business plan answers two primary questions about a proposed business venture. According to the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business, feasibility plans attempt to determine who, if anyone, will purchase the service or product a company wants to sell, and if the venture can turn a profit. Feasibility business plans include, but are not limited to, sections describing the need for the product or service, target demographics and required capital. A feasibility plan ends with recommendations for going forward.

Operations Business Plans

Operations plans are internal plans that consist of elements related to company operations. An operations plan, according to BPlans.com, specifies implementation markers and deadlines for the coming year. The operations plan outlines employees’ responsibilities.

Growth

Growth plans or expansion plans are in-depth descriptions of proposed growth and are written for internal or external purposes. According to BPlans.com, if company growth requires investment, a growth plan may include complete descriptions of the company, its management and officers. The plan must provide all company details to satisfy potential investors. If a growth plan needs no capital, the authors may forego obvious company descriptions, but will include financial sales and expense projections.

*The most standard business plan is a start-up plan, which defines the steps for a new business.
It covers standard topics including the company, product or service, market, forecasts, strategy, implementation milestones, management team, and financial analysis.
The financial analysis includes projected sales, profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, and probably a few other tables.
The plan starts with an executive summary and ends with appendices showing monthly projections for the first year.
*Internal plans are not intended for outside investors, banks, or other third parties.
They might not include detailed description of company or management team.
They may or may not include detailed financial projections that become forecasts and budgets.
They may cover main points as bullet points in slides (such as PowerPoint slides) rather than detailed texts.
*An operations plan is normally an internal plan, and it might also be called an internal plan or an annual plan.
It would normally be more detailed on specific implementation milestones, dates, deadlines, and responsibilities of teams and managers.
*A strategic plan is usually also an internal plan, but it focuses more on high-level options and setting main priorities than on the detailed dates and specific responsibilities.
Like most internal plans, it wouldn’t include descriptions of the company or the management team.
It might also leave out some of the detailed financial projections.
It might be more bullet points and slides than text.
*A growth plan or expansion plan or new product plan will sometimes focus on a specific area of business, or a subset of the business.
These plans could be internal plans or not, depending on whether or not they are being linked to loan applications or new investment.
For example, an expansion plan requiring new investment would include full company descriptions and background on the management team, as much as a start-up plan for investors.
Loan applications will require this much detail as well.
However, an internal plan, used to set the steps for growth or expansion funded internally, might skip these descriptions.
It might not include detailed financial projections for the whole company, but it should at least include detailed forecasts of sales and expenses for the new venture.
*A feasibility plan is a very simple start-up plan that includes a summary, mission statement, keys to success, basic market analysis, and preliminary analysis of costs, pricing, and probable expenses.
This kind of plan is good for deciding whether or not to proceed with a plan, to tell if there is a business worth pursuing.