The Process of Business Plan Development - Coursework Example

Reflective Paper Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction A business plan is a significant component of the inception and management of a new business. It should develop the objectives and the goals of the business. It can be described as the summary that is written down describing the manner in which the business will organize its resources in order to attain its objective and the manner in which the business will measure the progress attain. Ideally a business plan gets on entrepreneur from the starting point to the target destination (Abrams and ‎Rhonda, 2003). Our group devised a business plan that is centered on collecting recycle materials and second-hand furniture. The main product of our company is furniture, which are mainly manufactured by redesigning used furniture and waste materials. Our company would set up small manual workshops so as to manufacture furniture by ourselves. During the process of developing the business plan, I encountered various experiences. This paper presents a reflection of my group experience when developing the business plan. The process of Business Plan Development During my team work experience, I took note of the fact that the process of coming up with a business plan should be careful undertaken. As argued by Pinson (2008) every business is bound to benefit from a business plan that is carefully written. In order to come up with a business plan that is carefully written, my team members adopted various crucial practices that led us to attaining our desired objectives. One of the crucial practice in the business plan development process was time management. Time management can be stated as critical component of attaining the set objectives (Institute of Leadership & Management, 2007). Our group had several objectives to be attained in order to come up with a complete business plan. We had to first begin by coming up with an operational plan that would give a brief discussion concerning the manner in which the business was to be operated. The second component was to come up with a description of the product, a marketing plan, a risk analysis, the business strategies to be adopted and a financial plan. Coming up with all these segments of the business plan required effective time management. We therefore set timelines that would govern our completion of every section of the business plan. Based on the fact that time is a resource that is limited, our group leader ensured that we would effectively manage time in order to tackle of areas of the business plan within the stipulated timeline. The team leader was aware of the fact that each team member use different approaches of time management and therefore there is need to make effective use of the available time. The team leader devised a shared and agreed upon method to planning, scheduling and evaluating the use of time. Such an approach enabled a productive and positive action to be taken when it comes to managing time. During the first discussion, each member agreed that they would follow the stipulated time schedules that were set. Market research is another critical component of the business planning process. One of the key areas of focus when conducting our market research was the concept of the location of the business. The location of the business is actually a key element in determining the growth of a particular business. We therefore selected the location of our business to be at Allenby road in London. Our intent is to rent an office in London. In my opinion the selection of Allenby road in London as the site of the business is definitely a positive aspect in the growth of the business. This is because the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises is usually boosted by the location. According to the flexible specialization theory the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises is mainly influenced by the location of the business (Liedholm, 2002). A study conducted by Liedholm (2002) to investigate the determinants of growth and survival of SMEs. The findings of the study disclosed that the location of the business was a significant factor in the growth of Small and Medium Size Enterprises. According to Liedholm (2002) SMEs that are located in commercial and urban area are more likely to grow and survive as opposed to those that are located in rural areas. Commercial and urban areas is in most cases linked to the speedy growth of SMEs. The selection of Allenby road in London is therefore a suitable as propagated by the specialization theory the growth. I was also intensely involved in market research for the team essentially due to the fact that my area of research for the business plan was to conduct the SWOT analysis. When conducting the SWOT analysis I undertook in-depth research in order to identify some of the key strengths of the proposed business. My findings on the strengths included factors such as the location of the business. I found out that the location was accessible and it was easy to drive in the area and also get public transport. Also I identified another strength in the sense that our company would provide a wide range of quality products such as fabric sofas, bedside cupboards, chairs bookshelves, small size storage furniture and so on. All out products would be manufactured using which using good quality recycling materials, which was available to us. Team management was also evident in the process of coming up with the business plan. Working as a team can be a difficult task essentially because team members have different characteristics. It is recommended that the group leader should have adequate skills of team management. I can state that the team leader of our team had effective team management skills. In order to effectively manage the team, the group leader adopted a key approach which is to coordinate the group effectively. One of the key team coordination strategies is setting the goals. Our team leader involved all of us in setting the goals of the group. Another key team work coordination strategies is frequent communication among members (Krauta, et al, 2010). I noted that our team leader also practiced frequent communication by ascertaining that the group members were well informed concerning the group meetings and events such as market research which had to be conducted in order to come up with a good business plan. Delegation of roles also greatly existed in coming up with the business plan. Delegation of roles is significant because it makes the team members feel that they are fully involved in the group work process (Giannantonio, et al, 2013). Each member of the team was assigned an areas to handle. In my case I tackled the SWOT analysis section. I also handled the strategy part where I discussed the exist strategies that can be adopted by the business. I came up with both the long term exist approach which is to sell the product at market value in order to pay the outstanding debts. The short term strategy was to adopt a merger. The contributions made by other member of the team were actually viable and useful for the business plan. The Team Work Experience Team work is very important especially when handling a common issue. I can state that the team experience I attained during the preparation of the business plan was both positive and negative because we did experienced challenges when developing the business plan. Key areas of Business Development One of the key areas of business development that I attained was management of resources and people. Indeed it can be stated that in order to come up with a business plan there is need to manage resources and people. When undertaking the team work also, the management of resources is also a significant objective that should be achieved (Kim, 2006). During the group work, the team leader gave me the role of managing the team by collecting their business plan research findings and recording their views before the discussion. The immediate challenge I experienced when executing this role is that I experienced some level of resistance from the members. I noted that there was laxity among the team members. Some of the members did not present their views on time within the stipulated deadline, while others did not present their views at all. In the event that I followed up the team members who did not submit their work, some of the group members resisted and stated that they were still working on other projects. I came to the realization that in order to reduce the existing resistance among the team members I had to make a clarification of my role, the goals of the team and also the importance of working as a team. This was a significant step of managing change. In most cases the group members expected the group leader to be in charge of following up their submission. However, I was given that role. It was therefore vital to let the group members adjust to this change. During the group meeting, I made a brief team to restate my commitment to the team and the significance of cooperation among team members. Afterwards I noted that there was an improvement in the cooperation of the group members after our fist discussion. Most of them submitted their views on time before the next discussion. From this experience, I came to the realization that in order to effectively manage people and resources there is need to motivate the team members to cooperate, manage change and also reduce resistance to change (Armstrong, 2010). The lessons acquired will be useful to me in my future role as a small business enterprise manager. Challenges when Developing the Business Plan I was delegated the role of conducting the SWOT analysis. Covering the area was actually challenging for me. This is because identifying the strengths of the business within the UK market can be a difficult task. This is essentially because the market is very competitive and the existence of SMEs is often challenged by large companies. As stipulated by the Stochastic model, too many factors exist in the market that affect the growth of SMEs. Consequently, the growth of firms cannot be perfectly predicted (Farouk, 2011). I can therefore state that the reason why I experienced challenges in conducting the SWOT essentially identifying the strengths and opportunities of the business due to the existence of unpredictable feature of growth of SME firms . In order to overcome this particular challenge I had to undertake an in depth research into the factors or attributes that act as the strength of our business idea. Foremost, I took note of the issue of location as a major strength of our business. As discussed earlier in relations to the flexible specialization theory, the location of the business greatly influences the growth potentiality of the SME. The section sections of the SWOT analysis were however manageable as a result I was able to complete my section of the task. The lesson that I learnt from the process of the development of a business plan is that creation of a business plan is actually a step by step process and it cannot be done without an appropriate plan or approach. All the group members had to coordinate effectively in order to come up with an effective step by step process that can lead to coming up with a successful business plan. As Rogoff (2007) argues creating a business is a process that moves from conceptualization to the implementation. In the same sense, a business plan has to follow a similar procedure. In conclusion, I can state that the process of developing a business plan was an effective milestone in my learning and also my future career. References Armstrong, M, 2010, Armstrong's Essential Human Resource Management Practice: A Guide to People Management, Kogan Page Publishers. Abrams, R and ‎Rhonda, A, 2003, The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies, Sage. Farouk , A,2011, An Explanatory Framework for the Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, Maastricht School of Management. Giannantonio, C, Hurley-Hanson, A and Amy, 2013, E,Extreme Leadership: Leaders, Teams and Situations Outside the Norm New Horizons in Leadership Studies Series, Edward Elgar . Kim,D, 2006, Employee Motivation: Just Ask Your Employees. Seoul Journal of Business, 12(1), 19-30. Institute of Leadership & Management, 2007, Achieving Objectives Through Time Management, Routledge. Liedholm, C, 2002, Small firm dynamics: Evidence from Africa and Latin America. Small Business Economics, 18(1–3): 227–242. Krauta, E, Fussella, R, Lerch. J and Alberto E, 2010, Coordination in Teams: Evidence from a Simulated Management Game, Kogod School of Business. Pinson, L, 2008, Anatomy of a Business Plan: The Step-by-step Guide to Building Your, Business and Securing Your Company's Future. Rogoff, E , 2007, Bankable Business Plans, Rowhouse Publishing. Read More