Five Year Business Plan
A business plan is a formal statement of a company or organization’s attainable goals and their plans for achieveing such objectives. A business plan may be classified according to the goals they set. It may be externally focused, internally focused or both.
An externally focused business plan is made with external stakeholders in mind, particularly financial stakeholders. An internally focused business plan, on the other hand, is targeted on meeting these externally focused goals. Examples of internally focused goals are development of a new product or a new IT system.
Now, a business needs to stand the test of time. A business plan for a particularly large company, for example, should cover everything that would take place not only for the week, not only for the year, but for the succeeding years as well. That is why a business plan should cover goals and plans with the future in mind. For instance, a booming business may decide to strategically constitute a five year business plan.
This five year business plan has set goals for the next five years, and of course, attainable within the given five years as well, like 2009-2013. And what if the business stood the test of time and has existed for more than the five years written on its five year business plan? It is still, of course, possible to create another five year business plan, with the next five years in mind (2014-2018). Or, if the head of the company is doubtful of his establishment’s survival for the next five years, he can be sure to create a business plan for a shorter duration of time, like a three year business plan or a one year business plan.
Why create a business plan? One of the primary reasons is a business management strategy called Total Quality Management or TQM. According to Wikipedia, it is aimed at embedding awareness of quality in all organizational processes. Basically, it means that a business plan may help in ensuring that the employees, processes, and machineries are all under control. It keeps the laborers, mangers and leaders working toward a specific goal. Other than chaos and mess wherein everyone is confused, it makes sure that the company is aware of the possible prospects of the business in the future.
Another reason is Management by Objectives or MBO. Similar to the Total Quality Management, MBO means having the employees and company leaders agree on the set of goals established by the company. This business strategy also ensures that people working in the organization know and understand their job and why they are chosen among others to do it.
A business plan is also used for strategic planning. It is the company’s process of planning its strategy and direction. When decisions are needed to be made, a business plan is consulted to make sure that the resolutions to be drafted are in accordance to the company’s goals which are constructed and fitted into the business plan. A business plan is very important to assure that a company and organization will be doing well for the time being and for the succeeding years to come. 
SBC, or the brand new Scorpion Broadcasting Company, just elected its first president, Mr. Raymound McCourt. As the top officer of the company, he wanted to be clear on the goals, plans, and strategies of the upstart company. Therefore, he, along with the members of the board, devised their five year business plan.
What consists a business plan?
A business plan has no fixed content. Rather, it is based on the goals needed to be achieved, the strategy to be used to obtain such goals, and even the type of company. A non-profit organization has its goals and plans, but it may even include in its business plan its mission. A bank’s business plan may also differ from other organizations’ business plans. In Mr. McCourt’s case, a five year business plan should prove to be more complicated than the simpler one year business plan.
It should include more attainable goals and more feasible approaches. He and his board members should draw knowledge from many different disciplines such as finance, advertising, operations management and a lot more. Their five year business plan should be comprehensive since it will be their decision making tool.
They will consult their business plan to make sure that all aspects of their company will be running smoothly when it’s time to make decisions. After they have completed their five year business plan, it is time for the board to present their work to the other members of the management, current employees, and potential stakeholders, funders, and customers.
A business plan can have up to four presentation formats. The first one is the elevator pitch. It is a teaser of the company’s formal business plan. It is used to arouse the curiosity of potential customers and future funders. An oral presentation, on the other hand, is a combination of a slide show presentation and a verbal narrative also used to trigger the interest of potential customers. However it is longer than the elevator pitch since other than the teaser, financial graphs and trends are also included. A written presentation for external stakeholders may also be given. It is a formatted plan targeted to present the company’s goals and strategies to external stakeholders. Last, but not the least, is the internal operational plan. This is different from the written presentation to external stakeholders since it is made for the managers and other top officers of the company. It is more informal and is more straightforward than the written presentation.
Generally, a business plan is top secret. However, due to technological advancements, a business plan can have unlimited audience. It is not impossible that one may be able to download the business plan of SBC. This is called an Open Business Plan. Typically, Open Business Plans are published on the web and are accessible to everyone.
Every business can make its own business plan. It is the standard procedure. It is what companies and organizations alike usually do. Other than these, a business plan also has other uses. An example is a business plan contest. It provides a way for venture capitals to find up-and-coming projects. Business plans are also used in education. In some primary and secondary programs, business plans are used by instructors to teach economic principles to the students.
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In the previous 5 years I paid out more than R7000 in traffic fines, and that was even with getting them halfed by supposed “contacts”.
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