MHR 423 Creating the Business Plan

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MHR 423Creating the Business Plan

• Fall 2003

Dr. Stan Abraham MHR Dept.
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Principal Course Objectives

• To understand what goes into, and write, the
  major parts of a business plan
• To make a five-minute convincing presentation of
  that business plan
• Two Prerequisites
• MHR 320 or EBZ 306
• MHR 321

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Required Texts

• Marc Dollinger, Entrepreneurship Strategies and
  Resources, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2003
• David E. Tooch, Building a Business Plan, Pearson
  Education (Prentice-Hall) 2004, bundled with
  Business PlanPro 4.0 software (get from cashier
  because of software)
• David E. Gumpert, Burn Your Business Plan! What
  Investors Really Want from Entrepreneurs, Lauson
  Publishing, 2002

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Value of the Course

• Most entrepreneurs have no formal education in
  entrepreneurship
• Some even have no formal education!
• Many have never written a business plan
• Many are engineers, scientists, artists, or other
  professional that have no business experience or
  acumen whatever
• Epitomizes Cal Poly Pomonas philosophy of
  learning by doing
• You will actually write the major parts of a
  business plan and present its highlights in five
  minutes!!

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My Expectations of You

• To take more responsibility for your own learning
• You wont learn as much if you dont
• To commit to having a very good group experience
• Your workload and stress level will increase
  exponentially if you dont, and your grade will
  suffer proportionately
• To plan carefully and organize well
• There is a lot to get done in the quarter
• To help other groups with feedback
• And get participation points in the process

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My Role as Professor

• To create a friendly and fun environment for
  learning
• To act as a resource, coach, expert, and sounding
  board for you as you develop your business plan
• To provide useful feedback and grade your
  assignments
• To give mini-lectures on each topic based on my
  experience
• Will supplement the texts nicely

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The Business Plan

• Done in groups
• Based on a business idea you come up with
• Written in stages
• Improved through feedback from the prof and the
  class at key stages
• Culminates in a 5-min. dazzling presentation

Marketing Plan
EnvironmentalAnalysis
Financial Projectionsand Investment Deal
Final Business Plan
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Participation Grade (10 pts)

• Nothing happens until I know all your names (week
  3 or 4)
• Attendance gets four points
• Remaining six points for asking questions and
  giving feedback during intermediate and final
  presentations
• Unexcused absences over two lose a point for each
  absence
• More than five unexcused absences gets an
  automatic F

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Written Work

• First drafts must never be handed in
• Always edit them once or twice
• Groups should assign someone this critical task
• Business writing is concise and clear
• If you find writing difficult, you must go to the
  University Writing Center for help
• Take pride in your worka quality business
  deserves a quality business plan
• Final reports poorly written will lose points

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Key Due Dates

• Tu Oct 21 Group presentation of business
  overview
• Th Oct 30 Group presentation of
  marketing plan
• Group written marketing plan
• Th Nov 6 Environmental Analysis
  written report
• Tu Nov 18 Group presentation on
  financial results/investment deal
• Tu Dec 4 Final group business plan
• Tu Dec 9 Final 5-min. presentations

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• Any Questions?