Why it is important to prepare a business plan

Preparing business plan is one of the most important aspects of business management and helps the business to achieve success. Effective planning can help a business to raise finances (through financial planning) and helps to project the likelihood of the business to succeed. A sound plan also helps the managers to take important business decisions, providing a framework for the decision making process. It can also help business owners and managers to identify flaws in the business design and thus overcome them (Honig and Samuelsson 2014). Through the business plan, important ideas can be shared with the stakeholders, attract potential investors as well as customers. An effective business plan provides a clear direction to the management through the short term and long term goals and the products or services of the business. Outlining the goals and objectives also helps to support and achieve the long term objectives of the business and thus helping to ménage the company (Garonne and Davidsson 2016).

Five of the most important benefits that can be attributed to business planning include:

Raise finances: Effective financial planning can help business to raise finances and funds by projecting the likelihood of growth and success of the business, which can be used to attract the investors to invest in the business. It can also help to understand the long term viability of the company to raise funds (Anis et al. 2018).

Supporting Business Decisions: Business planning can also help the management and the business owners to make important decisions though the identification of effective business strategies and business ideas. The plans provide a framework that can help to take well informed decisions that can help business growth (Dibrell et al. 2014).

Understand the Market: Effective planning process help to understand the dynamics of the market and thus understand the long term viability of the business, understand the market for the business and the competitors in the market. Such information can help to develop effective market strategies and develop products or services that can best address the market demands (Wolf and Floyd 2017).

Identify the weaknesses: Business plan can help the managers to identify the weaknesses of the organization and how those weaknesses can be overcome through specific strategies, thus helping the growth and long term viability of the industry (Antero 2015).

Communicating with stakeholders: Business plan can help the managers to communicate important business ideas and strategies with the key stakeholders.  It can help to engage them in the business planning process, attract employees as well as customers and support the inflow of funds to the organization or business (Tsai 2017).

To develop a business plan for the proposed business (small café), strategic business planning can be utilized. The planning process can involve five steps that can help to develop a strategic business plan that can help in the development and growth for the business. These five steps are discussed below:

Generation of business ideas:  In this step the ideas regarding the product/process, potential customers/consumers, competitors in the sector, research and development strategies, employee base and the potential dealers or retailers can be outlined.

Benefits of Business Planning

Studying the market and environment: Here, information regarding the environment and the market can be scanned to identify the sociocultural aspects, technologies needed in the sector, the economic condition of the market and the demography of the market and the governmental policies applicable to the sector.

Feasibility Analysis: Here the market for the business can be analyzed to identify the demand for the product or service of the business, identify the patterns of consumption and trend in the market as well as the alternate products and services available in the market.

Preparing the project report: Here the activities needed to start and run the business are identified

Evaluating and reviewing the plan: Here the efficacy of the business plan is reviewed to understand if it meets the business requirements and find scope for further improvement to maintain the competitive advantage.

Feasibility study or analysis can help the managers and business owners to understand the credibility of the business as well as its viability in the market and involves the analysis of the market to identify the current demands in the market as well as estimate the projected market share or value (Siljander et al. 2015).

The purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide a strategic direction to the business to achieve the midterm to long term goals of the business. It helps to understand the current position of the business, identify the future objectives of the business and the strategies needed to achieve the objectives (Bursik et al. 2017).

A complete or full business plan provides a holistic or comprehensive set of strategies that are needed for the overall operations of the business. A complete plan aims to provide a framework for conducting researches (on market or products), outline the business strategies, calculate the costs and profits and help to further develop the business (Brinckmann and Kim 2015).

The operational plan can help the business managers to identify the strategies to manage the operations of the business in an optimal and effective manner. It aims to support the growth of the business through optimal operations and achieve the strategic or tactical goals of the business and provide the personnel to understand their roles and responsibilities (Klar and Shufelt 2015).

Financial plan aims to help the managers to predict the future financial state of the business such as incomes, expenditures and financial growth of the organization. It thus helps to understand the long term viability of the business and helps to attract potential investors to the business as well as key stakeholders (Poynton et al. 2015).

Market plan helps to outline the marketing strategy that can be used by the business to develop and maintain its market value and share. It aims to provide a comprehensive blueprint to the marketing division that supports the marketing efforts of the business by identifying the activities used to achieve the marketing goals (Mcdonald 2016).

Business objectives can be understood as the specific steps a business can take to achieve its goals. The objectives are usually quantifiable and measurable as well as being realistic or attainable and are time bound. Business objectives provides a narrower plan, specific actions needed, generally for short and medium term time frame and are usually based on facts. The specific nature of the objectives can help in the measurement or quantification of the outcomes. One example can be the objective to capture a specific percent of share in the market, or achieve a certain percent of growth or increase in the revenues (Kumar et al. 2015).

Steps to prepare a business plan

Business goals are usually are broader and more generic in nature compared to the objectives and does not provide any specific measures or strategies. The generalized direction of the goals makes it hard to be quantified or measured and provides an abstract idea that can be followed by the management. The goals focus on the end result and have a holistic approach. Goals are also based on long term outcomes and provide business the purpose towards which the actions or strategies can be directed. AN example of business goal can be the development of the business to maintain no. 1 position in the market (Klievink et al. 2016).

Developing and setting goals and objectives for the business can help the managers to outline the short, medium and long term plan of the company and orient the actions of the management and the employees towards a common direction to achieve the goals and objectives. They help to identify strategies that can be utilized to achieve the goals or objectives as well as measure the success of the identified strategies by comparing the outcomes with the proposed goals and objectives. It can support the leadership of the business and foster team cohesion and orientation towards the development or growth in the business (Zhang et al. 2016).

Risk assessment is another important aspect in business planning that helps the organization to evaluate the potential hazards that can be present in the business or workspace and identify strategies to eliminate them to ensure the health and safety of the people (employees or customers). The main principles of risk assessment are:

Identification of Hazards: This helps to identify all the potential hazards that can be present in the workplace which can adversely affect the health and wellbeing of the employees and customers.

Identifying those at risk:  This helps to identify who are at the highest risk of being affected by each of the identified hazards.

Evaluation of the risks: This helps to evaluate the risk of each of the hazards occurring in the workplace, based on its probability of occurrence and the impact of those hazards.

Identifying the precautions to avoid the risks: This helps to outline the strategies that can be taken to mitigate the risks or minimize its impact.

Analyzing if the precautions are adequate: This helps to evaluate the precautionary measures to see if they are able to address the safety needs and objectives.

Review and revise the precautionary measures: This helps to improve the precautionary strategies to address any gaps or shortcomings.

(Choi et al. 2017; Wu et al. 2014)

Three measures that can be used to evaluate the performance of the business in the context of profits can include:

Break Even Point: This is a graph that helps to identify a point where the total income and total expense of the company become equal. Attaining the breakeven point is the first step towards the increase in the revenue or profit margin and thus helps to analyze the performance of the business (Kampf et al. 2016).

Analyzing the profit margin: This includes the calculation of the annual sales made by the business along with the net income (which is calculated by deducting the costs from the total earnings) and then converting the net income to percentage of the annual sales. This percentage represents the profit margin of the business (Wagner et al. 2015).

Return on Investment: This is a ratio between the total profits of the business to the costs of investment, and helps to identify if the business is providing adequate returns and thus understand the success (Baxter et al. 2014).

WHS Act 2012 (SA) Section and part number	Summarise your obligations for each section/part
Section 19 – Primary duty of care  Part (1)	This section implies that anyone conducting business or an undertaking should ensure the health and safety of the workers in the workplace. To ensure this, the organization should that the workplace is safe for the individuals working for the organization and free of any hazards as much as feasibly possible. Also, the organization should have protocols in place to ensure that the health of the workers is not adversely affected while working for the organization or business. It is vital that the business should have adequate failsafe mechanisms to safeguard the health and wellbeing of the workers. (legislation.sa.gov.au 2018)
Section 19 – Primary duty of care  Part (2)	According to this section, people running the business should ensure that the health and safety of other people are not jeopardized due to the operations of the business. To do this the business operators can undertake a comprehensive risk assessment and environmental impact assessment of the business that can help to identify the potential risks or hazards and the impact of the organizational operations on the environment as well as the health and wellbeing of other people. Moreover, the business can also train the employees on safe work practices that can promote the safety for themselves as well as others. (legislation.sa.gov.au 2018)
Section 19 – Primary duty of care  Part (3)	According to this sections, the individuals conducting or undertaking a business should ensure the following: Provide and maintain a work environment that does not pose any risk to safety and health of people. Implement and maintain safety in the planning of the work environment. Implement and maintain safe systems in the work environment. Implement and maintain safety protocols in the handling and storage of substances and equipments. Ensuring that adequate facilities for worker’s welfare are available and accessible by all workers. Providing training, instruction, information and supervision that can protect the workers from any risks. Monitoring the health of workers and workplace conditions regularly. (legislation.sa.gov.au 2018)
Section 19 – Primary duty of care  Part (5)	According to this section any self employed individual should take the responsibility to ensure their own health and safety at work. This implies that self employed individual’s needs to undertake all the activities related to risk assessment, risk identification and rating as well as identifying and implementing strategies to address or mitigate these risks and improve their own health and wellbeing. Also, the self employed individuals should be able to identify the best practices that can be used to ensure workplace health and safety and routinely assess the work environment to identify new risks for hazards from time to time. (legislation.sa.gov.au 2018)
Section 20 – Duty of persons  conducting businesses or  undertakings involving  management or control of  workplaces Part (2)	According to this section, individuals managing or controlling the workplace have the responsibility to ensure that the workplace, its entrance and exit points and anything related to the workplace does not cause any health or safety risks for anyone. This involves the managers to assess the entry and exit points of the workplace as well as the entire workplace and associated areas (such as parking areas, storage areas, drive in area, kitchen, and sitting or dining space). Also, the managers should ensure that proper safeguards and emergency protocols are available in case of an adverse incident and the business is adequately prepared to address such incidents. (legislation.sa.gov.au 2018)
Section 27 – Duty of officers,  workers and other persons  Part (1) Due diligence	According to this section, any individual conducting a business or an undertaking are obliged to follow this act and the officers should exercise due diligence in order to ensure that individuals conducting the business complies with the duties or obligations. This implies that officers who are employed by the individuals conducting the business to implement the protocol set forth by the act also has the responsibility to monitor compliance to the protocols, audit the activities and also report when there is any incident of non compliance to the said protocols. The officers thus need to ensure that the business follows and maintains all the health and safety requirements of the business. (legislation.sa.gov.au 2018)
Section 27 – Duty of officers,  workers and other persons  Part (5)(d)	According to this section, individuals conducting or undertaking the business has proper measures or strategies to collect and analyze information related to incidents, hazards, and risks and are able to respond to the information in a timely manner. This implies that the managers should have a sound framework for: Collecting data related to the hazards and risks through risk assessment practices. Record any incidents on health and safety through reporting and auditing practice. Develop strategies to analyze the information (such as risk matrix). Develop and implement strategies to address the health and safety incidents in the workplace or the identified risks and hazards (such as action plans). (legislation.sa.gov.au 2018)

In the context of the proposed business, the WHS procedures that are relevant to the business include:

1. Management of risks in the workplace, such as eliminating or minimizing health and safety risks in the workplace to a reasonable extent.
2. Ensure the health and safety of the employees in the work area and that the operations of the business do not adversely affect their health and wellbeing.
3. Ensure that the work environment do not pose health and safety risks, has sufficient safety measures, implements safety in its planning and operations, has measures for safe handling and storage of materials and equipments, provides access of the employees towards employee welfare programs and also provide training and support to the employees on safe working practice.
4. Ensure that the workplace as well as its entry, exit and associated areas are free from any danger or hazards.
5. Ensure that the operations of the business do not pose hazards to individuals not related to the business.
6. The workers also have the responsibility to ensure their own health and wellbeing, and that their work does not jeopardize the health and well being of other workers, comply with the health and safety requirement (such as safe operation protocols) and co-operate with the individuals working to ensure the health and safety in the workplace.

(legislation.sa.gov.au 2018)

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