Introduction

What is Business Plan Development?

Business plan development is related to the planning that focuses on the growth of the business and expansion of the business that helps the business to enhance profitability and improve productivity. Business plan development includes vision, mission and mainly the objectives of the organisation that can be achieved with the help of the business offerings. It lays the foundation for the business and helps the organisation in the development of the products and services with the help of various strategies. Business plan development is required in the organisation because it is essential for the execution of the strategies that aim to achieve the objectives of the businesses and majorly focuses on business growth (Ferreras et al., 2019).

It is the roadmap that allows the organisation to move towards their objectives and achieve the business objectives effectively. The use of a business plan majorly describes the core activities of the business and the objectives. It also includes the details related to the availability and allocation of the resources, the marketing plans needed for achieving the goals, budget allocation, etc. The major purpose of the business plan includes effective strategies for growth and determining the needs of finance in future.

Also, it includes the focus on attracting investors to enhance the investments that will help the business to maximise the capital and valuation of the firm. It aims to maximise the profitability and various objectives of the businesses that may vary from business to business, still the focus is on the overall development of the business. It includes the essential requirement of the monitoring and controlling of the executed plan on a regular basis that can be done through the selection of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in the business and receiving feedback on a frequent basis for improving and reducing the chances of error as well (Watson et al., 2018).

What do you think are the advantages and importance of Business Plan Development?

Advantages
The advantages of the business plan development are essentially required to be considered as it helps the business by providing it with a roadmap towards the achievement of the objectives of the businesses. It supports funding for the business, as the business can provide with the plan to the money lenders like the banks for raising funds to invest in capital. A business plan also attracts the equity investors as it answers about the profitability and generation of revenue incurred by the business.

Thus the advantages majorly include attracting the investors towards the business. The business plan development process includes the possibility of assessing growth in the business in the near future. The business plan includes the details related to business activities and offerings that attract the investors and provides the business with an opportunity to get funding from various sources of financing like investors and lenders (McKenzie, 2017).
It also helps the business to gain an understanding of the market and also allows the business to conduct marketing analysis effectively. The business can know the expectations of the market and the needs of the customers with the help of business plan development. The analysis of the market is further essentially required for the business as it helps the business in designing the products and services, setting up the pricing strategies, selection of various distribution channels and also with the promotional channels that the organisation might use for the business. It helps in the creation of a marketing roadmap for the business and defines the target market as well (Fichter & Tiemann, 2020).

Development of a business plan provides the business with the chance to enhance the clarity that allows the business to enhance the decision-making process. The key aspects of the business like resourcing, capital investments, etc. are clearly provided to the business with the help of the development of the business plan. The business is also provided with the benefit of structure that helps the organisation to ensure effective management of the objectives and helps the business by acting as a reference tool, it keeps the organisation on track with operational milestones and sales targets, etc.
These are some of the major benefits linked with the development of the business plan that allows the organisation to attract investors, and enhance the overall management of the business.

Importance of business plan development
Business plan development includes an essential requirement for the business as it includes detailed information about the activities that the business will perform and enhances the chances of success for the business. It includes different analyses like customer segmentation, competitive analysis, market analysis, logistics and operation, etc. a path for the growth of the business in the long term. The importance of Business Plan Development is thus provided below for the businesses:

Crucial decision making
A business plan allows the organisation to make crucial decisions that enhance the chances of growth for the business. The decisions are essentially required to be taken quickly and rationally by the leaders and professionals in the business, which can be facilitated with the business plan as it provides the answers and allows the professionals to think deeply about the core strategies of the business.

Setting benchmarks
It is also important for the business to develop a business plan as it helps to set the benchmarks and objectives for the business, and also it is important as it helps the organisation to communicate the benchmarks to the investors as well (McKenzie, 2017).

Avoiding mistakes
It is also important for the business to avoid the risks and a business plan allows knowing and analysing all the potential risks that are there in the business on an advanced basis. The business plan helps to form the strategies and develop the policies and processes in such an effective manner that it mitigates the chances of risks.

Proving business’s viability
It helps the organisation by proving the viability and growth of the business in the near future; it allows the business to know the feasibility of the plans and ideas. It informs the business about advertising, sales and marketing of the new products thus it helps in proving the viability of the ideas and different plans of the business.

Mitigation of risk
The importance of the business development plan includes the focus on the mitigation of the risk as it helps to provide with the potential risks from the external as well as the internal factors of the business (Fichter & Tiemann, 2020).

How can Business Plan Development help a company strategically?

It helps the organisation by providing a direction and allows the business to guide the employees towards the objectives. It enhances the clarity of the objectives and provides various ways to know whether the business is profitable or not, and provides all the essentially required estimations like the budget and risks, etc. It allows the business to set the short, medium as well as long term goals that the employees of the business are required to be achieving through strategic planning. The analysis of the internal strengths and weaknesses and external threats and opportunities in the development of a business plan facilitates the organisation to form strategies for mitigating the risks from the environment and grasping the opportunities as well (Matović, 2020).
It includes the vision and mission as well that allows the business to form various strategies and also helps the business to focus on the roadmap towards success and different goals that ensures the business about success. Strategic planning is majorly facilitated by business plan development as it includes the potential risks and opportunities for the business.

References

Ferreras-Garcia, R., Hernández-Lara, A., & Serradell-López, E. (2019). Entrepreneurial competences in a higher education business plan course. Education + Training, 61(7/8), 850-869. https://doi.org/10.1108/et-04-2018-0090
Fichter, K., &Tiemann, I. (2020). Impacts of promoting sustainable entrepreneurship in generic business plan competitions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 267, 122076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122076
Matović, I. M. (2020, June). Evolution of the Business Plan in Contemporary Business. In Proceedings of the 17th International RAIS Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (pp. 71-76). Scientia Moralitas Research Institute. 10.5281/zenodo.3909877
McKenzie, D. (2017). Identifying and spurring high-growth entrepreneurship: Experimental evidence from a business plan competition. American Economic Review, 107(8), 2278-2307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264048782-en
Watson, K., McGowan, P., & Cunningham, J. (2017). An exploration of the Business Plan Competition as a methodology for effective nascent entrepreneurial learning. International Journal Of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 24(1), 121-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijebr-05-2017-0158