Business Finance Homework Help

Hello need help creating business plan format-

My milestones have all of the answers, just need to put it in business plan format, and re-word my milestones.

Your business plan should be approximately 15-20 pages in length (excluding title page, table of contents, tables or
spreadsheets, and reference list) with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Use APA formatting for references and citations

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Executive summary. Briefly explain the key features of your business plan and why your product or service is better than that of your competition in the
eyes of the target market. Remember that your goal is to give the intended audience the most essential information up front, while convincing them to
read further for details.
II. Context. This section should provide leadership and potential investors with background information on the company’s current brand and how the new
product or service fits with that brand. Be sure to do the following:
A. Lay out the key defining features of your company’s brand and how these features drive business decisions. For example, how are these factors
an extension of the company’s mission, vision, and values? What are the non-negotiables for a product or service to carry the company name?
B. Assess how the new idea fits with the company’s existing brand and how that impacts your business plan. Support your response with relevant
research and analysis. For example, will the product or service be part of a new brand or an existing brand? How will that affect the way you
market the product both within the company and to consumers?
C. Evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s existing branding efforts (or branding efforts for similar products or services if yours is a new
company). What does the evaluation suggest for the new product or service? Support your response with relevant analysis.
III. Need. Use this section to define your target market and explain how your product or service fills a critical need or want for that market.
A. Define your target market and its unique characteristics. Be sure to discuss the following:
i. Basic demographics. What are the key demographic features of the individuals or businesses who are most likely to purchase your
product or service? Support your response with relevant market research. For example, how might age, purchasing power, decisionmaking
authority, or other factors affect the product or service’s appeal to potential customers?
ii. What other behavioral or psychographic characteristics of your target market might affect their purchasing decisions? Support your
response with relevant research.
B. How does the new product or service meet a specific want or need of the target market that you identified? In other words, what principal
benefits or key features would the target market find appealing? Support your response with relevant market research.
C. Based on your analysis above, why is this target market the best strategic choice for the success of your product or service?
IV. Strengths and weaknesses. In this section, you should assess the ramifications of the new business idea on branding, operations, and planning within the
organization, based on internal analysis.
A. Assess the company’s tangible and intangible strengths in providing the new product or service, along with any weaknesses or gaps. Your
response should comprehensively address different aspects of the business, establishing clear links between the strengths and weaknesses you
identify and how those affect planning for the new business activities. The factors you identify will depend on your business and idea, but might
include things such as staff capabilities and turnover, organizational culture, production capacity, location, customer loyalty, supply chain
relations, financial stability, or ability to acquire funding.
B. Assess the opportunities and threats that emerging consumer trends and company ethics may present to the success of the new idea.
i. Consumer trends. How might emerging trends in consumer preferences (e.g., buying local, support for green technologies, organic
foods, etc.) impact the branding and business success of the new product or service you are launching in the current global marketplace?
Justify your response, identifying the trends that are most relevant to your product or service and how they apply to your target market.
ii. Ethics. How might perceived ethics violations affect the branding image and ultimate success of the new product or service in a global
environment? Support your response with specific examples. For example, do different target populations have different perceptions of
what constitutes ethical behavior? How do consumers respond to those violations and what is the impact on business (e.g., product
avoidance, lobbying for new regulations, etc.)?
C. How might the factors you identified above affect branding and operations across different departments in the company? How does your
business plan take this into account? For example, does organizational structure help or hinder branding and launch activities? Do departments
have competing interests? Do they communicate effectively?
V. Core competencies. Assess aspects of the company or new idea that set you apart from the competition and provide long-term sustainability in the
market. How do those competencies affect your business plan? In other words, what things about your company, product, or service provide significant
value to the customer and are very difficult to duplicate? How can you use that strategically?
VI. Pricing. Use this section of your business plan to develop and justify a pricing strategy for the new product or service. Be sure to address the following:
A. What are the fixed and variable costs to the company of producing, marketing, and selling the new good or service, and how do those fit with the
company’s short- and long-term objectives? Support your narrative with a table showing calculations and any assumptions.
B. How much is the target market willing and able to pay for your product or service? Use target market analysis and research on competitors’
prices to support your answer.
C. Are targeted consumers willing and able to pay more for your product or service if it (or the organization, more generally) aligns with their
preferences for socially responsible and ethical behavior? Justify your response with evidence.
D. In light of your analysis, what pricing strategy and price is most appropriate for this product or service and why? For example, would skimming,
penetration, economy, or premium pricing be most appropriate? What should the initial price be?
VII. Refinement. This section should highlight processes for reviewing and refining branding and other activities surrounding the new product or service.
A. How and when will you evaluate the success of the new product or service and its branding? Be sure to suggest processes that occur at regular
intervals and extend across the business, explaining how results will impact decisions on whether to continue or to initiate exit strategies.
B. What regular, business-wide feedback loops and processes will you implement to support the new idea, keep it on track, and make mid-course
corrections as needed? For example, will you adjust business functions and/or facilitate regular communication across departments? How will
you collect relevant information and ensure its accuracy?
C. In planning for the future, how will you identify and integrate other factors that might affect implementation of the new idea into your business
decisions and planning? In other words, what other things do you need to consider when moving forward?
Milestones
Milestone One: Context, Need, Pricing
In Module Three, you will submit a short paper covering context, need, and pricing. This milestone establishes your chosen organization’s direction within the
marketplace. This is important because it drives the subsequent activities, milestones, and the final project. Without a strong sense of the organization’s purpose
within the marketplace, knowledge of consumer trends, and how to meet target market needs at the appropriate price, management is less likely to maximize
the efficiency of business activities and more likely to miss fully meeting the needs of its chosen target market. This milestone establishes how the organization
will differentiate itself from its competition through branding with a unique product or service offering designed to meet specific consumer needs or desires that
are shaped by their demographics, personality, or buying style. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Strengths and Weaknesses, Core Competencies
In Module Five, you will submit a short paper covering strengths and weaknesses and core competencies. For the company you have chosen, write a short paper
that identifies and analyzes at least four, but no more than eight, strengths and weaknesses. Continue your paper by identifying and explaining three to five core
competencies for the company you have chosen. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Milestone Three: Refinement
In Module Seven, you will submit a short paper covering refinements. Using the idea that you have chosen, write a short paper covering activities and items
upon which success will be evaluated and how these will be evaluated, timing intervals for information gathering and analyzing feedback, what feedback loops
exist or will be created, how these loops and the ensuing feedback will affect the overall organization, and what, if any, other factors should be considered as you
move forward with your new product or service. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.