The Role Of A Business Plan In The Success Of An Enterprise

Project and Seminar Material for Business Administration and Management BAM

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the land availability challenges and mismanagement using Lagos State as case study. To achieve this 3 research questions were formulated. The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study. The population size comprise of all the businesses enterprise in Enugu State. In determining the sample size, the researcher conveniently selected 65 respondents while 50 respondents were validated. Self-constructed and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected and validated questionnaires were analyzed using frequency tables and percentage. The result of the findings reveals that; the essence of writing a business plan is of unquestionable importance, however with regards to the findings of the study, the following are the importance of preparing a business plan; it assist in making critical business decisions, it helps in ironing out the kinks; it proves the viability of the business; it helps to understand better the broader landscape of a business and it reports the business environment, every business has its own internal and external environment alongside prospects and challenges, and in other to understand these environments and the dynamics of the business, the entrepreneur needs to prepare a business plan to enable him/her have a clear picture and understanding of the business. The following among many others are then reasons why business owners should prepare a business plan; to understand the feasibility of their business idea, to establish business milestones, to better understand your customer, to enunciate previously unstated assumptions, to determine your financial needs, to reduce the risk of pursuing the wrong opportunity, to plot your course and focus your efforts, to attract partners, to ascertain the success of your business, to reposition your business to deal with changing conditions, to document your marketing plan, and to uncover new opportunities. And business plan contributes positively to the success of a business. So therefore it is recommended that all business owners in operators in Nigeria particularly in Enugu State should consult academia dignitaries or firms who specializes in the preparation of business plans (such like DataPlus Interactive LTD Abuja) to assist them in conducting periodical business plans. This will help them in understanding the changing environment of their business and better ways to stay competitive (through innovation and bench-marking).

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Writing a business plan in a business world of the 21st century is a desirable undertaking that should be planned in terms task and timeline. If the venture as already been lunched, or an actual start-up based on the feasibility analysis of that venture. The writing of a business plan must now be sand-witched in all the day to day activities associating with an operating business.

Acceding to Abasiekama (2012), He said that “once an opportunity is identify, the entrepreneur must be determine to ensure that the resources needed to exploit such opportunity are available.

That simply means that the (entrepreneur) must spend time to plan, there is a saying that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. A new business results from prospective owners having both a good idea for producing and selling products and the ability to carry out this idea. Yet others think such as building and machines, human resources, materials and supplies and finances are also needed . These needs are developed from the strategic operation and financial planning and all that planning needs to formulize in a business plan.

According to Ntekop (2016), a business plan is that machinery that enables a company to develop strategic for coping with unforeseen circumstances and changes in the business environments. Even if the new venture as no yet been lunched, an action plan for completing a business plan in a relatively short period of time will help accelerates then process. Most small business owners and features enterprises know the roles of business plan. A business plan explains how the business will function in the markets place.

In whatever you do planning must be the top priority because it directs the flows of your endeavor. If you want to have your own business that will entail your interest and still, you need to plan for it well.

According to Albert (2010), a business plan is a formed plan prepared to serve as a tool for attracting the other components of the business formation package, including people and money.

One of the main roles of a business plan is to be able for a business owners to generates and track all hiss profits. You need to define your business core well so that your focus will be given to other important matters such as efficiency, improvement even financial management as well.

According to Bentley (2011), the business plan itself is a combination of a usual lengthy, arduous, creative and interactive process that can transform the caterpillar of raw ideas in to the magnificent butterfly of opportunity.

Effective planning helps a lots in providing core competencies because it aids in the identification of the next steps that the company needs to take, it also helps in systems building to prepare the goods or products that the company offers in other to make it compete efficiently in the markets.

One of the most inevitable factors in any kind of business is competitive, to make sure that this will not have any negative effects to the way how you operate, you also leave to make use of great planning strategy in otter to know more about your possible competitive. By knowing more about how your competition function in the industries. You will now be able to know your SWOT that will help you grow in the markets.

The business plan according to Davidson (2012), becomes the point of departure for prospective investors to begin their due diligence to ascertain potential and various risk of the venture to emerge as a successful company, the basic wail be the entrepreneurs profitability, to achieve this, the entrepreneur needs to create excellence planning and barnstorming to set the right price on the products and services. Working on business plan can help organization focus on its resources, build towards sustainability and supports successful fundraising. A business plan requires an organization to engage in the important task of assessing its capacity to deliver services as well as assessing the environment in which it works and the extent to which the service of offers are needed.

Tomkins (2012), says that “the business plan for high potential venture reveals the business ability to solve a significant problem, or meet a significant want or need for which someone will pay a premium. Over the years, we have noticed that many strategic plans do not take into consideration where the money for the work will come from, often times we are brought in to help secure funds for priorities that have not been vetted by the appropriate individuals, foundation of granting agencies, if you ever jotted down a business idea on a Napkin with a few task you need to accomplish that means you have written a business plan, or at least a very basic component of one.

According to Bellamy (2013), the basic value of a business plan will be to create a written outline that evaluates all aspects of the economic viability of the business including a description and analysis of the business product for a period of time.

The business sometimes depends on a feasible concept that has been market tested, because the business plan is all about building a company and executing that feasible concept. The new environment for business planning actually make the case for the importance of the feasibility study to prove the concept and enable the founding team to launch the venture and test it before completing the formal business plan and seeking outside investment capital.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The business plan according to Onwuriri (2013) is known as the tool pool which the entrepreneur uses to solicit opinions and advice from people including those in the intended field of study. At its core, a business plan is just a plan of how your business is going to work, and how you are going to make it succeed. Unfortunately, many people think of a business plan only for starting a new business or applying for business loans. But business plans are also vital for running a business whether it needs new loan or new investment. Existing business should have the business plan that they maintain and update as market conditions change and as new opportunity arises.

1.3 Objective of the Study

The general aim of the study is to ascertain the role of business plan in the success of an enterprise. Specifically, the study is set to achieve the following;

Identify the importance of a business plan to a business entity
Identify why business owners should prepare a business plan.
Determine whether business plan contributes positively to the success of a business.

1.4 Research Question

What are importance of business plan to a business entity?
Why should business owners prepare a business plan?
Does business plan contribute positively to the success of a business?

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study will enlighten business owners in Nigeria on the importance, and relevance of business plan to their business and the its major impact on business success. The study also will contribute the body of existing literature in this area of study.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The study covers the importance of a business plan to a business entity, the reason business owners should prepare a business plan and business plan contribution to the success of a business. Hence the study is delimited to Enugu State, Nigeria.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

The major factors amongst others that posed a challenge to the researcher while carrying out this study were insufficient time given for the study, inadequate literature on this topic, and insufficient fund.

1.8 Definition of Terms

Business:

A business is defined as an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional activities.

Business Plan:

A business plan is a written document describing a company’s core business activities, objectives, and how it plans to achieve its goals.

Business Performance:

Business performance is closely tied to commercial effectiveness, and is determined by the ability of a company to implement optimal organisation with the aim of offering a product or service that meets the expectations of consumers and customers.

Chapter Five

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations:

5.1 Introduction

This chapter summarizes the findings into the land availability challenges and mismanagement using Lagos State as case study. Respondents for this study were obtained from the staff of Lagos State Land Bureau. The chapter consists of summary of the study, conclusions, and recommendations.

5.2 Summary of the Study

In this study, our focus was to examine the role of a business plan in the success of an enterprise using selected businesses in Enugu state as case study. The study specifically was aimed at Identifying the importance of a business plan to a business entity, identifying why business owners should prepare a business plan and determining whether business plan contributes positively to the success of a business.

The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 50 responses were validated from the enrolled participants where all respondent are active owners of selected businesses in Enugu State.

5.3 Conclusions

Business plans are a prevalent feature of business management and are encouraged by government agencies, education institutions, and consultants. They are frequently a core requirement when seeking finance. There is also a widespread belief that writing a business plan will impact favourably on venture performance. However, many business owners seem not to understand the need to write a business plan. Thus, having analyzed the findings of this study, the researcher concluded that;

The essence of writing a business plan is of unquestionable importance, however with regards to the findings of the study, the following are the importance of preparing a business plan; it assist in making critical business decisions, it helps in ironing out the kinks; it proves the viability of the business; it helps to understand better the broader landscape of a business and it reports the business environment.
Every business has its own internal and external environment alongside prospects and challenges, and in other to understand these environments and the dynamics of the business, the entrepreneur needs to prepare a business plan to enable him/her have a clear picture and understanding of the business. The following among many others are then reasons why business owners should prepare a business plan; to understand the feasibility of their business idea, to establish business milestones, to better understand your customer, to enunciate previously unstated assumptions, to determine your financial needs, to reduce the risk of pursuing the wrong opportunity, to plot your course and focus your efforts, to attract partners, to ascertain the success of your business, to reposition your business to deal with changing conditions, to document your marketing plan, and to uncover new opportunities.
Business plan contributes positively to the success of a business.

5.3 Recommendations

Based on the responses obtained, the researcher recommended that all business owners in operators in Nigeria particularly in Enugu State should consult academia dignitaries or small-medium scale businesses who specializes in the preparation of business plans (such like DataPlus Interactive LTD Abuja) to assist them in conducting periodical business plans. This will help them in understanding the changing environment of their business and better ways to stay competitive (through innovation and bench-marking).

Project Material Download