Business Plan

Write a formal report to potential investors. Your purpose is to obtain funding by demonstrating that your idea can be profitable, that your research is reliable, and that you are credible.

The report should be 25-40 pages.  Each group member will be responsible for one of the four main sections described below.

• Minimum of five pages of text from each group member.
• Minimum of three graphs or other visuals for each section.

Research methods and sources will depend on the nature of the business and your section.  Start with traditional sources such as libraries, local organizations, the web, business texts, and so on.  You can also employ field research, marketing surveys, interviews, etc.  For documenting sources, please follow the Harvard Business Citation Guide (link on GauchoSpace).

The group is responsible for front and back matter, and for coordination between sections.

You should know that the business plan for this class differs from real-world business plans.

• Real-world plans will vary considerably in information and organization, relying not on a pre-determined formula but on exhaustive analysis of specific circumstances of the business idea, its industry, the financial needs of the entrepreneurs, and so on. Your plan is divided into sections I pre-determined in order to evenly distribute the workload among students.
• In real-world-plans, a lot of information comes from the entrepreneur’s experience. As a class assignment, you are expected to research and learn about starting a business and to show evidence of your research.
• Compared to far more thorough and detailed real-world plans, your plan will necessarily be limited in scope. To limit scope, emphasize the entrepreneurial logic and sacrifice some details of implementation.  That is, explain the viability of the business before, say, details about recruiting and training a workforce.
• The best student plans stick to demonstrable areas of research and avoid speculation.

For the purposes of this course, then, use the following sections.

Front Matter (group)

1. Cover/Title Page

• Be creative and visual
• Include the name of your business and the names of the people who prepared the plan.

2. Transmittal letter

• Use standard letter format
• Write and address it to a potential investor, an actual individual or firm you have identified as a potential source of funding for your business.

3. Table of contents

• Use the decimal outline format the Writing Program has adopted as the standard for the business plan (see samples).

4. Executive Summary (2 pages or so)

• Write a sizzling summary of your plan, emphasizing the entrepreneurial logic and providing an overview of each section.

Main Sections (individual)

Business Description

This section should serve as the investor’s introduction to your business and the deal you would like to make with the investor.  Your thesis should be that your start-up is a good investment.  You will need to write rationally and persuasively, keeping the hard-headed, risk-averse investors’ concerns in mind, in order to move investors into the rest of the plan.

Much of the information in this section will be articulated in more detail in other sections, so you will get some information from your group mates. In real-world business plans, the other information in this section may come from research or from the entrepreneur’s experience.  For this class, to make sure you understand how start-ups work and what the options are, you definitely need to do the research.  You should accomplish the following tasks (not necessarily in this order):

• Describe the product or service, emphasizing the benefits to your customers and to the community as a whole.
• Describe your advantage over competitors—quality, service, price, location, or whatever.
• Describe briefly the target market for your product or service, emphasizing the features that will make your product or service attractive.
• Describe the business model—the way your business will bring in revenue, how the sales transaction will work.
• Describe the ownership structure of the company and why. Here I will be looking for evidence of research in the ways to structure a new business—from sole proprietor to C-Corporation, and options between.  As you present your research, articulate the rationale for the choice that is best for your business.
• Identify specific, real-world investors, or a strategy for finding them.
• Describe how the investors fit in and the benefits to them of this arrangement. Be specific about money.  Research ways to involve the investors and provide a return—from part owner to a schedule for loan repayments, and options between.  In short, find out how financing works and persuade investors to accept the benefits to them of your choices.
• Assess the risks to investors, then research and discuss strategies for minimizing them. Research is particularly important for this subsection to establish credibility. Study the success and failure rates for startups in general as well as the specific risks within your industry.  What do you have to watch out for?  How will you minimize the risks?  Look especially for ways to test your strategies before spending lots of investors’ money.
• Establish the qualifications of your group. Research the skills required for your business and show that you have those skills or have the drive to get the necessary skills.

Industry Analysis

This section should include an overview of the industry and an analysis of your specific competitors.  If your business crosses industry lines—such as selling clothes on the Internet—then research both industries and, if available, online clothing sales. Your thesis should be that your business will be able to establish itself in this industry. What is your advantage, your niche?  You should include (not necessarily in this order):

• A description of your industry, the current size and historic growth rate. How much money is it generating?  How much is it expected to generate?  How much in sales dollars or units? How much in profit? Sometimes this information is hard to find for free, as marketing research is a lucrative business, and the University (absent a Business School) does not subscribe to expensive periodical publications containing the latest industry information and trends.  Still, if you are persistent, you will find enough to give a credible overview of the industry.
• What are the major customer groups within the industry (i.e., businesses, governments, consumers, etc.)?
• Identify your key competitors and their market share. Again, this information can be a challenge to find, though crafty internet searches should provide what you need, especially issues of market share.  If you can’t find specific information on market share, you should at least be able to find some statistics on the size of the business’s operation.
• For each key competitor, analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Are they able to satisfy their customers’ needs?  Is their track record or reputation strong? Do they have financial resources? Can they retain good people? Be realistic in your assessments.
• Identify any indirect or secondary competitors which may have an impact on your business’ success.
• How do you stack up to the competition? What is your competitive advantage? Again, this is the key point for this section. Your analysis of the industry and the competition should lead to this conclusion.

Market Analysis

Your target market is simply the group of customers that you want to sell to. Who will buy your product or service? How many of them are there?  Where do they live?  How much do they earn? How much do they spend on your industry? Why will they spend money on your product/service?  What is it about their lifestyle, values, beliefs, etc., that makes them potential customers?  Your thesis in this section should be that you can capture market share.  You should gather information which identifies (not necessarily in this order) the:

• Size of the primary target market. Here, you would need to know the number of potential customers in your primary market, the number of annual purchases they make in products or services similar to your own, the geographic area they reside in, and the forecasted market growth for this group.
• Distinguishing characteristics of the major/primary market you are targeting. This section might include information about the critical needs of your potential customers, the degree to which those needs are (or are not) currently being met, and the demographics of the group. It would also include the geographic location of your target market, the identification of the major decision-makers, and any seasonal or cyclical trends which may impact the industry or your business.
• The extent to which you feel you will be able to gain market share and the reasons why. In this research, you would determine the market share percentage and number of customers you expect to obtain in a defined geographic area. You would also outline the logic you used to develop these estimates.
• Trends and potential changes which may impact your primary target market.  Key characteristics of your secondary markets. Just like with your primary target market, here you would again want to identify the needs, demographics, and the significant trends which will influence your secondary markets in the future.

Marketing Plan

Marketing is the process of creating customers, and customers are the lifeblood of your business. In this section, you define your marketing strategy. What need or desire will motivate your customer to spend money on your product/service?  What message will speak to that need?  How will you communicate that message?  What media does your target market utilize? How will you actually sell your product?  Who will do the selling?  You should work with the group member doing market analysis to coordinate and avoid overlapping research.  Your thesis in this section is to show how your comprehensive marketing strategy will create customers.  You should include information (not necessarily in this order) on:

• Your customers’ needs and desires. Such “psychographics” can be hard to find.  You can research successful strategies in your business.  You might also consider primary research, such as focus groups, surveys, etc.
• An effective marketing message. Based on your research, create—using your creativity—a message about your product or service appealing to your customers’ needs and desires.
• A communication strategy. Research your customer’s media use and devise a plan for using those media to send your message to your customers.
• The work required to make a sale. Research the sales rates in your business to determine the average number of sales calls you will need to make per sale, the average dollar size per sale, and the average dollar size per vendor, or any information of this kind, in order to provide a realistic sense of the viability of reaching sales goals. This information is also important for the Management/Financial Plan.

Back Matter (group)

1. Résumés

2. Appendices

• Advertising materials you created, schematic drawings, etc.
• Anything else you feel should be included, but doesn’t fit in the rest of the plan

The purpose of this assignment is to build on the feedback you have received on your topic, bibliography, thesis, presentation and draft, to produce a polished paper and presentation that showcases your learning for the semester.
Summary of assignment:

Part I: The Paper
Review the research paper instructions and the feedback you received on your topic, bibliography, thesis and draft.Rewrite your draft to produce a final polished paper. Your final paper should include an introduction with a clear thesis statement, at least five paragraphs supporting your thesis, and a strong conclusion that summarizes your argument. Attach your final bibliography at the end, and create a cover page with your name, date, and the title of your paper. The title should be more than a statement of the topic, and should give the reader a sense of what the paper is about. Example:
*Nathan Meeker: Statesman and Craftsman
*The Ludlow Massacre: Fear and Superstition in a Mining Town
*The Frontier: A Meeting of Cultures and of Ambitions

As with the draft, make sure each paragraph contains at least one quote from your research and that you use primary sources as well as secondary texts. Always follow quotes with your own analysis or comment, and caption all illustrations.

The paper should be 5-7 pages in length, not including a title page and the notes and bibliography, or roughly 1500-2100 words.

Part II: The Presentation
Review the Presentation Instructions. Review the feedback you got in Week 5 carefully. Make sure you have the following:
*At least five slides, each with an image
*Captions on all the images
*An audio track
*A sixth slide with a suggested reading list of at least three sources in Chicago format. There should be a short note with each suggested source telling the viewer something about the source.

Final papers and final presentations should be submitted to the assignment folder as two different files by midnight on the due date (found in your course schedule)

Summary of Paper Requirements
5-7 pages (1500 words) long, 1 inch margins, page numbers on every page, double spaced, 12 point font.
Spelling and grammar count
Thesis statement in first paragraph required
Works cited or bibliography required (even if you already submitted one)
Your bibliography should be cited in correct Chicago style, and include, at a minimum, the following five sources.
2 primary sources
1 scholarly journal article
1secondary source (not your assigned web text or other textbook)
1 additional source as you like.
Quotes or evidence required in every paragraph, along with analysis to support your thesis
There must be a conclusion that reiterates your argument.
Title page with your name and a full title for the paper
The title should be more than the topic. It should say something important about the thesis of the paper. See blow for the Presentation instructions.

A literature review is a summary of journals, academic papers, articles, or any other research source that focuses on a specific issue. Literature reviews do not report the paper instead they describe what the investigation was all about. The reviews are written by scholarly institutions including graduates and postgraduate students and commercial companies. However, many people do not know the steps of writing a literature review as it has a formal procedure which is usually 15 to 30 pages long.

The typical steps are finding a topic in the specific area, review the literature, focus on the subject carefully and select research materials accordingly. Then read your chosen articles and evaluate them intensely, look for patterns in the articles and create subtopics, develop a working thesis, organize your findings, write the body and then lastly go through the paper focusing on analysis.

1. Find a Topic

Before writing a literature review, you need to find an area of study that you are interested in then choose a topic. Find a broad question that has many articles relating to it because you do not want to select a narrow topic that does not have enough information for the reader. You can choose three questions within a similar scope that you are curious about and then consult friends and a professor to pick one topic that has enough information for a literature review.

2. Review the Literature

After finding a topic for the literature review, select computer databases using keywords with at least two databases that relate to the area of study. Using the selected databases, search for researching sources using Furl and Google Scholar among others. Redefine your topic to a broader one for an intense search. For example, if your topic is the cultural, social and religious relations of the Maori people, redefine it to the Maori people. Cite the sources you choose and then import the references into a RefWorks account to find a guide on how to use them on different databases.

3. Focus on the Topic and Select Research Materials

Narrow on your topic carefully for example; find the various cultural practices of the Maori people, how their society runs and their different religious beliefs. Then select research materials accordingly using their sources you found on the previous steps. Moreover, on how to write a literature review, you need to discover what interests others and the period it would take to research for the literature review because you want to summarize essential concepts for the readers.

4. Read the Chosen Articles and Evaluate Them Intensely

An essential step on how to write a literature review is reading the selected article to find the keywords and the main ideas. Concentrate on the constant assumptions that the authors are making and the methodologies they used in their research. Then, evaluate the articles by checking the introduction and the conclusion statements. Also, you cannot discuss how to write a literature review and not assess the various laboratories used, the researchers, conflicting and recurring theories, methodologies and outcomes which majorly help in the literature review.

5. Look for Patterns in the Articles and Create Subtopics

Patterns include the common findings, important trends and essential theories in the selected articles. Therefore, check on the changing theories and the period of changing and the trends that recur in the articles. Then categories the articles by creating subtopics chronologically to find keywords, important quotes, statistics, weaknesses, strengths, gaps and the relationships between the articles. After understanding the research, evaluate the references you chose in step three to ensure they are up to date commonly within the last five years to have an updated literature review.

6. Develop a Working Thesis

A working thesis is an integral part of how to write a literature review because it designates your conclusion. The working thesis is written in one or two sentences stating the significant trends and developments in the research that you have agreed with. The focus of a thesis is the main points you are supporting the research. The thesis explains what you are going to write about in the literature review.

7. Organize your Literature Review Findings

The findings in step four and five are a lot, thus, you should organize them to make work easier when writing the literature review. Create headings and subheadings according to the findings narrowing them to understandable facts. It is advisable to create a tabular formula if the literature review is extensive including information such as definitions of key terms, summarizing results and discussing research methods. If you decide to include tables in the literature review, make sure you include an analysis that interprets and synthesizes the information in the table.

8. Write the Body

With the above information, you are ready to write a literature review. This step on how to write a literature review also has essential fragments. Indicate an introduction to the topic for example if is about the Maori, write an introduction about who they are and where they are from. Then indicate why the topic is important and discuss other literature reviews that relate to your topic. This step is vital as you write a summary of the research topic without forgetting any crucial information. Avoid long nonspecific references, but cite all relevant source used.

9. Go through the Literature Review Focusing on Analysis

A literature review is crucial and thus requires a double check. Go through your topic sentences to check if they present a clear interest in your literature review. Check if your literature review is narrowly describing the literature or if it is a more analytical and evaluative approach to the research topic. If you follow all these steps on how to write a literature review to the latter, then your literature review will be a clear one and informative.

A literature review is used by professors to evaluate how the students can analyze a journal or a research paper. The literature review shows what is known and unknown about the research paper, identifies a gap of knowledge that the research is to fill and gives a framework for the research being done. How to write a literature review is a subject that has received different responses with the same ideology over the years.

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Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence, has been steadily rising since the new millennium. Reports indicate an estimated 85% of women and 15% of the men in America are subjected to a form of domestic violence. This type of violence has been an increasing cause for concern and this has resulted in extensive research being conducted on the issue. One of the literary forms through which domestic violence is analyzed and condemned is through domestic violence research papers.

If you are looking to prepare a strong domestic violence research paper, the first step is to analyze the figures around this unpopular act. Has it increased over the past decade? By what percentage? Figures are an accurate way to start off a research paper and are sure to hold your reader’s attention. Next, look at the nature and scope of domestic violence. Although most of such victims relate to a physical encounter, the domestic abuse in question could be physical, psychological or even social.

The scope of domestic violence covers the various causes of the violent behavior in a given community, the characteristics, and consequences (both short and long-term).

Do you intend to have the domestic violence research paper read out as one person’s story or to give the reader an eagle’s view on the topic? Once you have chosen the ideal path, fill out the specific details of the case. Detailing is important when dealing with sensitive matters. Let’s take, for example, a young wife who is battered by her husband. How old is each party and are they legally married? Once this information checks out, consider their immediate environment. Is their house in a slum or somewhere in the suburbs? High chances are that there is a visible sign of domestic abuse within sight.

What are the characteristics of the violent party? Are there pieces of evidence that substance abuse could be the cause of violence? Are there irregularities in their medical history? A description of the suspect would make your essay easier to relate to. It would be hard watching a movie if you don’t know the characters or the storyline. A well-detailed look at these characteristics makes it easier to isolate behavior associated with stereotypes featured in domestic violence research papers.

The last (and maybe even the most important) aspect of domestic violence research papers deals with the consequences of domestic abuse. The symptoms of domestic violence can present themselves either physically or emotionally. Some of the more urgent physical signs of intimate violence are physical and/ or mental damage. A significant fraction of the victims of domestic abuse chooses to speak to a therapist while others attend group meetings to facilitate recovery.

The domestic violence research paper should read a certain way. They aim at further spreading the fight against domestic violence while earning you grades at the same time. All material which touches on domestic violence should be compassionately written. And all cases of domestic abuse should be reported to the various groups and commissions assigned to such matters. Your research paper on domestic violence should be concluded with a legislative statement against domestic abuse and a call to action to stand up against such primitive behavior.

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