Business planning is essentially the development of a formal business statement addressing the questions of ‘what? why? how? who? where? and when?’.

Depending on the needs of the client, business plans can take the form of a ‘conceptual’ plan to further generate an initial business idea, or a ‘comprehensive’ plan to guide the detailed activities of an established, or soon-to-be established, business or product. Business plans are often developed as the ‘second phase’ after undertaking a detailed feasibility study and generally incorporate key elements of the feasibility study to leverage funding.

Business plans ordinarily include the nature of the business and/or product, business strategy (vision, mission, goals and objectives), industry and/or market analysis, competitor analysis, institutional and organisational models, a marketing plan, operational plan, and financial model.