BUSINESS

PLANNING
A Guide

IABF | Business Administration

7F Accounts, Business, and Finance Building

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Table of Contents
Cover Page ................................................................................................................................................ 1
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................... 4
MANUSCRIPT DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................................. 4
APPEARANCE ........................................................................................................................................ 4
SPACING ............................................................................................................................................... 5
MARGINS, PAGINATIONS, AND INDENTATIONS .................................................................................. 5
TABLES AND FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... 5
POST DEFENSE REQUIREMENTS .......................................................................................................... 5
PARTS OF A BUSINESS PLAN ..................................................................................................................... 5
PRELIMINARY PAGES ............................................................................................................................ 6
Title Page ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Recommendation and Approval Sheet ........................................................................................... 7
Acknowledgement........................................................................................................................... 8
Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 8
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 9
List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... 9
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 10
BODY OF TEXT .................................................................................................................................... 10
CHAPTER ORGANIZATION .................................................................................................................. 10
Chapter 1 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 10
• Form of Business .................................................................................................................. 11
• Company Profile and Logo ................................................................................................... 11
• Industry................................................................................................................................. 11
• Product Highlights ................................................................................................................ 11
Chapter 2 Market Study ............................................................................................................ 11
• Market Analysis .................................................................................................................... 11
• Projected Sales ..................................................................................................................... 12
• SWOT Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 12
• Marketing Mix ...................................................................................................................... 12
• Competitors Analysis ............................................................................................................ 12
• Market Research .................................................................................................................. 12
Chapter 3 Operations and Production Study ............................................................................ 12
• Business Operations ............................................................................................................. 12

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• Product Concept ................................................................................................................... 13

• Production Requirements and Processes ............................................................................ 13
• Packaging .............................................................................................................................. 13
• Quality Control and Safety Measures .................................................................................. 13
Chapter 4 Management Study .................................................................................................. 13
• Business Model..................................................................................................................... 13
• Organizational Structure ...................................................................................................... 14
• Management and Personnel ................................................................................................ 14
• Intellectual Property ............................................................................................................. 14
Chapter 5 Financial Study.......................................................................................................... 14
• Capital Requirements ........................................................................................................... 14
• Statement of Financial Position ........................................................................................... 14
• Statement of Comprehensive Income ................................................................................. 15
• Statement of Changes in Equity ........................................................................................... 15
• Statement of Cash Flows ...................................................................................................... 15
• Financial Ratios and Analysis ................................................................................................ 15
Chapter 6 Socio-Economic Study .............................................................................................. 15
THE TEMPLATE ........................................................................................................................................ 16
Updating the Table of Contents .................................................................................................... 16

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INTRODUCTION

This document details the policies and procedures together with the prescribed outline and
formatting to be used by all students taking BUSPLAN2. This is to ensure uniformity and maintain a
standard in the physical format of the paper.

A business plan is a written document describing the nature of the business, the sales and
marketing strategy, and the financial background, and containing a projected profit and loss
statement.1 It is a plan that can be used to develop ideas about how the business should be conducted.
It is a chance to refine strategies and “make mistakes on paper” rather than in the real world, by
examining the company from all perspectives, such as marketing, finance, and operations.2

In the case of FEU-IABF, Business Plan is the continuation of the Project Feasibility Study (PFS)
course. It is one of the scholarly works that the students need to produce and defend before the panels
at it is a requirement of the course. This paper will put into action theories and concepts learned in
both core and major courses taken by the students in their first three (3) years in College.

All BSBA students must be familiar with the guidelines and policies before continuing writing
the business plan.

MANUSCRIPT DEVELOPMENT
This part of the guideline discusses the general appearance of the plan such as the acceptable
paper size, typeset, spacing, margins, paginations, and indentations.

APPEARANCE
The plan must be drafted and prepared on a computer, neat in appearance, and free from
spelling, grammar, formatting, and punctation errors. The document must not contain strikeovers,
handwritten corrections. Submitted documents with such alterations will not be accepted. The
document must be printed in a 8.5” x 11” paper size, substance 20, using a laser ink printer with quality
colors. Documents printed using a dot matrix printer will not be accepted. The document must be
printed on only one side of each page. Reproduced copies will not be accepted. Business plan paper is
limited to 35 to 40 pages only.

1
[Link]
2
Ford, B., Bornstein, J., & Pruitt, P. (2007). The Ernst & Young business plan guide (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

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SPACING
This business plan uses single spacing throughout the document including footnotes,
bibliographic entries, long quoted passages, figure and table captions, and items in lists and tables.

MARGINS, PAGINATIONS, AND INDENTATIONS

Margins must be uniform in all pages. Margin requirements apply to all materials included in
the paper such as figures, tables, photographs, etc., and all material in appendices. The margins of the
feasibility study page should be:
• 1 inch on the top and bottom
• 1.5 inches on the left
• 1 inch on the right
Paginations must fall within the margins and must be placed in the bottom of the page at the
right side.
The body of the text must be justified with 0.5 inch on each paragraph’s first sentence.

TABLES AND FIGURES

Tables and figures should be numbered. The number series should follow the following format:
• Table 1.1 The 1st table in Chapter 1
• Table 1.2 The 2nd table in Chapter 1
• Table 2.3 The 3rd table in Chapter 2 and so on
• Figure 1.1 The 1st figure in Chapter 1
• Figure 1.2 The 2nd figure in Chapter 1
• Figure 2.3 The 3rd figure in Chapter 2 and so on

POST DEFENSE REQUIREMENTS

After the Final Oral Defense, the student candidate/s shall do the following:
1. Revise the manuscript in compliance with the panel member’s comments and suggestions.
2. Submit a copy of the revised manuscript together with the summary of suggestions to the
Feasibility Study Adviser and to each of the panel members for further evaluation and for their
signature.
3. Submit a copy of the revised and edited manuscript (Final Copy) to the Adviser as final
requirements for the subject.

PARTS OF A BUSINESS PLAN

FEU IABF Business Plan paper follows specific contents. Business administration students should
include the following contents.

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PRELIMINARY PAGES
Preliminary pages are parts of the business plan that includes anything up to the main body of the
paper. Preliminary pages are numbered in small letter Roman Numerals. The following are included in
the preliminary pages:
• Title Page (no page number, not counted in the pagination)
• Recommendation and Approval Sheet (no page number, counted as page i)
• Acknowledgement (optional)
• Executive Summary
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables

Title Page
The Title Page of the business plan should contain the title, the proponents name, and the
date of completion. Note that the title page bears no page number.

Figure 1. Sample Business Plan Cover Page

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Recommendation and Approval Sheet

Recommendation and approval sheet shows that the paper is accepted and recommended for
oral defense by the adviser. This page also shows the mark given by the member of the panels. Note
that this page bears no page number but counted as page i.

Figure 2. Sample Business Plan Recommendation and Approval Sheet

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Acknowledgement
This page is a short statement that acknowledges and thanks the people or group of people that
helped the respondents complete their study. This is an optional page of the paper.

Figure 3. Sample Business Plan Acknowledgement

Executive Summary
The executive summary presents the brief summary of the paper. This page summarizes the
problem you are solving for customers, your solution, the target market, the founding team, and
financial forecast highlights.3 Executive summary should not be more than 2 pages.
Below is a sample4 taken from [Link].

Figure 4. Sample Business Plan Executive Summary (Excerpt from JJB)

3
[Link]
4
[Link]

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Table of Contents
The table of contents should include the following pages: preliminary pages, list of tables, list
of figures, bibliography, appendices and curriculum vitae as well as the major sections of the text. The
template provides you with a customized table of contents.

Figure 5. Sample Custom Table of Contents

List of Tables
List of tables include set of data arranged in rows and columns. The list of tables is on a page by
itself and arranged in the same general format as the table of contents. A sample list of tables appears
in below.

Figure 6. Sample List of Tables

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List of Figures
List of figure includes graphs, maps, photographs and all other types of illustrations. Figure below
shows a sample of a list of figures.

Figure 7. Sample List of Figures

BODY OF TEXT
FEU IABF Business Administration Department uses American Psychological Association (APA)
6th edition style of writing and its official font is Arial, size 12 (except for chapter titles, size 13).
However, as regards to the number of chapters, it uses 6-chapter for business plan paper with the
following chapter titles:
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Market Study
Chapter 3. Operations and Productions Study
Chapter 4. Management Study
Chapter 5. Financial Study
Chapter 6. Socio-Economic Study

CHAPTER ORGANIZATION
This section discusses the required sub-topic for each chapter.

Chapter 1 Introduction
This chapter introduces the kind and nature of the business. This section of the plan should
address questions such as: Is the company a manufacturer, retailer, or service business? What
customers is it attempting to serve? What is it providing its customer base and how? Where is it
located? Where will it do business (locally, nationally, internationally)?5

Specific for IABF, this section should contain the following subsections:

5
Ford, B., Bornstein, J., & Pruitt, P. (2007). The Ernst & Young business plan guide (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

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• Form of Business
Discuss the form of business organization suitable for your project and provide some reasons
why such is preferred.

• Company Profile and Logo

Describe the business in general sense, the business objectives and an overview of the
management team.

The logo should also be discussed in detail, its significance to the nature and objectives of the
business.

• Industry
It is also important to discuss the current situation and the future of the industry where your
business is. Highlight economic news and future trends on the industry. This is very important
for the audience to know that such has potential not only for present condition, but also for the
coming years.

• Product Highlights
Under this subsection, physical description, use and appeal should be highlighted.

Chapter 2 Market Study

The marketing section is one of the most important parts of a business plan because it
communicates most directly the nature of the intended business and the manner in which that business
will be able to succeed. Specifically, the purpose of the marketing section is to explain how a
prospective business intends to manipulate and react to market conditions in order to generate sales.6
The following subsections are important in this section:

• Market Analysis
This is very important for the audience to know that the market is large enough and the demand
is more than the supply. This section is to highlight the D-S gap, that there are still untap market
for your business.

Demand Analysis should show volume and value of the market. If say you want to determine
the demand of chicken in a certain wet market, you might want to consider the sales of each
store/stall for chicken for a given period. You may check this site for additional info:
[Link]

To calculate the demand, you can use this simple formula:

𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑢𝑦𝑒𝑟𝑠 × 𝑄𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑦𝑒𝑟
𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 × 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡

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Ford, B., Bornstein, J., & Pruitt, P. (2007). The Ernst & Young business plan guide (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

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For the number of buyers, you might want to consider the population of your target market
area and the results of your survey.

Supply Analysis should show the number of suppliers and quantity they supply in the market.
If we are to consider the supply of chicken in a given wet market, we would consider how many
kilos of chicken each store/stall keep for a given period.

Note that the unit used for demand and supply should be the same. You cannot do D-S analysis
if supply is in pesos and demand is in number of buyers.

• Projected Sales
Based on the DS gap analysis calculated in the preceding subsection, you can estimate the share
in the market and make a sales estimate.

• SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis will give you idea of the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats of
your business. Identifying these will give you idea of the business strategy to employ.

• Marketing Mix
Focus on the 4 P’s of marketing. The product, price, promotion, and place. Show detail but brief
discussion on each, like the pricing strategy to be used, the promotion strategy to employ to
achieve the desired sales volume, and proper distribution channels.

• Competitors Analysi s
The future success of the project depends on various factors such as potential new entrants and
current market competition. Analysis of these factors should be considered as the business has
no control over them. And since the business has no control over them, what it can do is to plan
and think of ways to minimize if not eliminate it. Use the Porter’s 5 Forces Model.

• Market Research
This is done to gather more information about the market to understand them. Market research
may not be extensive. A simple survey with questions pertaining to the 4 Ps of marketing may
be enough.

Chapter 3 Operations and Production Study

This section explains how your business produce and deliver services to customers.
Specific in this section, the following should be discussed:

• Business Operations
In this subsection, discuss the key business operations such as the four key areas: location:
where you do business — physically and online, equipment: the tools you need to get the job
done, labor: the human side of business operation, and process: the way you get business
done, including your systems for quality control and improvement.

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• Product Concept
Discuss how the product is produced and why this product is chosen. Discussions should
include answers to: (1) What it does? (2) How it can be a solution to a problem? (3) What are
the future plans for the product?

• Production Requirements and Processes

Discuss the requirements for production like the raw materials to be uses, theirs sources, and
availability. Production costs, facilities, and service support if any are to be detailed here also.
Illustrate through diagrams the production processes following detailed explanations.

• Packaging
Discuss the packaging requirements and lay out. How can this affect the price of the product?
How can this be a factor for product salability?

• Quality Control and Safety Measures

Discuss in detail the process in ensuring the quality of products and services. Create a safety
measures to protect the company assets and employees.

Chapter 4 Management Study

The management section of the plan discusses the qualifications and strengths of the people
involved and running the business, and how the business is operated.
The following should be discussed in detail:

• Business Model
A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures
value, in economic, social, cultural or other contexts.7 Create a table showing the 9 building
blocks with following detailed explanations for each block.

7
Geissdoerfer, Martin; Savaget, Paulo; Evans, Steve (2017). "The Cambridge Business Model Innovation Process".
Procedia Manufacturing. 8: 262–269.

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Figure 8. Sample of Business Model Table

• Organizational Structure
An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination and
supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims.8 Illustrate by creating
a diagram showing the organizational structure following brief discussions.

• Management and Personnel

List down personnel requirements with detailed qualifications and descriptions. Also, consider
personnel remunerations and company policies pertaining to its employees.

• Intellectual Property
Show detailed discussions on intellectual proper rights registrations only of necessary. This
section is optional.

Chapter 5 Financial Study

Financial study summarizes the economic implications of the studies discussed in the preceding
sections. This section would show the amount of capital required to start the business, proforma
financial statements, and financial analysis.

• Capital Requirements
Show how much is the required capitalization in starting the business. Discuss here the source
of funds to be used.

• Statement of Financial Position

Show the 5-year proforma balance sheet. Explain the balance sheet briefly (i.e. explain the
accounts that significantly increase or decrease).

8
Pugh, D. S., ed. (1990).Organization Theory: Selected Readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

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• Statement of Comprehensive Income

Show the 5-year proforma income statement. Explain the statement briefly (i.e. explain the
accounts that significantly increase or decrease).

• Statement of Changes in Equity

Show the 5-year statement of changes in equity.

• Statement of Cash Flows

Show the 5-yaar statement of cash flows and explain briefly (i.e. major cash sources and uses).

• Financial Ratios and Analysis

• Payback Period
Payback period is the length of time required to recover the invested capital. Show
computations and analysis.
• NPV
NPV or the Net Present Value is the value in the present of a sum of money, in
contrast to some future value it will have when it has been invested at compound
interest. It is used to analyze the profitability of the project. Show calculations and
discuss briefly.
• IRR
The internal rate of return is the rate of return that forces the NPV to equal to zero.
This is also used to analyze the profitability of the project. Show calculation and
analysis.
• Profitability Ratios
These are ratios that are used to calculate the profitability of the project or firm.
Show computation and analysis.
• Liquidity Ratios
These are ratios used to evaluate the firm’s liquidity position or the firm’s ability to
meet its short-term obligations. Show computation and analysis.
• Activity Ratios
These are ratios used to assess the management’s efficiency in using its resources to
generate revenue. Show computation and analysis.
• Solvency Ratios
These are ratios used to evaluate the firm’s capital structure or how the company
acquire or finance its resources.
• Break-Even Analysis
This shows the number of units to produce or sell to break-even. Show computation
and analysis.

Chapter 6 Socio-Economic Study

Discuss the socio-economic benefits of the project. Enumerate possible beneficiaries of the
project that promotes sustainable community.

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THE TEMPLATE
The business plan template is available for download on Canvas or from your adviser. It is an
editable document patterned in this guideline.

Updating the Table of Contents

Click on anywhere on the table of contents to activate it, then right click and select Update Field
and select Update Page Numbers Only. If you deleted some major contents on the outline, select
Update Entire Table. The formatting will change after this update. To format again, highlight the entire
table of contents, and then press Ctrl and 1 simultaneously.

BUSINESS PLANNING: A GUIDE