Assignment Description
The intent of this Assignment is that the student will bring to bear all the learning and knowledge from the previous Assignments and their professional experience to show competence in the field of Business Administration. Specifically, we expect students to submit a comprehensive work, developing a Business Plan Proposal, in addition to an operational plan for a new venture within their existing organization or as a new enterprise. In addition, the students will develop professional Power Point presentations, which could ultimately be used to present the content to either a funding source (e.g., venture capitalists, bankers, etc.) or to their corporate leadership.
Assignment objectives:
The Assignment aims to achieve the following objectives related to the knowledge and competencies gained during the Assignment of the MBA program at AUM.
1. Demonstrate the ability to integrate the knowledge gained from all Assignments taken in the MBA program.
2. Demonstrate the ability to develop a business plan worthy of implementation
3. Show competency in feasible operational planning
4. Conduct appropriate level of research and knowledge acquisition required to make a convincing business plan.
5. Be able to articulate the business plan professionally in written and verbal format to the appropriate stakeholders.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of the Assignment the student is expected to:
1. Have a good understanding of developing business plans.
2. Ability to strategically position a new venture taking into consideration the existing products and competition.
3. Be able to evaluate a new venture from strategic, marketing, human resources, operational and financial perspective.
4. Demonstrate effective, efficient and doable execution plan.
5. Be familiar with funding options for a startup venture.
6. Be familiar with professional written business communication.
7. Be comfortable communicating ideas and concepts verbally using appropriate props.
8. Be able to connect knowledge from different business disciplines to evaluate the feasibility of a business proposal.
Notes about written assignments:All assignments, activities, reports, are due as hardcopies in class unless otherwise advised. Softcopies are required to be uploaded intoTurnit-in. No assignment will be accepted if not uploaded toTurnit-in.
Project Plan
The final report of the business plan will typically be 15-20 pages of written content (Times new roman, 12 Font size, Single Spaced) without Cover page, contents page, List of figures and tables, and bibliography. Additional exhibits, appendixes and supporting materials are expected to extend the report to 30-50 pages.
The report should include at the minimum the following elements:
1. Cover sheet
2. Table of contents
3. List of figures and tables
4. Strategic Positioning and Plan
a. Business description
b. Mission Statement
c. Business overview
d. Products and services
5. Market Analysis
a. Market size & trends
b. Market profitability
c. Segmentation
d. Target customer Profile
e. Online markets
f. Business Environment and market trends
6. Competitive Analysis
a. Porters five force model
b. SWOT analysis
c. Internal & external competitive analysis
d. Resource based analysis of competitive advantage
7. Marketing Plan
a. Situation analysis
b. Opportunities analysis
c. Targeting and positioning process
d. Marketing strategy for products and services
e. Pricing
f. Distribution
g. Promotional mix
h. E-marketing
i. Marketing budget
j. Implementation and control
8. Human Resource Requirements and Plan
a. HR Strategic Positioning
b. Organizational Structure
c. Job analysis (at least 3 key roles with CEO being one of them)
d. Recruitment Plan
e. Selection Plan
f. Performance management & Compensation Plan
g. Training & development plan
h. Retention plan with focus on nationals
9. Operating Plan
a. Resources and Production
i. Material Sourcing & Suppliers (Supply Chain Analysis)
ii. Facilities and equipment
iii. Operations
1. Production and Service delivery methods
2. Inventory management
3. Billing and collections
4. IT Plan
a. Processes & IT Policies
b. Business Process Automation
c. Hardware and software requirements
5. Other specific operational issues of the venture
a. Legal issues
b. Ownership and Management
10. Financial Plan (forecasted to a minimum 4 years, Monthly for the first two years then by quarter) (20%)
a. Financial Assumptions
b. Financial Statements
i. Income statement
ii. Cash flow statement
iii. Balance sheet
c. Financial Analysis
i. Financial ratios
ii. Breakeven analysis
iii. Sensitivity/Scenario analysis
11. Executive Summary
12. Project Plan- Preferably using project management software
13. Appendix (10-30 pages) (Mandatory as supporting documents for your main report)
Deliverables (refer to the weekly outline for due dates):
Report-1 (Module-7):
· Initial Business description (2 pages) (Times new roman, 12 Font size, Single Spaced, not including Cover page)
· Project Plan (as additional attachment)
· 15 min presentation
Report-2 (Module-7): Should include:
· Market Analysis
· Competitive analysis and Marketing plan in detail
· At least a brief coverage of operating plan and Financial plan (including assumptions and templates)
· Total about 10-12 pages (Times new roman, 12 Font size, Single Spaced, not including Cover page) & supporting documents
· Subject area faculty consultation log
· 30 min presentation
Report-3 (Module-8):
· First draft of the report due (should include most of the appendices)
· A scheduled feedback session with the project coordinator by each team separately
Final Report Submission (Module-8):
· Final Report (15-20 pages + 10-30 pages appendix) (guidelines for formatting specified above)
· Any deliverables such as product prototype, service demonstration video, etc
· Detailed subject area faculty consultation log
· Professional power point presentation
· Team presentation (30 min)
· Individual oral evaluation (15 min)
· The final report should be hard bound and six copies submitted for evaluations. Report & PowerPoint presentation to be submitted as both soft and hard copy.
All reports should be submitted in turnitin in addition to the hard copy submissions.
Final Presentation
The final presentation for each team will be 30 minutes to present their business plan and make the case followed by a 15 minute individual oral examination
Referance (Optional):
Selected articles on various aspects of Business, Business Planning, Proposal Writing, Marketing plans, and Organizations.
HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case e-Book:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=4783632&R=16980H-PDF-ENG&conversationId=985568
Additional Resources & Links:
1. Various resources available through theAUM Library Databases
2. The Elements of a Business Plan- Purdue Extension document
3. Harvard Business School Resources on Developing Business Plans.
4. University of Berkeley Business Plan Competition
5. Rice University Business Plan Competition - Example of Success stories
6. George Washington University - Sample presentations
7. Carnegie Mellon University Business Plan Index - An index of business plans by business types available online at the CMU library website.
8. The Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans - An MIT Assignment on Business Plans with extensive online resources.
9. BusinessPlans.org - Sample Business Plans from the MootCorp® Competition at the University of Texas. Also, it has a good collection of tools helpful in developing strategic, marketing and financial sections of the report- Check in guidelines.
10. U.S. Small Business Administration - Planning tools to help in the development of a business plan.
11. Bplans.com - Resources and tools for developing business plans, including some business plan examples.
12. Entrepreneur.com - A website with a step-by-step instruction on creating a business plan.
13. Resources Specific to Kuwait:
· http://www.kspdc.com/english/index.html
· http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/kuwait/starting-a-business
· http://www.e.gov.kw/sites/kgoenglish/portal/pages/visitors/DoingBusinessInKuwait/GoverningBody_OverView.aspx
· http://www.e.gov.kw/sites/KGOEnglish/Portal/Pages/Business/LawsAndRegulations_Information.aspx
· http://www.gew.co/