Business Plans For Dummies

by Paul Tiffany, Steven D. Peterson

Would you take off on a road trip to a new destination without a map or good directions? Probably not. Yet, sometimes business owners go full speed ahead without even having a destination in mind, much less a map on how to get there. That's why so many businesses never make it. In today's competitive marketplace, 3/4 of all new businesses fail within two to three years. Whether you're launching a new business or working to strengthen or expand an established one, a business plan is your road map to success. Business Plans For Dummies, 2nd Edition helps you keep your businesses on track and reach your goals. Written by Paul Tiffany, PhD, professor at UC Berkley Haas Business School and the Wharton School of Business and Steven Peterson, PhD, Professor at UC Berkeley Haas Business School and CEO of Strategic Play, it helps you

Realistically determine where your business is and where you want to go Create a detailed business plan and put it into action instead of in a drawer Use the plan to secure financing Prepare for opportunities avoid common pitfalls In short, Business Plans for Dummies helps you determine where you want your business to go and create a map for getting there. You'll discover how to:

Identify and approach potential financial backers, including venture capital firms, angels, bankers, and others Clarify and crystallize your company's mission, vision, and values Analyze your industry and your competition Identify your customers, including their needs, habits, purchase triggers, and decision-making processes Objectively analyze your company's strengths and weaknesses Analyze your financial situation in order to do realistic forecasts and budgets Recognize trends and anticipate changes, both in the overall economy and in your industry Plan for growth, considering the product life cycle, new products, or new markets Structure your organization and nurture leadership Complete with diverse techniques and approaches plus a sample business plan, Business Plans For Dummies gives you detailed how-to for designing a dynamic, business plan that will keep you on course in spite of the inevitable curves and detours in today's marketplace. It's a plantastic resource for business owners and entrepreneurs.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Entrepreneurship, Self Help, Management, Finance, Reference

364 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 1997

Reviews

[Mr. Reader Eric Mesa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was such a pain to get through, and I ended up getting almost nothing for my troubles. I purchased this book with the hopes of getting familiar with business plans- templates, areas of interest, how to go about it- general stuff for starting a small business of my own. I feel that it was not an unreasonable thing to expect.

What I found, though, was a poorly-organized book, written by a consultant with the express intention of addressing extraordinarily-large corporations. The author attempt to write in a casual manner, making all kinds of lame jokes along the way, which only served to add pretension to the parts that had an instructive tone. If someone spoke to me in person that way, I'd have left the room without a word.

The advice was a crash course in MBA business studies and corporate speak, with only vague references to business planning- not business plans. It should bear repeating that nearly all the examples cited were of multi-million dollar corporations and industry giants like Amazon, Walmart, airliners, and the like. These examples were decent illustrators of the business concept covered, but it left little consideration to small business owners who will likely never seize a large industry share. Small businesses can be family-run affairs like restaurants or car dealerships, yet one cannot help but see the author turn his nose up to these perfectly legitimate businesses which can be perfectly successful without the need for massive investment, corporate silly-speak, or a marketing department.

After completing the book I finally got a single example of a business plan, and surprise, surprise- it's for a Danish construction company aimed at providing luxury homes for wealthy folk. I get it- numbers are sexy, but it does very little to educate regular joes like me who just want to work for ourselves and be reasonably comfortable doing it. If I got to recommend a change, I'd tell the author to stick to consulting and never write again. The second recommendation would be to assemble up to 10 business plans, covering everything from a food truck to a multimillion dollar entertainment startup. Every conceivable type of market should be covered: service, contracting, tech, manufacturing, etc. And from there, align each chapter with one section of the business plan, comparing and contrasting each plan with the other and developing business concepts only strictly relevant to the plans. This isn't Business Planning, where one needs to understand every single thing about all businesses; it's about developing a document to fit one's entrepreneurial venture.

In the end, the author wasted his time in writing this book, and my time as well. Please save yourself the waste and go to YouTube instead.

[Saf Syed · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually really enjoy the "for Dummies" books but I had a rough time getting through this one. There was a lot of information however it was quite dry and detailed. I was hoping for more info on actually writing successful plans or templates to reference. I am sure there are other resources out there that would be more helpful.

[Vidit Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good book for people who are entering into business world gives a good introduction to few jargons and help you to get ready to write a business plan but is too comprehensive I think what a person need from a dummies book is more of an introduction also.focus for some one who is a beginer

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry, and fairly informative. Used it mostly for reference but found much of it not to apply to my line of work in starting a B corporation in music education.

[Guido · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of the book. I found it to be informative and useful. Many resources are available on the book. It is important to have a clear mission statement.

[Sandra Bloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

handige leidraad voor het opmaken van een ondernemingsplan

[Rafika Ayu Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tidak tuntas dibaca karena apparently I'm dumber than average dummies. Akan dibaca ulang nanti

[Elliot · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book full of jargon and not very useful information. Most of the advice was either so obvious that almost no one would find it useful or so specific as to be totally useless.

Had I not been asked to read it at work in order to help make business plans, or if I had anything at all to do the few days that I read it I certainly would have quit after the first few chapters when I realized it wasn't going to get any more useful, applicable, or interesting.

[Krys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on audio book file. I really liked it. The most important thing I got out of it was the importance of a well written mission statement for your company. This book was helpful for my entrepreneurship class at University of Chicago.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent overview of what you'd put in a business plan, but not enough instruction on the process of getting one together. Honestly, I found better step-by-step guides online, for free.

And sooooo boring.

[Yenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

buku contekan paling pasaran se-dunia :p

[Jason]

really helpful and impressively researched.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for a total newbie like me

[J.P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, practical content. Dull business plan sample.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of useful information. Although it might have been better if I had been in the same country as the book.