The Business Plan Workbook

by Colin Barrow, Paul Barrow, Robert L. Brown

Without a business plan, no bank, venture capital house, or corporate parent will consider finance for start-up, expansion or venture funding.  The Business Plan Workbook is an essential guide to all aspects of business planning for entrepreneurs, senior executives and students alike. Using successful real life business plans, this book brings together the process and procedures required to produce that persuasive business plan.  

The step-by-step approach covers the key topics,

-validating a business idea
-practical ways to research a market
-developing a marketing strategy
-branding a business
-raising finances
-forecasting and decision-making techniques
-structuring, writing up and presenting a business plan

This seventh edition has updated information on competitive strategy, the Five Forces Theory of Industry Structure and other strategic options, such as cost leadership, focus and differentiation.  New, high profile case studies include companies such as IKEA, Starbucks and LinkedIn and cover businesses at various stages in their development, making the book a great value for business professionals from any background.

Genres: Business, Management, Nonfiction, Entrepreneurship

348 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 1988

About the author

Colin Barrow is the author of more than 25 books in the fields of entrepreneurship, business management and international property development. His books have been published by the BBC, The Economist, The Sunday Times, Kogan Page, he has authored or co-authored ten books in the Dummies series and been translated into a score of languages including Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Georgian, Romanian, Polish and Bahasa Indonesia.
Following a career in business where he held senior staff and line positions, including that of managing director of a substantial manufacturing enterprise with multi -plant and multi-country operations he was Head of the Enterprise Group at Cranfield School of Management, a leading European Business School, for ten years. He has been a visiting professor in universities in the US, Europe and the Far East. For five years he was a non-executive director of a high tech venture capital fund, has sat on Government task forces and is now strategic advisor to a number of business owners.
As well as his own books he currently writes freelance, ghost writing and 'Anglicising' books for American authors and lectures extensively on business topics. You can hear Colin's podcast on team building at http://www.morethanbusiness.com/Knowl...