Your assignment is to conduct a feasibility study to begin developing a plan for a new business. Your study will help you forecast the potential for success of the business. This study will become part of your business plan which you will use to justify your proposal to lenders.
See the templates below for the structure and format of a business plan, as well as elements to include.
- Hort 1130 Feasibility Assignment Template (also available on BlackBoard)
- Business Plan Template from Gale Business Entrepreneurship
Elements of a Business plan
A basic business plan includes the following elements
- Name and Type of Business
- Description of Product/Service
- Business History & Development
- Location
- Market Analysis
- Competition
- Management
- Financial Information
- Business Strengths & Weaknesses
- Business Growth
Example Business Plans
These business plans and many more are available in Gale Business: Entrepreneurship below. These plans are from real U.S. companies.
Landscaping Service: G & D Landscaping
Florist: The Perfect Bloom, Inc.
Nursery: Wonderland Nursery
Organic Grower & Supplier (hydroponic nursery): Great Lakes Organics
Information Resources
Getting started with a small business
- Gale Business: EntrepreneurshipGale Business: Entrepreneurship covers all major areas of starting and operating a business: financing, management, marketing, human resources, franchising, accounting, taxes and more.
- Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO)This very useful collection of publications and guides will help you develop a small business plan and provides information on business in Illinois. Especially helpful: Step-by-Step Business Plan Workbook
- Small Business Development Center (SBDC) NetThis site is the national information clearinghouse of the U.S. Small Business Administration and state agencies that are part of the SBA network. Includes information on all aspects of starting and running a small business. Includes market research information, industry information, and much more.
Competition research - What are similar businesses doing?
- Reference SolutionsReference Solutions (formerly ReferenceUSA) is the yellow pages on steroids! Use Reference Solutions to find competing companies in your geographic area. It is also a great tool for job-searchers. Provides U.S. company information searchable by name, address, ZIP code, SIC code, and yellow page directory listing. Allows 300 prints or downloads per search.
- Mergent Intellect
Mergent Intellect is a flexible web-based application that offers access to business data, industry news, facts and figures, executive contact information, and industry profiles for private and public U.S. and international companies.
Market Research - Learn about your customers
- MintelMintel provides market intelligence reports for a broad range of industries and consumer product categories.
- US Census Bureau DataLearn about America's communities through our data profiles. They cover 100,000+ different geographies: states,counties,places,tribal areas,zip codes, and congressional districts. For each, we cover topics like education, employment, health, and housing just to name a few.
- Data USAData USA puts public US Government data in your hands. A comprehensive website and visualization engine of public US Government data.
- Caritas ZIP Code LookupClaritas’ lifestyle segmentation systems define every household in the U.S. by distinct lifestyle types, called “segments”, to provide you with a comprehensive picture of who lives where and what they are like. Marketers use these insights to create more effective and efficient marketing strategies. MyBestSegments ZIP Code Look-up lets you view your neighborhood’s household segments within any ZIP Code. Typically, a ZIP Code has over a dozen segments present, but to view your neighborhood’s top five segments, along with a descriptive snapshot about each segment’s characteristics for any Claritas segmentation system, simply enter your 5-digit ZIP Code.
Industry Research - what does the business landscape look like for your type of business?
- IBISWorldReports on industries. Provides an overview of industries. Includes a definition, the industry supply chain, main activities, and similar/related industries. Also includes helpful details like jargon used in the industry and a glossary.
- Business Source CompleteBusiness Source Complete provides access to content and indexing for 1,300 journals. It covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full-text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses. BSC also contains the Regional Business News which provides comprehensive full text for regional US and Canadian business publications (including titles from Crain Communications). Regional Business News has full text for more than 80 sources.
NAICS codes
"The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy."
Essentially, it's a series of numbers corresponding that are used to sort businesses of a similar type.
You do not need to know your business's NAICS code, but it may come up in databases such as IBISWorld or Reference Solutions.
You can look up and find more information about NAICS codes on the US Census Bureau's website.
More resources on how to write a business plan
- LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is a large, high-quality collection of online video classes and tutorials created by accomplished professional and industry experts covering a broad range of technology, business, and creativity topics. LIL is a great resource for developing skills in Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, educational technology, multimedia design, coding, business, and a wide range of other topics.
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