Business Plan Development Guide

Reviewed by Kevin Heupel, Affiliate Faculty, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 3/4/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text does a good job of providing a general outline about writing and developing a written business plan. All of the important steps and components are included. However, the text is light on details, examples, and rationale for each element of the business plan. Some examples from actual business plans would be helpful.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

For the most part, the content is accurate. The content covers all important aspects of drafting a business plan. I thought the industry analysis could use more information about collecting primary and secondary sources; instead, this information was referenced in the marketing plan section.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Most of the content relies on cites as far back as 2006; however, when it comes to developing and writing a business plan nothing has changed. Thus, the content is current and there is no concern about it becoming obsolete in the near future.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is clear. There are no difficult terms used and the writing is simple. The text uses a lot of bullet points though, which gets tedious to read for a few pages.

Consistency rating: 5

The text does a good job of maintaining consistency in terms of framework and terminology. The text is organized where it's easy to find the information you want in a quick manner.

Modularity rating: 3

The text has a lot of bullet points and the paragraphs are dense. However, the use of subheading is excellent.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is organized as if you're writing a business plan from start to finish, which is helpful as a practical guide.

Interface rating: 5

There are no navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, or any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text is free of grammatical errors. The sentence structure is simple with many bullet points, which helps to avoid any grammatical issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This book was written by a Canadian professor and provides references to Canadian sources. However, the information in this text can be used for U.S. schools.

Comments

This book is very short and provides a good, general overview about the process of creating and writing a business plan. It won't help a reader if he/she is confused about a certain part of the business plan. The reader will have to find another source, such as "Preparing Effective Business Plans" by Bruce Barringer, Ph.D. The book provides links to good resources and a finished business plan that the reader can reference. I would recommend the book for undergraduate courses.

Reviewed by Kenneth Lacho, Professor of Management, The University of New Orleans on 6/19/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

1. Text is relevant to Canada. Not the United States
2. Needs to cover resources available to entrepreneur, e.g., federal government agencies, trade associations, chambers of commerce, economic development agencies.
3. Discuss local economy or economic area relevant to this proposed business.
4. Business model ok as a guide.
5. Suggested mission statement to cover: product/business, target customer, geographical area covered.
6. Need detailed promotion plan, e.g., personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, networking publicity, and social media.
7. How do you find the target market?
8. Chapter 6 too much detail on debt and equity financing.
9. Discuss how to find sources of financing, e.g., angels.
10. Expand coverage of bootstring, crowdfunding.
11. Chapter 4 – good checklist.
12. Chapter 3 - overlaps.
13. Chapter 7 – 3 pages of executive summary – double or single spaced typing. Number all tables, graphs.
14. Some references out-of-date, mostly academic. Bring in trade magazines such as Entrepreneur.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

In my opinion, the content is accurate and error free.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The material is relevant to writing a business plan. I wonder if the Porter, SWOT VRIO, etc. material is too high level for students who may not be seniors or have non-business degrees (e.g., liberal arts). Porter has been around for a while and does have longevity. The author has to be more alert to changes in promotion, e.g., social media and sources of financing, e.g., crowdfunding.

Clarity rating: 3

As noted in No. 9, the tone of the writing is too academic, thus making the material difficult to understand. Paragraphs are too long. Need to define: Porter, TOWS Matrix, VRIO, PESTEL. A student less from a senior or a non-business major would not be familiar with these terms.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is internally consistent. The model approach helps keep the process consistent.

Modularity rating: 4

The process of developing a business plan is divided into blocks which are parts of the business plan. Paragraphs tend to be too long in some spots.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The topics are presented in a logical step-wise flow. The language style is too academic in parts, paragraphs too long. Leaves out the citations. Provides excellent check lists.

Interface rating: 5

There are no display features which confuse the reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The text has no grammatical errors. On the other hand, I found the writing to be too academic in nature. Some paragraphs are too long. The material is more like an academic conference paper or journal submission. Academic citations references are not needed. The material is not exciting to read.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is culturally neutral. There are no examples which are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

Comments

This book best for a graduate class.

Reviewed by Louis Bruneau, Part Time Faculty, Portland Community College on 6/19/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text provides appropriate discussion and illustration of all major concepts and useful references to source and resource materials.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Contents of the book were accurate, although it could have benefited from editing/proofreading; there was no evidence of bias. As to editing/proofreading, a couple of examples:
A. “Figure 1 – Business Plan… “ is shown at the top of the page following the diagram vs. the bottom of the page the diagram is on. (There are other problems with what is placed on each page.)
B. First paragraph under heading “Essential Initial Research” there is reference to pages 21 to 30 though page numbering is missing from the book. (Page numbers are used in the Table of Contents.)

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book is current in that business planning has been stable for sometime. The references and resources will age in time, but are limited and look easy to update.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is written in a straightforward way, technical terms that needed explanations got them, jargon was avoided and generally it was an easy read.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

The book lends itself to a multi-week course. A chapter could be presented and students could work on that stage of Plan development. It could also be pre-meeting reading for a workshop presentation. Reorganizing the book would be inappropriate.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion.

Interface rating: 5

Generally, the book is free of interface problems. The financial tables in the Sample Plan were turned 90° to maintain legibility. One potential problem was with Figure 6 – Business Model Canvas. The print within the cells was too small to read; the author mitigated the problem by presenting the information, following Figure 6, in the type font of the text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.

Comments

I require a business plan in a course I teach; for most of the students the assignment is a course project that they do not intend to pursue in real life. I shared the book with five students that intended to develop an actual start-up business; three of them found it helpful while the other two decided not to do that much work on their plans.
If I were planning a start-up, I would use/follow the book.

Reviewed by Todd Johnson, Faculty of Business, North Hennepin Community College on 5/21/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text is a thorough overview of all elements of a business plan.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate and seems to lack bias.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Content seems relevant and useful . It does not help an entrepreneur generate ideas, and is very light on crowdfunding and other novel funding source content. It is more traditional. This can be easily updated in future versions, however. "Social Media" appears once in the book, as does "Crowd Funding".

Clarity rating: 3

The book is comprehensive, but perhaps not written in the most lucid, accessible prose. I am not sure any college student could pick this up and just read and learn. It would be best used as a "teach along guide" for students to process with an instructor.

Consistency rating: 5

The text seems consistent. The author does a nice job of consistently staying on task and using bullets and brevity.

Modularity rating: 3

Here I am not so certain. The table of contents is not a good guide for this book. It does make the book look nicely laid out, but there is a lot of complexity within these sections. I read it uncertain that it was well organized. Yes there are many good bits of information, however it is not as if I could spend time on one swathe of text at a time. I would need to go back and forth throughout the text.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

Similar to the above. I did not like the flow and organization of this. An editor would help things be in a more logical order.

Interface rating: 2

The interface is just OK. It is not an attractice interface, as it presents text in a very dense manner. The images and charts are hard to follow.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I a not certain of the origins of Saskatchewan, but I do feel this is a different read. It is more formal and dense than it has to be. This would be a difficult read for my students. I do not feel it is insensitive in any way, or offensive in any way.

Comments

I would not adopt this book if given the chance. It is too dense, and not organized very well, even though the information is very good. The density and lack of modularity are barriers to understanding what is obviously very good information.

Reviewed by Mariana Mitova, Lecturer, Bowling Green State University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Though this textbook has a prescriptive nature, it is quite comprehensive. The author strikes a good balance between presenting concepts in a concise way and providing enough information to explain them. Many every-day examples and live links to other resources add to the completeness of the textbook.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content seems accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Since the content is somewhat conceptual, the text will not become obsolete quickly. In addition, the author seems to be updating and editing content often hence the relevance to current developments is on target.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is very clear, written in clear and straight-to-the point language.

Consistency rating: 5

The organization of content is consistent throughout the entire text.

Modularity rating: 5

The textbook is organized by chapters, beginning with overview of the model used and followed by chapters for each concept within the model. Nicely done.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The flow is clear, logical and easy to follow.

Interface rating: 5

Overall, images, links, and text are well organized. Some headlines were misaligned but still easy to follow.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No concerns for grammar.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

No concerns for cultural irrelevance.

Reviewed by Darlene Weibye, Cosmetology Instructor, Minnesota State Community and Technical College on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text is comprehensive and covers the information needed to develop a business plan. The book provides all the means necessary in business planning.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text was accurate, and error-free. I did not find the book to be biased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is up-to-date. I am reviewing the book in 2017, the same year the book was published.

Clarity rating: 5

The content was very clear. A business plan sample included operation timelines, start up costs, and all relevant material in starting a business.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is very consistent and is well organized.

Modularity rating: 4

The book has a table of contents and is broken down into specific chapters. The chapters are not divided into sub topics. I do not feel it is necessary for sub topics because the chapters are brief and to the point.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

There is a great flow from chapter to chapter. One topic clearly leads into the next without repeating.

Interface rating: 5

The table of contents has direct links to each chapter. The appearance of the chapters are easy to read and the charts are very beneficial.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Does not appear to have any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive.

Comments

I am incorporating some of the text into the salon business course. Very well written book.