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A Guide to Preparing an International Business Plan

By: FITT Team

An international business plan acts as a framework that identifies goals and objectives, specific target markets and clients, resources required and strategies to be developed in pursuit of international business opportunities. The plan allows for the monitoring of progress via metrics against which success and failure can be measured. A comprehensive international business plan will be comprised of a number of integrated strategies related to business functions, including communications, sales and marketing, finance and production.

What Is an International Business Plan?

An international business plan is a valuable management tool that describes who a business is, what it plans to achieve and how it plans to overcome risks and provide anticipated returns. It can be used for a wide variety of purposes, such as to:

• Set goals and objectives for the organization’s performance.
• Provide a basis for evaluating and controlling the organization’s performance.
• Communicate an organization’s message to managers and staff, outside directors, suppliers, lenders and potential investors.
• Help the planner identify the cash needs of the business.
• Provide benchmarks against which to compare the progress and performance of the business over time.

A comprehensive and detailed plan forces the planner to look at an organization’s operations and re-evaluate the assumptions on which the business was founded. In doing so, strengths and weaknesses can be identified.

Although highly dependent on the individual business case, on average it takes a three-year commitment to establish a successful presence in a foreign market. This process may require tremendous human, technical and financial resources during the developmental period.

The Planning Process

An international business plan is subject to repeated adjustment and revision to keep it current with the changing circumstances of the organization. The plan is a feedback mechanism through which new information is continually incorporated into the organization’s operations. Planning always precedes action. Therefore, planning must be thought of as a continuous cycle. The analytical tools presented here are not intended to be used just once. If they are to be useful, they should be used repeatedly as part of a process of improvement and incremental adjustment.

Plan Preparation Guidelines

These 7 guidelines will help in preparing a comprehensive international business plan:

• Clearly define the objectives for producing the plan : Who is going to read the plan, and what will they need to do? These objectives can help you decide how much emphasis to put on various sections.
• Allocate sufficient time and resources to thoroughly research the plan : A plan is only as good as the research that went into producing it.
• Show drafts of the plan to others : It can be very useful to obtain feedback from others, both inside and outside the business.
• Create an original plan that is done specifically for each business case : A common mistake entrepreneurs make is to borrow heavily from a sample plan and simply change the names and some of the numbers. There are two big problems with this approach. First , the emphasis placed on various sections of the plan must reflect what is important to the particular business in question. Second , a good plan should flow like a story, with the sections working together to demonstrate why the business will succeed. Plans that borrow too heavily from other plans tend to be disjointed, with some sections contradicting others and various key issues left unaddressed.
• Outline the key points in each section before the writing starts : These points must then be reviewed to ensure the sections are consistent with each other, there is little duplication and all key issues have been addressed.
• Ensure financial projections are believable : For many readers, the financial section is the most important part of the plan because it identifies the financing needs and shows the profit potential of the business. In addition, a good financial plan will give the reader confidence that the author really understands the business.
• Consider writing the executive summary as the last step in the process: It is usually easier to provide a concise overview after the detailed content has been created.

If you’re having trouble getting started with your business plan, try writing like it’s a series of tweets—one for every section of your business plan. To get your point across, 140 characters is all you need.

Forcing yourself to boil each section of your business plan down to one main point is an exercise in decision making and strategy all in itself. When you’re done, you’ll have everything you need to take your next step, whether that’s practicing your pitch to potential investors or a business partner, or sitting down to expand each tweet into a full section of a more traditional business plan.

Core Content

The international business plan is the culmination of all of the work done to determine the appropriate venture for the organization’s growth. As part of the feasibility process, the organization will have determined its own internal readiness, conducted comprehensive target market research and carefully analyzed any relevant risks.

At this point, the organization can take all of this information and analysis and formally document the plan for moving forward. There are many different models and examples of how to put together a formal business plan, rather than one correct way.

The right format will depend on the organization, the venture being pursued and who will be accessing the business plan and for what purpose. However, there are some basic guidelines to follow.

One of the reasons business plans are developed is to convince investors and/or bankers to invest in the venture.

Increasingly, they are looking for a business plan to include two sections: one relating to online strategy (in terms of e-marketing, social media and ROI) and the second relating to corporate social responsibility (including quality, health, safety and environment policies).

The inclusion of these topics gives more credibility to the company by demonstrating its commitment to the community and to employees’ well-being.

Telling a Story 

One trend in business planning is to use a narrative structure in the document, rather than traditional technical writing techniques. Storytelling techniques are increasingly being used throughout the business world to create personal and organizational brands, deliver marketing messages and develop persuasive plans.

Stories make presentations better. Stories make ideas stick. Stories help us persuade. Savvy leaders tell stories to inspire us, motivate us. That’s why so many politicians tell stories in their speeches. They realize that “what you say” is often moot compared to “how you say it.

Instead of using bulleted points and cold, technical language, organizations employ a “beginning, middle and end” narrative style. This engages the audience by establishing the context, describing the conflict or obstacles and arriving at a successful resolution.

The Executive Summary

Usually the last step of preparing the international business plan is to develop the executive summary, a short overview of what the plan proposes to accomplish. For some purposes, a one-page business plan can also be useful.

There is not a great deal of difference between an executive summary and a one-page business plan. The most significant distinction is the one-page plan must completely fit on one page in a readable font, while an executive summary may spread over two or three pages.

One-Page Business Plan

There is a trend towards the one-page business plan, especially if the plan is to be presented to potential partners for their consideration. Audiences for the one-page plan will be looking for a “quick hit”: a clear and concise description of what the opportunity is and how it is being pursued.

For example, a one-page business plan might include the following topics, as described in Noah Parson’s article “How to Write a One-Page Business Plan” on the website Bplans :

• Customer problem/opportunity
• Your solution/approach
• Business model (how you make money)
• Target market (who is the customer and how many are there)
• Competitive advantage
• Management team
• Financial summary
• Funding required

The one-page plan (or the executive summary, if used in place of the one-page plan) may provide the first impression the audience has of the business. This is the most important document generated out of the business planning process, and significant effort and care should be taken in its creation.

There are many websites the provide blank samples of one-page business plans, including Bplans , the GoForth Institute and Startup.com.

A Note on Strategic Plans

A strategic plan covers many of the same points as a business plan. However, a strategic plan sets out the detailed action plan to be followed to achieve the objectives of the international business plan.

It must outline specific activities, their due dates and who is responsible for each activity. It is a project plan with a critical path. A strategic plan ensures any venture is carried out in a coordinated, informed and systematic way.

A key consideration in action planning is how quickly to enter the market, which is driven by the chosen market entry strategy. If market entry is done too quickly, the potential for costly mistakes increases. However, if it is completed too slowly, opportunities may be missed and competitors will have more time to react.

The Planning Cycle

Attaching the word “cycle” to planning implies that it happens more than once. International business plans need to be reviewed periodically because new information that has an impact on both planning and operations is continually coming in.

All plans, including international business plans and strategic plans, need to be reviewed every time there is a major event impacting the business, such as civil unrest, a currency fluctuation or the presence of a new competitor.

About the author

Author: FITT Team

The Forum for International Trade Training (FITT) is the standards, certification and training body dedicated to providing international business training, resources and professional certification to individuals and businesses. Created by business for business, FITT’s international business training solutions are the standard of excellence for global trade professionals around the world. View all posts by FITT Team

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A complete guide to global business expansion strategy

Everything you need to know to develop your own international business expansion strategy.

Overseas expansion can seem a farfetched dream to most, while even those considering the process may be daunted by its complexity. Yet, though expansion can be time-consuming and involved, it need not be exclusively the domain of giant corporations like McDonald’s, Google, Apple, or IKEA.

With a comprehensive and carefully-composed global business expansion strategy, even start-ups and SMEs can expand their operations into new, potentially lucrative markets.

This article provides a broad, overarching guide to international business expansion: what it is, how it can be beneficial as well as challenging, when to consider it, how to build a solid global business expansion strategy, and how partnering with an Employer of Record may drive the success of your overseas venture.

Why go global? A look at the benefits and challenges of international expansion

An important part of considering global expansion for your business is being aware of both the pros and cons, and balancing these carefully. For whilst there are many potential benefits to expanding overseas, there are a number of challenges you may first have to overcome, and the nature of your expansion will be informed by whether or not the pros outweigh the cons.

Potential pros of global business expansion

• Increasing global sales and expanding client lists by tapping into new and lucrative markets; including the potential to reset the lifecycle of older products and services.
• Maintaining a competitive edge in an increasingly globalized world by positioning yourself and your brand as a leader in untapped markets.
• Widen your available talent pool to include employees and contractors operating all around the world, with expertise in new and expanding areas.
• Increasing cost savings through relocation and access to new, more affordable markets.
• Securing the financial future of your company by diversifying your revenue streams and the markets you operate in - essentially building greater business resilience.
• You must comply with all applicable labour and tax laws and regulations in the countries and regions you intend to expand into. This can be complex and costly, especially if you fail to comply.
• The culture, languages, and politics of different countries can vary dramatically, and should be researched thoroughly prior to expansion otherwise your offering may be met with confusion, apathy, or hostility.
• Local competitors who are already long-established in your new target market may have an advantage over you, owing to their local, innate understanding of that market.
• Managing remote and international teams requires a reframing of your managerial practices and office culture to be best effective; for example, you must consider how you will work effectively across multiple different time zones.
• It can be prohibitively costly to expand overseas, depending on the global business expansion strategy you choose to develop, especially when expansion is conducted independently.

Challenges of global business expansion

Defining global business expansion.

Global business expansion looks different for each individual business. What it means and what it requires will change depending on the industry you’re in, the reasons for your expansion, and how you hope to enter the new market.

Having said that, we can generalise. Global business expansion – also known as international expansion, foreign expansion, or overseas expansion – is a business growth strategy used to enter new markets in other countries. It can include the movement of business operations, resources, workforces, products, and services.

Successful expansion requires the tailoring of a global business expansion strategy unique to the enterprise’s industry, offering, and goals.

How to know when your business is ready to expand overseas

Not every business needs to expand overseas, nor will every business naturally come to a definable point at which international expansion is the logical next step. Knowing when your business is ready to expand often depends on whether you have the time and resources to develop a watertight strategy.

If global expansion is something you want to see in your business’ future, then we’d suggest you begin planning today. The more prior preparation you can inject into a global business expansion strategy, the more evident it will be when the time comes for your enterprise to take that leap.

How small businesses can also expand internationally

Traditionally, international expansion has been the realm of large corporations with deeper pockets than most start-ups and SMEs can ever hope for. Thankfully, however, in our present era of expansive and accessible globalisation, the opportunities for smaller businesses to expand overseas do exist.

The key to global business expansion for small and smaller businesses is, of course, to minimise the costs involved . The most straightforward means of reducing expansion costs is to partner with a global business expansion solutions provider , whose expertise and existing international presence can reduce the risks you face and mitigate the need for costly foreign subsidiaries.

Developing your global expansion strategy

Every individual expansion requires its own tailor-made international business expansion strategy. Developing such a strategy should take time, care, and consideration. What follows is a broad overview of the 10 components we believe are key to an effective expansion strategy. For a more involved and detailed discussion of these 10 steps, read our post on how to avoid the pitfalls of global expansion .

10 key steps to a comprehensive international business expansion strategy

• Set your goals: It is crucial you know why you want to expand overseas. A clear set of goals will help you keep your strategy on track throughout the expansion process.
• Research: Acquire a firm understanding of the market you’re aiming to enter, including the competitors there, and the culture which frames it.
• Choose an expansion model: You can expand into new markets via a range of expansion models , including exportation, licensing, franchising, partnerships and joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and greenfield investments. Knowing which will work best for you is crucial.
• Consider building overseas infrastructure: International expansion is best supported by the establishment of local infrastructure on the ground. This infrastructure can comprise a foreign office or subsidiary, a remote workforce of employees and/or freelancers , or a network of third-party local partners.
• Reconsider branding in an international context: A different audience will likely respond quite differently to your branding, compared to the home audience it was developed for. Consider how best to rework your branding in an international context.
• Tailor your offering to the new market: Similarly to your branding, your offering – whether products or services, B2C or B2B – should be reevaluated with the target international demographic in mind.
• Equip your teams to work internationally: Working effectively across time, cultural, and linguistic barriers is not easy. Adapt your management style to consider the potential benefits of asynchronous work and strategic human resource management .
• Budget: Draft a budget which considers all the various costs of international expansion , and which can be consistently guided by KPIs established during your ‘goal-setting’ phase.
• Risk assessment: Understand the risks specific to your particular international expansion plans, and determine how best to mitigate these whilst ensuring 100% compliance with all relevant labour and tax laws.
• Partner with an expert in global business expansions: Refocus your own role in international expansion to those elements most important to you and your business, whilst reducing stress, costs, and ensuring compliance, by utilising the expertise of Mauve Group .

How to choose which international business expansion methods will suit your business best

The expansion model you choose – exportation, licensing, franchising, etc. – will very much depend on the goals you set for your expansion. Each model has a different set of requirements, challenges, and potential benefits.

For example, consider that fast-food chain McDonald’s’ success rests on the franchising model: approximately 93% of all McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are “owned and operated by independent local business owners.” For Netflix, on the other hand, partnership deals with local mobile operators and TV providers were key to its successful expansion into around 190 countries across the globe.

Seek the advice of professionals when determining which model might work best for you.

When to establish a foreign subsidiary

Establishing a foreign subsidiary is arguably one of the most involved international business expansion methods. A foreign subsidiary is a separate legal entity based on the ground in the overseas country, and majority owned or controlled by your company whilst remaining responsible for its own taxes and assets.

Establishing a foreign subsidiary gives you a stable and potentially impactful foothold in the target country, but equally carries with it high costs, a great number of compliance hoops to jump through, and many additional managerial considerations.

Oftentimes, establishing foreign subsidiaries may not be cost-effective nor practicable to the smaller enterprise seeking to expand overseas. In such instances, the business owner may wish instead to leverage the existing international presence of an Employer of Record .

Go global with Mauve

It is our hope that having read our complete guide to global business expansion strategy, you feel better equipped to begin your own journey toward international expansion.

Many of the risks and costs associated with business expansion can be mitigated with the help of a trusted partner like Mauve, whose extensive experience in overseas expansion can aid start-ups, SMEs, and larger enterprises with compliant international hiring of employees and contractors , visa and immigration support , global payroll , and expansion strategising .

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Expat Stories: Lorna Ferrie

In this month’s instalment, we welcome longstanding Mauve Group team member, Lorna, who began her career at Mauve in 2007 after emigrating to Cyprus.

What is global compliance?

Find out exactly why your organisation needs to keep up-to-date with international compliance in order for its overseas operations to succeed.

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Global Marketing Business Plan

Start your own global marketing business plan

West Pacific Marketing

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

West Pacific Marketing Consultants aims to provide marketing services to targeted business environments in Indonesia, Asia, and the west Pacific region. This plan seeks to generate a significant increase in company sales and profits from the delivery of retainer consulting, project consulting, market research and industrial analysis, feasibility studies, and strategic analysis and reporting services, compared to the preceding year.

The highlights of this plan are the targeted gross margin and sales-revenue. The targeted gross margin and sales-revenue for each of the first five years of this plan are presented in the following chart and the tables presented later in this plan. These figures represent the key prospects available for West Pacific Marketing Consultants. These targets are attainable through a proactive approach to the candidacy of clients, teaming-up with technology providers, and partnering with reputable local and regional engineering suppliers and construction firms to reduce competition, improve pricing, and reduce risks.

This business plan has been created on the basis of five years of market research. Data conclude the size and growth of the market and geographical segments, customer needs, perception, and buying behavior trends have been on the upswing, and are expected to continue in this trend for the next five years. West Pacific Marketing Consultants feels that it is able to fill the hole in the marketing niche, and will benefit from operations beginning in January, Year 1.

Note: All figures within this plan are in the U.S. dollar, and reflect the currency exchange rate of $1 = Rp 7,200.

1.1 Objectives

West Pacific Marketing Consultants’ objectives are to make an equal and fair profit in the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing services industry. This goal is to be reached by attaining  the numbers presented in the Sales Forecast and Financial Plan topics.

1.2 Mission

West Pacific Marketing Consultants offers companies, government institutions, nongovernment organizations (NGO), and individuals reliable, high-quality, and cost-effective consulting services for various purposes. Our services include business development, market development, market intelligence, industrial sectors analysis, and channel development on a global scale, as well as sales assistance for global companies in the Indonesian market.

The situation in Indonesia is currently characterized by the facts that times are tough, investment appetites are low, industries are cutting costs, and budgets are being slashed. Fully aware of this situation, West Pacific Marketing Consultants, after completing a five year research study, has come to the conclusion that its potential clients would be interested in doing things in a smarter way, with good support of a reliable and efficient market intelligence. West Pacific Marketing Consultants believes that it can provide both solutions and value creations to its clients. Its senior executive consultants have been working with some reputable U.S.-based global companies for more than 14 years, and have extensive knowledge of Indonesian, Asian, and Pacific business environments. 

1.3 Keys to Success

The are two keys to success that West Pacific Marketing Consultants is focused on. These are broadlky characterized as Internal and External Factors, and are explained in more detail in the following two sections.

1.3.1 External (Business Environment) Factors

The Asia-Pacific Region is now living in an interesting era: the process of change from the “old economy” to the “global new economy” brings a tremendous development growth of e-commerce, mobility of capital, and liberalization to the region. Since the new global economy brings new economics, new market structures, new industry structures, and new company structures, the profile of customers has also changed. Customers have evolved from “solution demander” to “value demander,” and from “clients” to “business partners.”

West Pacific Marketing Consultants is proactively focused on establishing relationships with multiple digital contents, companies, government institutions, regional (provincial) government offices, NGOs, and individual customers as its prospective business partners.

1.3.2 Internal Factors

The company feels that it controls its own success through some basic internal factors. These are:

• Key management team . The right management team is integral, and must have a strong foundation in marketing, management, finance, and services development. The company is confident in its team.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

The founders of West Pacific Marketing Consultants are former marketers of large multinational engineering, procurement, and construction contracting services and, at the same time, are experienced market researchers in global markets. They founded West Pacific Global Trading Portal (SiliconOctopus.com), the parent company of West Pacific Marketing Consultants, to formalize the integrated B2B, B2C, and consumer-to-consumer services they offer.

The parent company was founded by Jaka J. Legawa and his business partners from Chicago, Kansas City, and Singapore. This company was originally installed in a home office and moved into its new office space in January, last year. The subsidiary company, West Pacific Marketing Consultants, was founded in April, last year by these same investors.

2.1 Company Ownership

West Pacific Marketing Consultants was created as an Indonesian “Perseroan Terbatas” (PT) corporation based in Jakarta, namely “PT. Portal Bisnis Pasifik Barat,” owned by its principal investors and principal operators. It was created in April, last year

2.2 Company History

Between April and December of the previous year, West Pacific Marketing Consultants achieved excellent performance ratings. The sales revenue of $1.9 million, with a gross margin of $1.6 million, was 15% higher than the projected sales for that year.

From its recent growth until the time of this writing, West Pacific Marketing Consultants has costs and cash flow under control.

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2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

The office is located in one of the strategic locations in the heart of the Indonesian business area, at Komplek Pertanian, in Jakarta.

West Pacific Marketing Consultants is an e-business-based market-development consulting firm specializing in the marketing of a comprehensive set of integrated professional services that provide our customers with high-quality consulting services for business development, market development, market intelligence, industrial sectors analysis, and channel development on a global scale, as well as sales assistance for global companies in the Indonesian market.

3.1 Service Description

West Pacific Marketing Consultants offers expertise in the services it provides. With much experience in this field, the company is able to sell and package its services in various ways that allow clients to choose their preferred benefit(s). These include:

• Strategic Analysis and Reports

3.2 Competitive Comparison

Within its niche, West Pacific Marketing Consultants does not have any competitors, but rather has “prospective business partners.” This is because the cmpany provides its clients with solutions as well as value creations. Its services have been sought out by companies ranging from high-level management firms to international market research companies. Companies choosing to do business development, channel development, and in-house market research, will seek West Pacific Marketing Consultants to deliver the following value creations:

Consulting/Market Researchers/Traders/Suppliers:

• Improved communication
• Access to new markets
• Broader products offering
• Lower cost of doing business
• New ways of adding value

Technology Providers/Manufacturers:

• Lower cost of sales
• Access to niche markets
• Better cost of identification

New business models (outsourcing alliances)

Individual Clients:

• Shopping convenience
• Immediate delivery
• More frequent updates
• Access to more products and services
• Better pricing

3.3 Sales Literature

The business began with a general corporate brochure establishing the positioning. This brochure was developed, and was included as part of last year’s start-up expenses.

Literature and mailings for the market forums will be very important.

3.4 Fulfillment

The key fulfillment and delivery will be provided by the principals of the business. The core value is professional expertise provided by a combination of experience, smart and hard work, discipline, improvements, and education (in that order).

West Pacific Marketing Consultants will turn to qualified professionals for freelance back-up in market research, presentation, and report development; these areas are ones that the company can afford to sub-contract without risking the core values provided to the clients.

3.5 Technology

West Pacific Marketing Consultants maintains the latest Windows and Macintosh capabilities including:

• Desktop publishing facilities for delivery of regular retainer reports, project output reports, marketing materials, and market research reports.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

West Pacific Marketing Consultants has a unique offering of services that appeals to a  large customer base. The company will concentrate on large corporations because they provide the maximum profit potential. The following sections outline key information regarding the target markets.

4.1 Market Segmentation

The groups of potential customers for West Pacific Marketing Consultants are, in order of importance:

• Individual Customers

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

As indicated by the previous chart and table, West Pacific Marketing Consultants must focus on large corporations, medium companies, small businesses, and individual customers in the global market; and in the Indonesian market, regional (provincial) government offices, NGOs, academics, and individual customers will be the core of profits.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

The following companies are major players in Indonesian market research consulting business:

• SOFRES FSA Jakarta (Taylor Nelson Sofres Group)

4.4 Competition and Buying Patterns

Recent analysis indicated that consultant costs (in US$/man-hour) in Indonesia have decreased by 12% since the economic turmoil of 1996. This analysis is based on the assumptions that the local senior consultants’ and senior engineers’ salaries have increased by 25% at the average exchange rate of US$1 = Rp 7,200. This is because the Indonesian skilled manpower market offers the lowest man-hour cost in the world, even with the estimated average increasing 20% per year.

To take advantage of this situation, West Pacific Marketing Consultants utilizes Indonesian resources for serving both global and regional markets.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

West Pacific Marketing Consultants will focus on six technographical market segments as follows:

• Individual customers . Influential people such as boards of directors, marketing managers, general managers, sales managers, and government officials.

5.1 Competitive Edge

West Pacific Marketing Consultants has close and effective relationships with its end-users, vendors (suppliers and sub-contractors), and even competitors. On several occasions, West Pacific Marketing Consultants has teamed-up with its end-user or supplier in a consortium partnership to perform projects.

West Pacific Marketing Consultants combines unparalleled quality with a cost-effective package to create a consulting service with many competitive advantages. The seasoned management is qualified for multiple services, such as: business development, market development, market intelligence, industrial sectors analysis, and channel development. We provide this range of services to anyone from a high-level marketing firm to a home-based business owner; clients can always count on quick, accurate services from the company.

5.2 Sales Strategy

West Pacific Marketing Consultants’ strategy focuses first on maintaining the identity of the high-end buyer who appreciates quality service, but is also very demanding regarding value creations. West Pacific Marketing Consultants has been able to find these customers using a combination of social and interactive email relationships.

Even when a business offers a standard service, it is not making a standard sales offer. The customer is able to choose a tailored offering mix of elements, such as optional services benefits, delivery conditions, training, financing alternatives, technical services options, sales assistance options, etc.

5.2.1 Sales Forecast

The sales forecast monthly summary is included in the appendix. The annual sales projections are included here in the following chart and table.

The sales forecast assumes that the yearly change in costs or prices will average 20%, which is a reasonable assumption based on the last few years.

West Pacific Marketing Consultants is expecting to increase sales modestly in 2001 and 2002, with sales growth accelerating in 2003-2005. It is the expectation that the company will double its starting sales within five years.

5.3 Milestones

The accompanying chart and table show specific milestones, with responsibilities assigned, dates, and budgets. West Pacific Marketing Consultants is focusing on a few key milestones that are to be accomplished.

Print adverstising will target newspapers and magazines, while Internet advertising will appear on both websites and search engines.

Participation in Indonesian business and trade exhibitions will be important as well.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

The initial management team depends on the founders themselves, with little back-up. As it grows, West Pacific Marketing Consultants will establish a team that includes 17 employees who operate under a president and three vice-presidents.

The management philosophy is based on responsibility and mutual respect. People who work at West Pacific Marketing Consultants want to work at the company because it has an environment that encourages “C4A,” which is: Creativity, Concepts, Competencies, Connections, and Achievement. This C4A concept is our tool in performing the Shareholders Value Creation of West Pacific Marketing Consultants.

6.1 Personnel Plan

The team includes 17 employees, under a president and three vice-presidents.

The three main management divisions are Sales and Marketing, Operations, and Internal Business Management. The departments managed by the Sales and Marketing division are: marketing, sales, products and services, research and development, and public relations operations. The departments managed by the Internal Business Management division are: accounting, administration, and human resources development.

Note: The following table reflects the currency exchange rate of US$1 = Rp 7,2000

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

The financial picture is quite encouraging. West Pacific Marketing Consultants does not foresee a debt situation.

The company does expect to be able to take some money out as dividends. The owners don’t take overly generous salaries, so some draw is appropriate.

7.1 Important Assumptions

The accompanying table lists West Pacific Marketing Consultants’ main assumptions for developing its financial projections. The most sensitive assumption is the collection days. West Pacific Marketing Consultants would like to improve collection days to take pressure off of its working capital.

7.2 Business Ratios

The following table presents significant business ratios for West Pacific Marketing Consultants. The last column, Industry Profiles, contains ratios based on the management consulting services industry, as defined by the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) Index code 8742.

7.3 Break-even Analysis

The following chart and table summarize the break-even analysis, including monthly units and sales break-even points.

7.4 Projected Profit and Loss

The detailed monthly pro-forma income statement for the first year is included in the appendix. The annual estimates are included here.

7.5 Projected Cash Flow

Cash flow projections are critical to West Pacific Marketing Consultants’ success. The monthly cash flow is shown in the illustration, with one bar representing the cash flow per month and the other representing the monthly balance. The annual cash flow figures are included below in the following chart and table. Detailed monthly numbers are included in the appendix.

7.6 Projected Balance Sheet

The following balance sheet shows healthy growth of net worth, and strong financial position. The monthly estimates are included in the appendix.

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What Are the Components of a Global Business Plan?

• Small Business
• Business Planning & Strategy
• Elements of Business Plans
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How to Create a Business Plan & Where Should the Executive Summary Be Located?

How to write a business plan template for a cable channel, how to internationally outsource manufacturing.

• How to Write a Business Plan Outline
• How to Write a Business Description

Global business plans resemble local and regional business plans in format. Global business plans differ from other business plans by serving as a company's communications vehicle for its global operations. Components of a global business plan, which differ from other focus on global customers, global pricing and currency issues, and international market legal factors, to name a few distinctions listed by Allegro Invest. The University of Houston Small Business Development Center offers workshops and seminars on all aspects of small business development, including creating business plans (See References).

Executive Summary Component

An executive summary describes the owner's goals and targets. An executive summary includes components, including but not limited to, a business overview, which describes the company, the projected market and the intended product or service. Include financial results, such as capital growth and profits, advises Allegro Invest. Provide any investment requirements for business operations. In an example offered by the website, BPlansWest, Pacific Marketing opens its Executive Summary, "West Pacific Marketing Consultants aims to provide marketing services to targeted business environments in Indonesia, Asia, and the west Pacific region."

Market Description

A market description for a global business reflects an in-depth international market study and offers analysis of the study findings. Key factors in a market description for an international company include "market size, share positioning of products, and competition, explains Allegro Invest. Allegro Invest advises entrepreneurs and executives to energetically research their targeted international market (See References).

Operations And Management Component

An Operations and Management Plan discusses operation factors. Operations components include, but are not limited to supply, production, marketing and distribution. This section will distinguish itself from a non-global business plan. You will discuss your research into the complexities of the global markets you are targeting, including how you plan to supply your product or service in targeted countries. If you plan to produce your product overseas, explain that dynamic here. Explain how you plan to market to the countries you will initially introduce your company. Include your management plan with strategies for global growth and successful attainment of international goals. For example, if you plan to start in one country and grow over time into other regions, discuss that plan.

Organizational Structure

The section of your global business plan on organizational structure describes your management model. Detail your organization's hierarchy of personnel, Allegro Invests advises. Potential investors want to know that their investments go to qualified executives and management. The people at the helm of your company must be savvy in your kind of business at an international level. Provide each person's credentials.

• University of Houston Small Business Development Center: Workshops and Seminars
• BPlans: Global Marketing Business Plan

Alyson Paige has a master's degree in canon law and began writing professionally in 1998. Her articles specialize in culture, business and home and garden, among many other topics.

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Global project management: a complete guide.

Updated on October 6, 2023 by Jeffrey Kagan

Published on June 7, 2023 by Jeffrey Kagan

Project management is an important aspect when it comes to business performance and success. It becomes even more critical as businesses expand to a global scale. As businesses expand beyond borders, different challenges come into play. And that’s where global project management comes into play!

Businesses have to deal with differences in culture, language, and time zones in a global context, not forgetting managing a dispersed team. Without a structured approach to business projects and operations, the chances of failing are very high. 

Project management brings that much-needed structure to projects, allowing businesses to complete projects within the required scope and allocated budgets. Project managers possess leadership, technical project management , and business management skills that are vital for success in a global landscape. In this article, we look at the benefits that project management offers global businesses.

We also look closely at the best practices global businesses can adopt to ensure successful project management.

Benefits of global project management

There are so many moving components in executing projects for global businesses. As said earlier, overcoming the challenges that come with an international business requires structure. Project management skills become valuable in planning and executing projects to realize the vision and take the business to the next level. 

Here are some benefits that project management offers global businesses:

1 . Brings control into projects

What would become of projects where there is no proper management? The project will most likely lack focus, clear objectives, and direction. Team members will be left confused about what task to do. Moreover, with the complexity of executing a global project, everything would be chaotic.

Project management becomes vital in preventing chaotic situations in running a global business. Project managers are able to define project objectives clearly. They assign tasks, making sure that each team player understands what he or she needs to do at any given time.

This way, team members don’t have to stay confused about what has been completed and what hasn’t. In addition, they use Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to break down projects into small manageable tasks. By breaking down tasks, they help keep the team focused on what is important to achieve the set goals. This way, the projects are completed within the desired timelines.

2. Use realistic project planning

Proper planning is the basis of the successful completion of projects. Without it, it is easy to get over-ambitious with the budget and project timelines. This might mean delivering projects in a rushed manner and way out of budget. Unfortunately, rushing projects can lead to overlooking some necessary steps, resulting in poor-quality project outcomes.

Project management helps in planning the projects realistically. A good project manager has the skills to set realistic deadlines and budgets. They analyze the available resources and create a realistic schedule while anticipating possible hurdles. Project managers also ensure that the deadlines are easily achievable, allowing everyone to work with reasonable expectations.

The good thing about realistic planning for global businesses is that it helps nurture good business relationships with clients. When milestones are achieved within the set time and required quality, the clients are happy, which is essential for succeeding internationally. 

3. Align goals with business objectives  

Achieving business goals and objectives takes aligning every business operation with these goals. This is to say that every project global businesses undertake should be geared towards realizing the bigger picture. However, that would be impossible without proper alignment.

Project managers do a good job of tying project goals with the organization’s objective goals. They ensure that each project’s goals align with the bigger picture. They architect each step and milestone to deliver value toward achieving the overall business goals and objectives.

Dynamics change quickly in the international business arena. And businesses are expected to adapt to the shifting dynamics quickly if they are to remain competitive. This means that strategies and goals are bound to shift rapidly as well.

Project managers ensure flexibility in planning in case this happens. They make sure that if goal realignment happens, the project’s goals change in that direction as well. This way, global businesses are able to realize their goals and objectives for continued business growth.

4. Keeps proper track of projects

The goal of successful project completion is to make sure that the project progresses according to the original plan. Considering the complexity of projects in a global context, continuous and proper tracking is vital to ensure that the project doesn’t deviate off course.

Project management comes in handy by doing continuous status reporting. Status reports basically give insights into the progress of projects and how they mark against the planned milestones and timelines. When projects start to get out of track, project reporting makes it easy to catch them, which makes it easy to correct them.

In addition, providing project status reports is an important task for stakeholder management. They help clients be in the know of how their projects are progressing, which enhances the trust of clients and other stakeholders.

5. Enhanced collaboration and communication

In teams where members are dispersed across different locations and time zones, collaboration and communication become necessary for organizational success.

Nifty is a tool that global businesses can use to enhance team collaboration and communication. Unless the whole team works together, achieving the desired project outcome would be difficult.

For global projects to succeed, team players must come together to discuss the project. They have to brainstorm on the progress and way forward. They also have to meet to iron out issues and problems. The result of working together regularly is increased team morale and employee engagement, something that is duplicated in the entire organization.

6. Resources allocation optimization

Proper allocation of a company’s resources is important for business growth. This is especially important when expanding to other areas of the world. Proper project management ensures that resources are optimized to avoid waste and drive success.

Project managers have the skills to identify when the talents and knowledge of different team members would be most needed in the completion of projects. This makes sure that every talent is utilized optimally to bring valuable contributions to the project and organization at large.

Also, they use project management methodologies to ensure the proper allocation of budgets. This, together with constant project reporting, project managers are able to keep costs in check to avoid budget overruns. 

7. Increased quality and productivity

In a highly competitive international business arena, global businesses can’t afford to compromise on the quality of project outcomes. This is regardless of tight budgets and short timelines that they sometimes are forced to work with. The good thing is that with proper project management, global businesses can achieve the desired project outcomes.

As Luiss College, which also offers a master in international management , quotes, “Professionals who manage global teams must have notable business fundamental skills and all the tools needed to succeed in today’s globalized world.”

Project managers have the skills to make sure that quality standards are met at every milestone. They monitor projects closely to identify areas where deliverables aren’t conforming to the set quality parameters and stakeholder requirements.

After identifying non-conformance, they recommend the best way forward for corrective and preventive actions. With proper project planning , project tracking, and quality control, they ensure that global projects are completed with the highest quality.

8. Better risk management

Risks are inevitable when running a business. Moreover, the likelihood of risks is heightened with the scope of the business. When projects are complex, as is typical for global businesses, so are the risks. This means that proper risk management is necessary if a business is to overcome risks to achieve success and business growth.

Project management requires project managers to exercise proper risk management for successful projects. They know they have the skills to identify and uncover every potential project risk. They also analyze and develop plans to mitigate these risks at the start of every project.

In addition, regular monitoring of projects allows them to uncover possible risks early. This way, they mitigate them before they can materialize.

9. Ensures the success of future projects

The continued success of projects translates to continued business success. We all know that continued business success is important for the overall growth of global businesses. Project management ensures that global businesses continue to achieve success in their projects by avoiding previous mistakes.

Project managers use post-project reviews and lessons learned to identify mistakes that happened in a project. This is done with the aim of documenting what should have happened to achieve success. They use this documentation to create a list of dos and don’ts for future projects. At the start of each project, the team goes through the previous records to gain knowledge of the best practices, ensuring success.

10. Increased customer satisfaction

Growing a loyal customer base is very important in surviving in a highly competitive global business scene. Project management allows businesses to retain and attract customers by increasing customer satisfaction. Through proper planning and tracking of projects , businesses increase the chances of delivering high-quality outcomes on a timely basis.

Continually exceeding customer expectations increases satisfaction. And when the customer is delighted, you can expect more business your way and increased word-of-mouth marketing.

Best practices for implementing global project management

Global Project management can be a hard nut to crack. Project managers in charge of global projects must be equipped to navigate the challenging business environment to deliver high-quality projects within the budget and timelines. This makes having the right strategy and practices very critical.

Common challenges faced in global project management

As expected, managing global projects comes with a number of unique challenges that local projects don’t. Achieving success in global business project management takes the ability to overcome these challenges. Here are some of the challenges to expect:

• Different time zones – Global businesses have teams dispersed in different regions of the world, which would mean managing teams across multiple time zones. This can make communication and collaboration quite challenging. Project managers for global businesses have to consider the different time zones when scheduling meetings and setting deadlines to increase engagement.
• Language differences – Likewise, managing global projects means often collaborating with team members who speak different languages. Without a good communication strategy, getting everyone to work on the same page can be challenging. Project managers have a task to provide language support where language barriers occur. This could mean hiring translation services and adopting good communication practices such as avoiding slang and active listening.
• Cultural differences – You would expect different cultures in a team where people are drawn from different regions. This means different values and beliefs regarding different aspects such as communication, employee motivation, work schedules, management, leadership , and more. Taking into account the different cultures represented in a team is vital in eliminating nuances that can rub off wrongly for different team members.
• Differences in national and religious holidays – Each country and religion has holidays and observances that are unique from others. When scheduling global projects, it would be important to keep this in mind. Project managers might be required to adjust deadlines accordingly.
• Economic challenges – Due to the high volatility of global economies, economic factors fluctuate rapidly and unexpectedly in different regions. Global businesses must be aware of the possibilities of changes in relative prices, exchange and interest rates, tax structures, trade restrictions, and inflation.
• Legal challenges – When operating on a global scale, businesses are exposed to different laws and regulations that they must adhere to. It is essential to be aware of the different laws that affect the successful running of a business and changes that might arise in the course of completing projects.

Global Project management tips for Businesses

With the myriad of challenges expected in running a global business, organizations can only adopt the right strategies and project management tools if they are to deliver projects successfully. Here are top project management tips for maximizing global project outcomes:

1. Hire a global project manager

Your local project manager won’t cut it when you start expanding internationally. For starters, you are entering unfamiliar grounds where laws, culture, language, and economic settings are probably different. You need an individual with the skills and competence to navigate these challenges.

Global project managers have the necessary skills to plan and execute projects on a worldwide scale. They have extensive language and cultural skills to enhance communication and nurture meaningful relationships with the team and other stakeholders. They are also familiar with different laws and regulations in different countries across the world.

If hiring a global project manager isn’t something that you want to do, you can as well train your local project managers. Make sure that they obtain the skills necessary to overcome multicultural and language barriers.

2. Get the buy-in from all subsidiaries

It is common that most global business projects stem from ideas from the head office. However, you need the buy-in of the other branches if you are to achieve a successful completion. You need to keep in mind that employees will judge the importance of a project based on the value that it is adding to their own branch. How will the completion of the project affect individual work and experience?

It is essential to understand how a project affects not only the head office but the overseas offices as well during the ideation stage. Make sure to clarify the value that the project is set to add for overseas offices and their staff. This way, it becomes easier to reach a consensus and gain cooperation from all concerned teams.

Moreover, the buy-in doesn’t end with the team. You need to understand the thoughts of each stakeholder that is involved or interested in the project. Creating a stakeholder map can help a great deal here. When you understand each stakeholder’s expectations of the project, it becomes easy to develop a stakeholder management strategy that can be useful throughout the project.

3. Consider local circumstances early on

Another mistake that is common for global businesses is to assume that operating processes used in the head office can be applied in other overseas branches. They go ahead and duplicate what they do in other branches hoping to get results, only to be faced with resistance from the local staff and stakeholders. This prevents the projects from taking off as expected, leading to delays, stagnation, or even suspension.

It is always good to consider local circumstances in global project management. Project managers need to understand the local processes and ways of doing things before implementing the project. Otherwise, you might be forced to redefine the requirements of the projects when you realize that the head office processes can’t be applied anywhere else.

4. Adopt the best project methodology

Successful completion of projects requires defining the scope of every team player’s responsibilities, tasks, and expectations. This can be achieved by adopting a project management methodology that suits the project’s objectives. Kanban and Scrum are popular methodologies in that global businesses can streamline processes and improve transparency.

These two methodologies offer an agile and lean approach to projects. Besides enhancing transparency, they both help in reducing inefficiencies in projects. On one hand, Kanban is a visual methodology that visualizes tasks and detects bottlenecks. Kanban emphasizes minimizing work in progress to achieve continuous delivery and feedback. On the other hand, Scrum adopts a structured approach to enhance collaboration, iterative development, and adaptability.

While both bring valuable benefits and possibilities to project management, it is always good to do a Kanban vs. Scrum comparison to settle on the one that suits your team and project goals. However, you can always use both methodologies to leverage the possibilities of each one and maximize success.

5. Use common project management tools

Global projects can be complex. Planning, tracking, executing, and reporting a project of greater magnitude can be difficult. You need project management tools to assist you in assigning tasks, setting deadlines, tracking progress, and making sure that the entire team is working on the same page.

Some of the popular project management tools that you can consider include Nifty , Trello, Asana , Kissflow, Zoho projects, and proofHub, among others.

When choosing the right project management tools for your team, it is important to use tools that are equipped to handle projects and teams of a global magnitude. You need a platform that allows you to manage your projects effortlessly and efficiently regardless of where team players are located.

Most importantly, make sure that you adopt agile project management tools across all your team members. Using common tools enhances sharing capabilities and transparency. It also makes it possible for real-time project management and easier reporting at each stage of the project.

6. Minimize meetings

Getting together regularly as a team is important for brainstorming on important issues regarding projects. However, too many meetings that are unnecessarily longer can be demotivating and even affect progress.

Keeping in mind the different time zones that come with global teams, it is possible that some members are forced to create time outside their working hours to accommodate team meetings. If they are too many and meaningless, they can quickly become a burden.

It is always good to keep meetings at a minimum. As suggested, use the right tools to track and monitor projects and only call for meetings when need be. In addition, communicate the agenda in time for members to prepare in advance and avoid wasting time. This also means planning for meetings and not surprising team members with impromptu meetings.

7. Foster team-building

Collaborating with people that you don’t really know can get slow and difficult. That’s where team building comes into the picture. Because without efficient collaboration in teams that work miles from each other, projects can get delayed and the outcome compromised.

A good global project management practice is to build camaraderie and trust among the team members.

Besides collaborating in regular meetings, project managers have the task of identifying and creating opportunities for team members to interact.

For instance, you can use social media platforms to encourage team members to build relationships through fun interactions. You can also encourage physical meetings for individuals who visit a location where you have a presence.

Project management has become a necessary tool for businesses that want to succeed in international markets. Its impact on global business lies in ensuring the successful completion of projects to achieve business growth. Project management assists in giving direction to projects and tying project goals to overall business goals.

In addition, it helps in building positive relationships with employees, customers, and stakeholders. However, project management for global businesses isn’t that easy. Businesses have to deal with different challenges that come with managing a team that comes with differences in culture and language.

They also have to deal with completing projects in varying economic and legal circumstances. The good thing is that having a good strategy makes global project management an easy endeavour.

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Budgeting Basics for International Projects

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The budget is a key element of project planning and serves as a blueprint for spending project’s funds. Sponsored projects generally have robust guidelines as to what can and cannot be funded by the sponsor. Such guidelines are much less clear for non-sponsored activities. Budgetary items may vary greatly depending on your project needs, nature of your activity, and country requirements. Thoughtful budgeting of your project during the planning stage can provide a realistic financial management tool to control the cost of your project and avoid unforeseen expenses during implementation. It is recommended to check Stanford’s DoResearch Budget Basics for general budgetary guidance of sponsored projects. Due to complexities of running activity abroad, please take into considerations the following additional costs that may be associated with projects conducted overseas:

Legal Counsel Fees

Stanford Office of the General Counsel (OGC) may need to consult with local foreign country legal counsel to address legal issues arising out of global activities and assist with regulatory compliance. Local legal counsel cost varies according to project need and country regulatory complexity.

Please contact OGC to discuss your planned project, estimate, and capture local legal counsel cost when developing project budget.

International Tax Advisory and Accounting Fees

Tax, accounting, and finance regulations differ from country to country. Large scale overseas programs would require consultation with local tax and / or accounting experts during planning phase. To remain compliant with local rules, third-party services can be needed for local tax, accounting, payroll and financial reporting. Hiring and coordinating with such third-party services is done by GBS.

Personnel and Compensation Considerations

In addition to base salary, possible tax equalization, and payroll set-up costs and fees, other cost considerations may include mandatory local social security expenses, medical and insurance, and paid holiday. Those costs vary greatly from country to country. If your project requires local hiring or a Stanford person stationed abroad for more than 183 days, please contact Global Business Services (GBS) and Global HR for additional guidance and cost considerations. Other key personnel considerations include:

Immigration

Individuals must have the correct immigration status and permission to work in the country where they are physically conducting activities (which can include academic and research work). For non-local nationals, this usually involves a work permit sponsored by an employer in the host country.

Similar to the United States, most countries collect employee-owed taxes as well as employer-owed taxes (also known as “social costs” or “payroll taxes”). Laws regarding an employer’s responsibility to withhold and remit taxes owed by the employee vary, but the presence of a Stanford person in-country can trigger unforeseen obligations both for Stanford and the individual.

Employment Laws

Many countries have employment laws that are more favorable to employees than U.S. regulations. Examples include mandated employment contract terms, paid time off, limitations on termination, and severance payments. It is important to understand in advance the scope of these regulations and how they many apply to the personnel working on the project.

Import and Export Considerations

If your project needs to send data, goods or transport equipment to a different country and/or import goods from a foreign location, duties, or customs fees may apply. Depending on the scale of such imports and exports, the costs might be significant. Please review the information projected on Stanford’s International Affairs site to determine the best resource to guide you in planning / budgeting for import / export related costs . Key considerations are:

Customs Duties and Restrictions

The U.S. and foreign countries may require payment of customs duties and may restrict the entry of certain items.

Temporary Imports

Carnets–also known as merchandise passports–simplify the temporary transfer of certain tangible goods between the U.S. and 80 countries and territories.

When transporting large amounts of cash or equivalents (such as travelers’ checks), you may be required to declare the funds and may even face restrictions or taxes.

Sanctioned Countries and Individuals

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) enforces wide-ranging sanctions or embargoes on countries, individuals, and organizations .

Country- and project-specific insurance, such as general liability, property, worker’s compensations, medical malpractice, etc., may be required by the regulations of another country and by Stanford policy. Contact Risk Management Department for more information and cost considerations.

Other Taxes

In most foreign jurisdictions, Stanford is not registered as a tax-exempt organization. Depending on the nature of foreign activities and jurisdiction regulations, your program may be subject to income tax, sales tax, value added tax (VAT), or other types of taxes.

Currency Fluctuation

Foreign currency is usually necessary, especially for in-country spending, such as in-country travel cost, local purchase of goods or services, local payroll, etc. Depending on the volatility of the currency of the local country you are working in against the U.S. dollar, currency fluctuations could have a significant budgetary impact and would need to be considered and factored into the budget to avoid surprises.

International Contracts and Agreements

Well-designed contracts help you and your project partners and subcontractors begin a project with clear expectations of costs and your respective roles and responsibilities. If the contract involves services to be rendered overseas, or if one of the contracting entities is foreign, there are steps you can take to avoid surprises and protect Stanford's interests. Key considerations are further discussed in the Written Agreements for International Projects section.

Unexpected Costs

Due to the complexity of global environment, it is recommended to plan some unexpected costs with a contingency budget and review environmental and political factors regularly to ensure a reasonable and feasible budget.

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10 Free Business Plan Templates in Word, Excel, & ClickUp

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

Turning your vision into a clear and coherent business plan can be confusing and tough. 

Hours of brainstorming and facing an intimidating blank page can raise more questions than answers. Are you covering everything? What should go where? How do you keep each section thorough but brief?

If these questions have kept you up at night and slowed your progress, know you’re not alone. That’s why we’ve put together the top 10 business plan templates in Word, Excel, and ClickUp—to provide answers, clarity, and a structured framework to work with. This way, you’re sure to capture all the relevant information without wasting time. 

And the best part? Business planning becomes a little less “ugh!” and a lot more “aha!” 🤩

What is a Business Plan Template?

What makes a good business plan template, 1. clickup business plan template, 2. clickup sales plan template, 3. clickup business development action plan template, 4. clickup business roadmap template, 5. clickup business continuity plan template, 6. clickup lean business plan template, 7. clickup small business action plan template, 8. clickup strategic business roadmap template , 9. microsoft word business plan template by microsoft, 10. excel business plan template by vertex42.

A business plan template is a structured framework for entrepreneurs and business executives who want to create business plans. It comes with pre-arranged sections and headings that cover key elements like the executive summary , business overview, target customers, unique value proposition, marketing plans, and financial statements.  

A good business plan template helps with thorough planning, clear documentation, and practical implementation. Here’s what to look for:

• Comprehensive structure: A good template comes with all the relevant sections to outline a business strategy, such as executive summary, market research and analysis, and financial projections 
• Clarity and guidance: A good template is easy to follow. It has brief instructions or prompts for each section, guiding you to think deeply about your business and ensuring you don’t skip important details
• Clean design: Aesthetics matter. Choose a template that’s not just functional but also professionally designed. This ensures your plan is presentable to stakeholders, partners, and potential investors
• Flexibility : Your template should easily accommodate changes without hassle, like adding or removing sections, changing content and style, and rearranging parts 🛠️ 

While a template provides the structure, it’s the information you feed it that brings it to life. These pointers will help you pick a template that aligns with your business needs and clearly showcases your vision.

10 Business Plan Templates to Use in 2024

Preparing for business success in 2024 (and beyond) requires a comprehensive and organized business plan. We’ve handpicked the best templates to help you guide your team, attract investors, and secure funding. Let’s check them out.

If you’re looking to replace a traditional business plan document, then ClickUp’s Business Plan Template is for you!

This one-page business plan template, designed in ClickUp Docs , is neatly broken down into the following sections:

• Company description : Overview, mission, vision, and team
• Market analysis : Problem, solution, target market, competition, and competitive advantage
• Sales and marketing strategy : Products/services and marketing channels
• Operational plan : Location and facilities, equipment and tools, manpower, and financial forecasts
• Milestones and metrics: Targets and KPIs

Customize the template with your company logo and contact details, and easily navigate to different sections using the collapsible table of contents. The mini prompts under each section guide you on what to include—with suggestions on how to present the data (e.g., bullet lists, pictures, charts, and tables). 

You can share the document with anyone via URL and collaborate in real time. And when the business plan is ready, you have the option to print it or export it to PDF, HTML, or Markdown.

But that’s not all. This template is equipped with basic and enterprise project management features to streamline the business plan creation process . The Topics List view has a list of all the different sections and subsections of the template and allows you to assign it to a team member, set a due date, and attach relevant documents and references.

Switch from List to Board view to track and update task statuses according to the following: To Do, In Progress, Needs Revision, and Complete. 

This template is a comprehensive toolkit for documenting the different sections of your business plan and streamlining the creation process to ensure it’s completed on time. 🗓️

If you’re looking for a tool to kickstart or update your sales plan, ClickUp’s Sales Plan Template has got you covered. This sales plan template features a project summary list with tasks to help you craft a comprehensive and effective sales strategy. Some of these tasks include:

• Determine sales objectives and goals
• Draft positioning statement
• Perform competitive analysis
• Draft ideal customer persona
• Create a lead generation strategy

Assign each task to a specific individual or team, set priority levels , and add due dates. Specify what section of the sales plan each task belongs to (e.g., executive summary, revenue goals, team structure, etc.), deliverable type (such as document, task, or meeting), and approval state (like pending, needs revisions, and approved).

And in ClickUp style, you can switch to multiple views: List for a list of all tasks, Board for visual task management, Timeline for an overview of task durations, and Gantt to get a view of task dependencies. 

This simple business plan template is perfect for any type of business looking to create a winning sales strategy while clarifying team roles and keeping tasks organized. ✨

Thinking about scaling your business’s reach and operations but unsure where or how to start? It can be overwhelming, no doubt—you need a clear vision, measurable goals, and an actionable plan that every member of your team can rally behind. 

Thankfully, ClickUp’s Business Development Action Plan Template is designed to use automations to simplify this process so every step toward your business growth is clear, trackable, and actionable.

Start by assessing your current situation and deciding on your main growth goal. Are you aiming to increase revenue, tap into new markets, or introduce new products or services? With ClickUp Whiteboards or Docs, brainstorm and collaborate with your team on this decision.

Set and track your short- and long-term growth goals with ClickUp’s Goals , break them down into smaller targets, and assign these targets to team members, complete with due dates. Add these targets to a new ClickUp Dashboard to track real-time progress and celebrate small wins. 🎉

Whether you’re a startup or small business owner looking to hit your next major milestone or an established business exploring new avenues, this template keeps your team aligned, engaged, and informed every step of the way.

ClickUp’s Business Roadmap Template is your go-to for mapping out major strategies and initiatives in areas like revenue growth, brand awareness, community engagement, and customer satisfaction. 

Use the List view to populate tasks under each initiative. With Custom Fields, you can capture which business category (e.g., Product, Operations, Sales & Marketing, etc.) tasks fall under and which quarter they’re slated for. You can also link to relevant documents and resources and evaluate tasks by effort and impact to ensure the most critical tasks get the attention they deserve. 👀

Depending on your focus, this template provides different views to show just what you need. For example, the All Initiatives per Quarter view lets you focus on what’s ahead by seeing tasks that need completion within a specific quarter. This ensures timely execution and helps in aligning resources effectively for the short term.

This template is ideal for business executives and management teams who need to coordinate multiple short- and long-term initiatives and business strategies.

In business, unexpected threats to operations can arise at any moment. Whether it’s economic turbulence, a global health crisis, or supply chain interruptions, every company needs to be ready. ClickUp’s Business Continuity Plan Template lets you prepare proactively for these unforeseen challenges.

The template organizes tasks into three main categories:

• Priorities: Tasks that need immediate attention
• Continuity coverage: Tasks that must continue despite challenges
• Guiding principles: Resources and protocols to ensure smooth operations

The Board view makes it easy to visualize all the tasks under each of these categories. And the Priorities List sorts tasks by those that are overdue, the upcoming ones, and then the ones due later.

In times of uncertainty, being prepared is your best strategy. This template helps your business not just survive but thrive in challenging situations, keeping your customers, employees, and investors satisfied. 🤝

Looking to execute your business plan the “lean” way? Use ClickUp’s Lean Business Plan Template . It’s designed to help you optimize resource usage and cut unnecessary steps—giving you better results with less effort.

In the Plan Summary List view, list all the tasks that need to get done. Add specific details like who’s doing each task, when it’s due, and which part of the Business Model Canvas (BMC) it falls under. The By Priority view sorts this list based on priorities like Urgent, High, Normal, and Low. This makes it easy to spot the most important tasks and tackle them first.

Additionally, the Board view gives you an overview of task progression from start to finish. And the BMC view rearranges these tasks based on the various BMC components. 

Each task can further be broken down into subtasks and multiple checklists to ensure all related action items are executed. ✔️

This template is an invaluable resource for startups and large enterprises looking to maximize process efficiencies and results in a streamlined and cost-effective way.

The Small Business Action Plan Template by ClickUp is tailor-made for small businesses looking to transform their business ideas and goals into actionable steps and, eventually, into reality. 

It provides a simple and organized framework for creating, assigning, prioritizing, and tracking tasks. And in effect, it ensures that goals are not just set but achieved. Through the native dashboard and goal-setting features, you can monitor task progress and how they move you closer to achieving your goals.

Thanks to ClickUp’s robust communication features like chat, comments, and @mentions, it’s easy to get every team member on the same page and quickly address questions or concerns.

Use this action plan template to hit your business goals by streamlining your internal processes and aligning team efforts.

For larger businesses and scaling enterprises, getting different departments to work together toward a big goal can be challenging. The ClickUp Strategic Business Roadmap Template makes it easier by giving you a clear plan to follow.

This template is packaged in a folder and split into different lists for each department in your business, like Sales, Product, Marketing, and Enablement. This way, every team can focus on their tasks while collectively contributing to the bigger goal.

There are multiple viewing options available for team members. These include:

• Progress Board: Visualize tasks that are on track, those at risk, and those behind
• Gantt view: Get an overview of project timelines and dependencies
• Team view: See what each team member is working on so you can balance workloads for maximum productivity

While this template may feel overwhelming at first, the getting started guide offers a step-by-step breakdown to help you navigate it with ease. And like all ClickUp templates, you can easily customize it to suit your business needs and preferences.

Microsoft’s 20-page traditional business plan template simplifies the process of drafting comprehensive business plans. It’s made up of different sections, including:

• Executive summary : Highlights, objectives, mission statement, and keys to success
• Description of business: Company ownership and legal structure, hours of operation, products and services, suppliers, financial plans, etc.
• Marketing: Market analysis, market segmentation, competition, and pricing
• Appendix: Start-up expenses, cash flow statements, income statements, sales forecast, milestones, break-even analysis, etc.

The table of contents makes it easy to move to different sections of the document. And the text placeholders under each section provide clarity on the specific details required—making the process easier for users who may not be familiar with certain business terminology.

No business template roundup is complete without an Excel template. This business plan template lets you work on your business financials in Excel. It comes with customizable tables, formulas, and charts to help you look at the following areas:

• Highlight charts
• Market analysis
• Start-up assets and expenses
• Sales forecasts
• Profit and loss
• Balance sheet
• Cash flow projections
• Break-even analysis

This Excel template is especially useful when you want to create a clear and visual financial section for your business plan document—an essential element for attracting investors and lenders. However, there might be a steep learning curve to using this template if you’re not familiar with business financial planning and using Excel.

Try a Free Business Plan Template in ClickUp

Launching and running a successful business requires a well-thought-out and carefully crafted business plan. However, the business planning process doesn’t have to be complicated, boring, or take up too much time. Use any of the above 10 free business plan formats to simplify and speed up the process.

ClickUp templates go beyond offering a solid foundation to build your business plans. They come with extensive project management features to turn your vision into reality. And that’s not all— ClickUp’s template library offers over 1,000 additional templates to help manage various aspects of your business, from decision-making to product development to resource management .

Sign up for ClickUp’s Free Forever Plan today to fast-track your business’s growth! 🏆

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MBA 541 - Global Business Plan Project Resource Guide

• Phase One: Choosing a Company and Global Business Opportunity
• Phase Two: Planning the Global Enterprise
• Phase Three: Organizing Global Business Activities

Phase Four: Implementing the Global Marketing Plan

This final research phase is designed to help you locate information to build a marketing strategy for your enterprise or product expansion. You'll likely find that most of this information is covered in items that you've already gathered. Be prepared to make marketing decisions by inferring, estimating, and making judgments based on related and relevant information. 

Each section in this guide contains a research component or goal that will help you build your Global Business Plan for MBA 541. Resources to accomplish these goals are recommended. The guided "Pro-tips" will help you navigate some of the highlighted databases and websites.

As always, if you have any questions about the content in this guide, please ask a librarian. For more information about this project, please refer to your online course shell. Please direct any questions about assignment expectations or requirements directly to your instructor. 

Section One

Product and target market planning for foreign markets.

Identify specific attributes and customer benefits for a proposed international product or service

Recommended Resources:

• Find Target Market Data

Pro-tip: 

Of the resources outlined in the above how-to guide, Statista is probably the best for quantitative consumer information in international markets. You likely have already pulled a country report from this database.

Section Two

Designing a global distribution strategy.

Analyze distribution channels and intermediaries for global business operations

• Find Industry Reports
• International Trade Administration Country Commercial Guides US perspective
• Canada Trade Commissioner Service Country and Sector Information Canadian perspective

Pro-tip one: 

The International Trade Administration has a section on selling US Products in their Country Commercial Guides. This section will help you both identify sales and distribution channels, as well as navigate any media or marketing regulations, which will be important in the next section.

Pro-tip two:

Refer to your previously found industry reports for additional distribution information. If you haven’t already, try to locate some global industry reports. Mergent Online is a great place to find global industry information by region. IBISWorld is great resource if you are looking to expand to Mexico or Canada. It also carries general global reports. These databases and others are linked in the Find Industry Reports guide (linked above).

Section Three

Planning a global promotion strategy.

Suggest advertising messages, media, and other promotional activities for an international enterprise

• CIA World Factbook US perspective

Many countries regulate advertising and marketing. It is important to identify these laws and regulations prior to suggesting any promotional activities. Additionally, research the communication systems available in your country. Internet broadband access, telephone access, etc. are all important factors to consider as you explore a promotional strategy.

• << Previous: Phase Three: Organizing Global Business Activities
• Last Updated: May 14, 2024 4:20 PM

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Microsoft Project - what are the differences between planner 3 and planner 5?

Microsoft Project - If we sign up to planner 3 can we sign into this app from different computers at different work sites? Does this effect the other Microsoft apps that you are signed in on your computer?

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• Microsoft Agent |

Good day, thanks for querying in this forum. We're happy to help you.

From your description, it seems that you want to know the difference between Project plan 3 and Project plan 5, and you also want to sign in this app in different computers.

If my understanding is right, for the difference between Project plan 3 and Project plan 5, you can refer to this page: Compare All Planner Options and Prices| Microsoft Planner

And for your second question, you can use your account with Microsoft Project plan 3 on the other computers, and it will not affect the other office apps.

If the scenario above is not consistent with yours, you can also post back and provide more details about "planner 3 and planner 5 .

Your understanding and patience will be greatly appreciated. I hope you're staying safe and well!

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