1.11 Management and Organisation

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From the course by University of London

International Business Capstone

44 ratings

University of London

International Business Capstone

44 ratings

Course 6 of 6 in the Specialization International Business Essentials

The Capstone project is the culmination of the International Business Essentials specialisation, and brings together knowledge gained in the previous courses and applies this to a real-world scenario. Throughout the Capstone, you’ll be taught new skills, and will use the knowledge you have gained throughout the Specialisation to develop a business plan. This course forms part of a specialisation from the University of London designed to help you develop and build the essential business, academic, and cultural skills necessary to succeed in international business, or in further study. If completed successfully, your certificate from this specialisation can also be used as part of the application process for the University of London Global MBA programme, particularly for early career applicants. If you would like more information about the Global MBA, please visit https://mba.london.ac.uk/. This course is endorsed by CMI

From the lesson

The Business Plan

This week will focus on the business plan itself, including its formulation, implementation, and control.

The Business Plan | Introduction0:44

1.2 Layout of Plan4:44

1.3 Products and Services1:28

1.4 The Marketing Plan5:20

1.5 Products Review2:05

1.6 Customers Review5:19

1.7 Competitor Analysis5:48

1.8 Marketing Strategies4:01

1.9 Pricing6:40

1.10 Operational Plan12:55

1.11 Management and Organisation4:31

1.12 Financial Plan10:31

1.13 Appendices1:24

1.14 Refining The Plan8:07

Meet the Instructors

Barry McCarthy
Senior Teaching Fellow
School of Management, UCL

[MUSIC]

I'm now going to talk about management and the organization.

You need to ask questions.

Who will manage the business on a day-to-day basis?

What experience does that person bring to the business?

Do they have any special or distinctive competencies?

Is there a plan for

keeping the business going if this person is no longer available to manage it?

That's a key point.

Often businesses fail when they lose key personnel.

If you plan to have more than ten employees,

then draw up an organizational chart.

Chain the management hierarchy and who's responsible for

the key functions within your organisation.

Include position descriptions for those key employees.

If you're seeking loans or

investors, then you need to include resumes of owners and key employees.

I think it's key that your plan list the following.

First of all,

it should be a complete list of who you expect to be on the board of directors.

You need to have a list of the management advisory board as well,

if that's required.

Most businesses are using the services of lawyers and accountants.

I think it's important that you name them.

Also, maybe your insurance company, your bankers,

any consultants, or, consultant, any mentors and key advisors.

I think these are all key to list in your business plan.

While not necessary, it's often useful to put in your own personal

financial statement into the business plan itself.

And if there are more than one of you, then you need to include those personal

financial statements for each owner and/or major shareholder.

Showing the assets and liabilities held outside of the business, and

maybe even their personal net wealth.

This can always help, especially if you're applying for loans.

Owners will often have to draw on personal assets to finance the business,

especially at start-ups, and these statements will show what is available.

Bankers and investors usually want this information as well,

so that's quite important.

Let's move on to start-up expenses and capitalisation.

You will have many expenses before you even begin operating your business, and

it's important to estimate these expenses accurately and

then plan where you will get sufficient capital from.

This is a research project, effectively, and

the more thorough your research efforts, then the less chance that

you will leave out any important expenses, or even underestimate them.

Even with the best research,

however, opening a new business has a way of costing more than you anticipate.

There are two ways to make allowances for any surprise expenses.

The first is to add a little padding,

a little bit extra, to each item in the budget.

But, of course, the problem with that approach is

that it may destroy the accuracy of your carefully thought out plan.

The second approach is to add a separate line item called contingencies, and

this will be to account for anything that you don't foresee.

I think this is the approach that I would recommend.

I think it's important that you talk to others who have started similar businesses

to get a good idea of how much to allow for these contingencies.

If you can't get access to that good information,

then I would recommend, as a rule of thumb, the contingencies

should equal at least 20% of the total of all other start-up expenses.

With all this information that's gone into your plan, I think it's really important

that you explain your research and how you arrived at any forecast that

you're giving in this particular plan, in particular with regard to expenses.

Give sources of your information.

Give amounts.

Give, potentially, terms of any proposed loans.

Also explain, in detail, how much you will be contributed by each investor and

what percentage of ownership each will have.

[MUSIC]

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