Business Plans For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4. Checking Out the Business Environment

In This Chapter

• Defining the business that you're really in

• Analysing your industry

• Finding out where to turn to for data

• Recognising critical success factors

• Preparing for opportunities and threats

One of the most important questions you can ask yourself as you prepare to create a business plan is 'What business am I really in?' The question may sound simple – even trivial. Maybe that's why it's too often ignored. But if you can answer this basic question correctly, you take the first giant step toward creating an effective business plan.

Remember when trains with elegant dining cars graced our railway lines? Probably not. But you can still catch an old film and become a bit nostalgic for a long-lost era. Railway companies in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s thought that they knew exactly what business they were in: the railway business. The question was a no-brainer. As it turns out, however, passengers were looking for something a little more general: basic transportation. Railways soon found that they had to compete with motorways, Morris Motors and Ford, British Airways, and international airports, finally joining forces with the likes of Virgin to run a mixture of rail and air services. The forces and players in the railway business extended well beyond ties and rails. The railways didn't see the big picture and never regained their former glory.

In this chapter, we help you capture your big picture by defining the business that you're really ...