The Ernst & Young Business Plan Guide, Third Edition

Part II. An In-Depth Look at a Business Plan

In the 12 chapters that comprise Part 2, we dissect the business plan into its component parts. In each chapter, we focus on one piece of the business plan, discussing what role that portion plays in the business plan.

Each chapter is also supplemented with a portion of a complete business plan developed by a group of entrepreneurs. Finally, there are comments on how well the portion of the sample business plan adheres to the fundamentals discussed in the chapter narrative.

We have chosen a “low-tech” business plan for a couple of reasons. First, although since the 1970s the entrepreneurial companies that have received a disproportionate amount of press have often involved cutting-edge technology, in reality most new businesses are not high tech in nature. Second, we didn’t want technological innovation to obscure the fundamentals of a good business plan.