Three Business Plans Analysis, Essay Example

After the analysis conducted upon reading three business plans for Shaved Ice Beverage, Real Estate Brokerage and Truck Stop it is possible to detect the strong and weak sides of all of them in terms of different aspects thereof, be it objectives, market analysis or financial aspects. They are all examples of detailed, thoroughly thought over business plans that may yield significant returns to their initiators. But in order for them to do that, or to find the reasons for failure of such a business it is vital to adopt a critical point of view at them and find the pitfalls and strengths distinguishing each of them.

From the preliminary overview of these plans one can understand that the weakest of them is the Real Estate Brokerage business plan – there is a set of reasons for this. First of all, the set of objectives described in the business plan is absolutely not clear – the only objective understood is that the initiators want to create a strong team of broker agents who will earn them money. But at the same time they state that the brokers who are likely to come to their real estate brokerage will be inexperienced and will have to pay money for education or follow their own way of learning.

This is a weak position because it conceals many hardships and threatens to fail the whole business. Even people who will pay for their education or will learn from their colleagues cannot ensure the fact that they will achieve good results and will become real brokers. They may fail to learn anything and will only waste the time of founders who will take their effort to teach their agents and may not get anything in return. Surely, the expenses for maintenance of facilities are not that high, but the budget of the undertaking is counted only regarding the ideal development of events, namely taking into consideration successful outcomes of their agents, which is not guaranteed at all.

The alternative that could have been included in the business plan should be hiring a couple of experienced and skillful brokers who would provide for the financial stability of the company while others would learn the business. But the fact that this aspect was ignored supposes only one idea – that the founders know the experienced brokers would want much more money for their work, which is undesirable for the creators.

The strongest plan seems to be the Truck Stop business: despite the tremendous plans and capital injection the idea is likely to succeed because of the constant need for fuel in cars, for snacks drivers are eager to take at the stops and the entertainment facilities that are designed for those who travel with the whole family and become highly helpful when it is necessary to occupy kids with something. The project presupposes building a motel, which can justify the creation of so many parking lots. But in case the motel is not built, or is built much later, the great number of lots may become the unnecessary effort that will take additional expenditures and will appear unprofitable.

The first business plan for producing shaved ice with exotic drinks, syrups and beverages also seems successful because of the initial low pricing of the product and the idea’s novelty in the stipulated area. The product creators want to offer to common public can be especially popular in the hot period of the year which is really long in California, so the profit is evident. But the plan should still not be directed at such long-term objectives, because novelty is a short-term competitive advantage, the idea can be taken by any other proprietor who will find some innovative ways to attract greater attention of customers, and the Ice Dreams Company may fail to keep its profits on a stable level. Thus, it appears reasonable to suggest that the main profit forecasts should be made on the first year of the company’s functioning, taking into consideration its narrow focus and limited opportunities for expansion. One more disadvantage of the business plan is that the company does not want to offer any snacks in addition to drinks – this fact can seriously reduce the demand of customers who like to receive products in some packages, and not separately.

References

Real Estate Brokerage Business Plan (n.d.). Bplans. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.bplans.com/real_estate_brokerage_business_plan/executive_summary_fc.cfm

Shaved Ice Beverage Business Plan (n.d.). Bplans. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.bplans.com/shaved_ice_beverage_business_plan/executive_summary_fc.cfm

Truck Stop Business Plan (n.d.). Bplans. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.bplans.com/truck_stop_business_plan/market_analysis_summary_fc.cfm