Instructor Contact Information
Instructor Oduro 'Tach' Takyi
Telephone 510-684-8960
Email tach@consultant.com
Hello, and welcome to Business 58, The Business Plan. I am delighted to be your instructor for this course. An important tool that helps people who intend to start a new business is a business plan. A business plan is a written document that carefully explains every aspect of a new venture. Although many entrepreneurs and small business people do not write a business plan before they start their business, it is highly recommended. For most businesses, a business plan serves two functions. First, inside the firm, the plan helps a company develop a "blueprint" to follow in executing its strategies and plan. Second, outside the firm, it introduces potential investors and other stakeholders to the business opportunity the firm is pursuing and how it plans to pursue it.
The most effective business plans are part of a comprehensive process that includes
- identifying a business idea,
- screening the idea (or ideas) to determine their preliminary feasibility,
- conducting a full feasibility analysis to see if proceeding with a business plan is warranted, and
- writing the plan.
For this reason, by the end of the second week, you will be required to select a business concept/idea (Chapter 2). You will then conduct a feasibility analysis of the business concept (Chapter 3); and then write a Business Plan based on Chapters 4 through 10. A full business plan, Prime Adult Fitness, is included from Chapters 4 through 10, as an example, through the course of the book. At the end of the term, you will use the concepts in Chapter 11 to prepare and present your Business Plan.
It is recommended that you choose a simple business concept that can easily be accomplished before the end of the term. If a concept is very complex and/or spans more than one industry, you will get bogged down in the research required in Chapter 3.
I also recommend that you choose a concept for the project that you are personally interested in because, when you are passionate about your product or service, you will learn more and actually enjoy the entire business planning process.
You must buy and read the assigned pages in the course textbook in order to be successful in this class. The textbook is
Preparing Effective Business Plans: An Entrepreneurial Approach, by Bruce R. Barringer. You can purchase the textbook at the De Anza bookstore. The best approach to this course is to first read the chapter "Overviews" and "Summaries" on the course website. Then read the chapter for the respective week. Then, watch the Power Point once through. You are encouraged to
familiarize yourself with the "Review Questions" and "Applications Questions" at the end of each chapter.
There will be a Mid Term and a Final Exam, both of which will be taken online. As a hint, the 10-question essay portion of both exams will be taken from the Application Questions.
Be prepared to spend a minimum of 9 hours per week using and studying the course materials.
