Essay

Course book is: Good, W., & Mayhew, W. (2017). Building your dream: A Canadian guide to starting your own business (10th ed.). Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.I will send case study document and excel file. After having read Stage Five of your text, you should now have a good idea of what a business plan looks like and what information it should contain. Based on the Third Degree ID business plan, prepare a critique using the following criteria. Rank each criterion along a continuum from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent).(Remember that it is easy to provide criticism. What we want to do is provide a critique. That means that if there is anything that we don’t particularly like, we have to come up with a suggestion that would be useful to Third Degree ID.)Executive summary—Is it clear, exciting, and effective as an overview of the plan? What would you add?Company overview—Does it present a vision, history, strategy, goals, and objectives for the business? How can Third Degree ID change this?Products or services—Does it describe their key features and benefits, current stage of development, proprietary position, and competitive advantages? What would your suggestions be?Market analysis—Does it present the growth trends and key driving forces of the industry, the principal characteristics and needs of its target market, the competitive environment, and the likely market acceptance for the product or service? Would adding a Porter Five-Forces analysis help? What is in “our” feasibility plan that would help out this plan?Management team—Does it indicate the backgrounds and roles for the key individuals, their history and structure of the team, and any other personnel requirements? What additional information would any financial backer (investor or bank or shareholder) want to know?Operating strategies—Does it address the marketing, operations, and personal, financial, and other strategies for the proposed business? Which areas need improvement, and what would you suggest these improvements be?Cash-flow statement—Does it present a realistic assessment of cash requirements—inflows and outflows? How about the break-even? Is it clear what the “one-time” cash requirements are? What would you add to improve it?Income statement—Does it demonstrate realistic and attractive income potential of the business? What advice can you provide to Third Degree ID to make this better?Balance sheet—Does it present a realistic assessment of the working capital and fixed asset requirements of the business? Again, if you were to offer advice based on what you have learned as an MBA, what would you provide?Funds required/used—Is there a clear and concise presentation of the amount, timing, type, and use of funds required for the venture? If you would add anything, what would it be?What total score would you give the plan out of 50? We are very talented at seeing what is wrong with things. But our task is also to “improve” things by offering advice, not criticism. Is there any information that you felt was particularly lacking? How might Third Degree ID include it? How might you have improved the overall plan if you had been hired as a consultant?