Many people think that business planning and strategic planning are same, but when we look at both the plans closely, we observe that there is a big difference between these two. One writes business plan when they are starting a new business, while strategic planning tells you where you want to go and what will be your strategy to expand your business. In short, we can say that business planning is for beginner, while strategic planning is for growth.

There is a difference between the two, so one should not confuse business plan with strategic plan. In this article, we will discuss the difference between a strategic plan and a professional business plan in detail.

A strategic plan is not more than one or two pages and it can be circulated throughout the organization. Strategic plan is signed by board of directors and it is one of the major parts of the corporate governance process. It is not only for big businesses, but small businesses can also make strategic plan in order to grow their business. ... read more

Business plan is regarded as one of the most essential document of any business entity. Related to business, a home based business plan deals with number of different issues, in which the most common are: services, market competition, supply of products and investment.

It is necessary to make perfect home based business plan for your home based business. If your business plan is not perfect, potential investors and lenders would not grant you loan and you will not be able to take important decision properly.

A professionally written business plan will be beneficial in many ways. It will encourage you to focus on your goals and objective, help you to take important decisions and you can easily deal with possible problems before they occur. ... read more

The most important part of business plan is market analysis section. It contains information about your target market, products or services, competitors, pricing strategy, sales/distribution plan and advertising and promotional plan. This part also determines whether the market is sufficient enough to support the business or not.

It is necessary to review your market analysis section at least every year. Thorough research is very important before writing a professional business plan. You must be well-aware about every part or every question you are including in your marketing analysis section.

Products and/or services:

This part of marketing analysis contains the information about your product and services: How unique is your product from your competitors, how your product and services will give benefit to your customers and also the pricing strategy of your product.... read more

A SWOT analysis is a powerful tool that tells the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business. It contains great importance in front of investors and lenders when you are asking for loan. It tells them how your businesses is operating internally and are you capable enough to earn large amount of profits or not.
 
SWOT Analysis:

The SWOT analysis is prepared to know the strengths and weaknesses (internal capabilities of the company) and opportunities and threats (external parameters that are affecting the company). It contains great importance in your professional business plan. It is used to analyze the core areas on which the strategy of business depends; weaknesses your company have; opportunities that you have in market, in order to expand your business; and the external threats of which the company has to be aware. ... read more