Steps for determining your information needs
确定信息需求的步骤
1. Review the elements of a basic business plan.回顾基本业务计划的要素。
Look at the larger picture to determine which pieces are filled in and which pieces need more attention. Depending on your business venture, you may not need to devote as much attention to some parts of a business plan as others, but be sure each section is addressed as fully as needed. For example, Laszlo emphasized the marketing concerns of PCC because they were the critical success factors. The operating plan, however, had fewer variables and received less attention.
2. Define the categories of information you need.定义所需信息的类别。
As you develop your business plan, you might find that you are focusing on your own business without stepping back to look at the broader picture of the competitive industry. For example, you may have all the information you need about producing your own product, but you don't know what your competitors' production costs are. This information is important to ensure the cost competitiveness of your product.
Another area that may not be given adequate attention is the regulatory arena. Are you fully informed about government tax or regulatory issues that may affect your business? For example, if you are planning to trade internationally, then you should check on the trade regulations of both your home country and the foreign country.
3. Determine the critical information you have.确定你掌握的关键信息。
Don't waste your time and efforts on finished work. Checking that you have complete information on certain critical areas will allow you to devote your energies to those areas that need further work. For example, if you already have distribution choices identified, then move on to other concerns such as researching OSHA requirements on the production floor.
4. Determine the information you need to retrieve.确定需要检索的信息
As you are making this assessment, keep in mind that you should focus only on the critical areas of information you need. Typically, these areas will be outside of your expertise. If you are a marketer, then the finance or production information may be lacking.
Get help to determine information needs. Since the gaps will generally lie in unfamiliar territory, find someone on your team or hire a consultant to guide you through the process of determining what and how much information you need in that region.
5. Explore where and how will you get it.探索你在哪里以及如何得到它。
In many ways, access to information is becoming easier and easier. The Internet continues to grow exponentially, providing information at a keystroke. Use search engines to find the Web sites for government, industry, marketing, and company information. 
For example: 
◦ The Small Business Administration (SBA) has a wealth of information on its Web site, and other government agencies offer regulatory and tax information online.
◦ Accounting firms have Web sites that can help you develop your financial plans.
◦ Company Web sites can give you competitive and market information.
Industry publications - newsletters, journals, etc. - are a rich source of information. Check out these resources for your own industry and the industries involved in the process of producing your product or service.
For example, if the distribution of your product requires trucking, you might want to read some trucking industry journals.
Market research may require professional help. If you need more information about the buying patterns of your target market, then a marketing consultant could develop a research program to find the answers you need.
Have you located the resources or potential strategic partnerships that are available? Don't forget the resources of the SBA—it's one arm of the government that can provide help, information, and services for new business ventures.
Steps for developing the marketing plan制定营销计划的步骤
1. Open with a summary of your marketing mix.以你的营销组合概要开始。
Just as an executive summary serves the function of giving quick information to the reader of the business plan, so too an upfront summary of your overall marketing plan helps your reader know what to expect as he or she reads on.
2. Identify your target market or target niche within a market.
确定你的目标市场或市场中的目标利基市场。
Even though you have addressed this issue in another part of the business plan, restate it briefly here. Your reader may have skipped to this section without having read the earlier discussion of the target market, and even if the reader has read all sections, a quick reminder can only help get your message across. So, before you begin to describe how you plan to sell your product or service, let your reader know to whom you are selling. By having the target market or the niche within a target market in mind, your reader can make a more
reasoned evaluation of your marketing plan.
3. Give a summary of the competition.对比赛进行总结。
Again, a quick review of the pertinent factors of the marketing plan helps the reader understand the strategy of your plan. State who the competitors are and describe their marketing strategies. That information serves as a contrast to your own plan.
4. Describe the key factors of success within the industry.
描述行业内成功的关键因素。
Is quick response something customers expect? Are technological improvements in product or production process the key to success in your industry? Are consumers looking for lowest prices? Make sure your reader understands what factors are important for this particular target market.
5. Define your marketing mix in terms of the four Ps: product, price, place, promotion.从四个方面定义你的营销组合：产品、价格、地点、促销。
In this section, describe how you will market your product or service and give your rationale for your choices of marketing strategies. Your reader will want to see how each marketing decision addresses the target market's needs and the competitors' alternatives.
You should discuss each of the four Ps, even if you don't necessarily use all of them. The reader will expect to see them all in your plan. For example, if your service is provided instantly via telecommunications, then place may not require as much attention as promotion for developing a brand awareness of your service.
6. Give the timeline for implementing your marketing strategies.
给出实施营销策略的时间表。
By identifying specific times (use "first month" rather than an actual date) for implementing your marketing plan, you will give your reader a sense of the overall time frame and expectations for results. A timeline, whether stated in words or pictorially as a graph, will give a concrete reality to the ideas of the marketing proposal.
7. Conclude with a vision of future plans.最后展望未来的计划。
You have been focusing on getting a particular product or service launched, but the reader may wonder, what's next? Where do you intend to take your idea after the initial start-up?
Give the reader an idea of how you intend to expand and grow in the future. Will you broaden the market geographically or by age range? Will you add new products to your line? By revealing your vision of the business beyond the three to five years indicated in the pro forma financial plans, you can share with the reader your enthusiasm about the broader potential of the business venture.
Tips for developing the business description开发业务描述的技巧
• Write it before you begin the business plan, then rewrite it after you finish. This will help you articulate those areas that may have changed or developed during the process of writing the business plan.
• Be enthusiastic. This is the section in which you present the value of your concept—why you believe the business will be a success.
• Be accurate. Balance your enthusiasm for the venture with a measured acknowledgment of the risks and costs involved.
• Emphasize the skills and experience of the management team. Readers who are familiar with the industry will be most interested in the quality of the people.
Tips for doing the research做研究的小提示
• Check the most accessible sources first. Don't be overwhelmed by all the information out there—stay focused on finding the information you need for your business venture.
• Document your sources. Good record keeping at the research stage will pay off in the short and long term.
• Remember that the world changes—industry, market, and competitor research is an ongoing process.
Tips for developing the marketing plan制定营销计划的技巧
• Base your plan on the most accurate and most current information available.
• Document your information. Your claims about market growth or competitor response should be supported by realistic and verifiable information.
• Continue to adjust your marketing plan. Show that your plan is not set in stone but is open for review and adjustment—even radical change, if need be.
• Focus on customers and customers' needs. Show how you will be monitoring customer response and modified expectations.
Tips for preparing a financial plan准备财务计划的技巧
• Document your assumptions, as well as the sources for your numbers—whether they are economic forecasts, industry statistics, or your own rational guesses.
• Pay close attention to cash planning. Although most people think of profits first, cash flow can be more important for a start-up venture.
• Do the number crunching yourself. Even if you are not a numbers person and have expert advice, get in there and do the gritty work of building an income statement and balance sheet.
• Don't plan on overburdening the business with too much debt. Debt can seem attractive— ready cash!—but too much debt can weigh down a company's ability to grow.
Tips for developing a milestones plan制定里程碑计划的技巧
• Include only major events, not each individual step.
• Choose milestones that can be clearly defined and easily measured—for example, prototype product development, installation of computer system, market testing completed, first customer sale.
• Use generic dates, such as month six or year one, rather than actual dates.
• Give yourself room for the unexpected. You never know when a problem will occur that slows you down.
• On the other hand, develop an ambitious schedule that you can meet. This will impress investors and improve your reputation.
Why Develop Others?为什么要培养别人？
“At the end of the day, you bet on people, not strategies.”
Larry Bossidy
Former CEO, AlliedSignal
In today’s global business environment, markets and regulations change quickly.
Competitors constantly innovate. Technological changes are the norm.
In order to outmaneuver the competition and meet the demands of the moment, organizations must be agile. They must execute flawlessly. And they must transform themselves continuously.
Are your leaders ready?
We have now entered an era where I don’t care what industry you’re in, you need leaders who can make decisions, make judgment calls at every single level. All the way down to the interface with the customer.
If you go to a company like Google or any of the high tech companies, a lot ofthe innovation that Amazon does is happening right at the front line. Go ahead, try it, put it out there, we'll learn from it. That cannot happen if the senior leadership doesn't have a commitment to both develop the leadership capability, but develop the business through engaging people at all levels of the organization.
Becoming a teaching organization I like to tell parents that they cannot delegate their responsibility to develop their children.
And I think it is the same in an organization. Day in and day out the person that has the biggest impact on people in the organization is the next level above and the associates around and below. And so to build a learning organization I say is not enough. Learning could be, you know we are learning cooking, we are learning this or that, but teaching organizations, when I learned something, I have a responsibility to teach my colleagues.
So everybody takes responsibility for generating new knowledge and it is not enough to be a learner, you then have to translate it into teaching.
The Virtuous Teaching Cycle教学的良性循环
The role of a leader is to ensure that the people who work for them and around them are better every day. There's only one way to make people better. It's to teach them, learn from them, create what I call "virtuous teaching cycles”, not command and control.
A virtuous teaching cycle is teach learn, teach learn. And the leader has a responsibility for reducing the hierarchy, for having a point of view to start the discussion, but then to be responsible to hear everyone's voice, get everyone involved in a disciplined way. It is not a free for all. But it is the leader's responsibility to create that virtuous teaching cycle.
A wonderful example of virtuous teaching cycle is the program that Roger Enrico ran at Pepsi, where every one of the 10 vice presidents comes with a business project.
Roger Enrico gets smarter as result of five days with 10 vice presidents, because he's learning from them. He needs to lower the hierarchy. He needs to be open to learning. And in turn, the people participating need to be energized and empowered to come up and engage in problem solving.
Another example is at Best Buy, where every morning in the stores you would bring 20 associates or so together and they would review the profit and loss statement from the day
before, what we learned from the different customer segments in our stores, what we can do to improve our performance this day. And they do that every single day. The store manager was learning mostly from the associates on the floor.
That was a virtuous teaching cycle were everybody is teaching everybody, everybody is learning and the result has been an incredible result at Best Buy.
“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”
- Harvey S. Firestone
Founder, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co
There are clear advantages to leader-led development.
But for many leaders, taking on teaching, coaching, and other development responsibilities can seem daunting. You might avoid taking on these roles due to lack of time, resources, or your own lack of comfort with this role.
The following tips and resources can help you impart valuable learning to your team every day.
To develop others…
• Start with a Teachable Point of View从可教的观点开始
The first requirement of being able to develop other leaders is to have what I call a teachable point of view. I often give the example of, if I ran a tennis camp and you just came to day one of the tennis camp, I better have a teachable point of view on how I teach tennis. So you are standing there looking at me and it has got four elements. One, the ideas, well how do I teach the backhand, the forehand, the serve, rules of tennis. Then if I am a good tennis coach, I have a set of values. What are the right behaviors I want, how do I want you to dress, how do I want you to behave on the tennis court.
But if that's all I have, what do I do? Show you a power point presentation and then expect you to hit 500 backhands, 500 serves, run around for eight hours. I have to have a teachable point of view on emotional energy. How do I motivate you to buy in to the ideas and values?
On one end of the spectrum it could be I threaten you with corporal punishment, the other I can give you stock options, I can make you feel good about yourself, I can help you develop as a human being, what motivates you.
And then finally, how do I make the tough judgment calls, the yes/no, decisions as the tennis coach, the ball is in, the ball is out. I don't hire consultants and set up a committee, it is yes/no. And the same with running a business, what are the products, services, distribution channels, customer segments that are going to grow top line growth and profitability of the organization.
What are the values that I want everyone in the organization to have, how do I emotionally energize thousands of people, and then how do I make the yes/no, judgments on people and on business issues. So the fundamental building block of being able to develop other leaders is to have that teachable point of view just like the tennis coach.
• Lead with questions提出问题
Questions are hugely important because you want to create dialogue and again, what I call a virtuous teaching cycle where the teacher learns from the students and vice versa. Which means everybody ought to be free to ask whatever is on their mind, whatever it will take to get clarity and understanding, but it is not the leader just coming in and freeform asking questions. I believe the leader has a responsibility for framing the discussion, for having as best they can a teachable point of view, they may need help from their people in flushing it out, but they need to set the stage but then it has to be a very interactive, what I call virtuous teaching cycle environment, teach learn, teach learn, teach learn.
• Make it part of your routine让它成为你日常生活的一部分
A good example to me of an outstanding leader developing other leaders is Myrtle Potter who at the time I am commenting was Chief Operating Officer of Genentech running the commercial side of the business. And she would take time at the end of every single meeting and do some coaching of the whole team on how we could perform as a team better, and then she would often take individuals and say, could we spend 10 minutes over a cup of coffee, I want to give you some feedback and coaching on that report that you just
presented on or how you are handling a particularly difficult human resource issue, but it was part of her regular routine. And I think the challenge for all of us as leaders is to make that a way of life and it is built into the fabric of how we lead and it is not a one off event, three times a year. It is happening almost every day.
• Make it a priority优先考虑
One of the biggest challenges in getting people kind of on this path is to overcome some of their own resistance, either fear or the way I view the world I don't have time for this, everybody can make time. Roger Enrico is CEO of Pepsi. He didn't have time to go off for a week at a time and run training sessions. He had to readjust his calendar. So it requires
you to look in the mirror and say, is this important. If it is important, of course I can make the time. Then I have to get over my own anxiety on how well I can do it, but it is a commitment to get on the path that says: this is how I am going to drive my own performance and the performance of my colleagues.
• Learn to teach学会教书
I think the biggest mistake is to assume you are going to be good at it right off the bat. It is like learning anything else. First time you go out and try and play tennis, good luck. But you got to stay with it and you got to engage your people in helping make you better and them better. And so it is a journey you need to get on, not I am going to do it perfectly when I start out.
If you want to be a great leader who is a great teacher, it's very simple. You have got to dive into the deep end of the pool. But you've got to dive into the pool with preparation. I don't want you drowning. I want you succeeding. It is extraordinarily rewarding for most human beings to teach others. I think once you can turn that switch on, it is self perpetuating. You get a lot of reinforcement, your team is better. You perform better because your performance goes up and it becomes this virtuous teaching cycle.
Your opportunity to develop others你发展他人的机会
We’ve heard why developing others can drive greater business results, and how to make the most of your leader-led development efforts. The materials provided in Develop Others enable you to create personalized learning experiences for YOUR team within the flow of their daily activities. Use the guides and projects to engage your team quickly. And to explore how key concepts apply to them in the context of their priorities and goals.
The value of teaching is the performance of the organization is totally dependent on making your people smarter and more aligned every day as the world changes. In the 21st century we are not going to get by with command and control. We are going to have to get by with knowledge creation. The way you create knowledge in an organization is you create these virtuous teaching cycles where you are teaching and learning simultaneously, responding to customer demands and changes, responding to changes in the global environment. My bottom line is if you're not teaching, you're not leading.
A leader’s most important role in any organization is making good judgments — well informed, wise decisions about people, strategy and crises that produce the desired outcomes. When a leader shows consistently good judgment, little else matters. When he or she shows poor judgment nothing else matters. In addition to making their own good judgment calls, good leaders develop good judgment among their team members.
Share an Idea分享一个想法
Leaders are in a unique position to recognize the ideas and tools that are most relevant and useful for their teams. If you only have a few minutes, consider sharing an idea or tool from this topic with your team or peers that is relevant and timely to their situation.
For example, consider sending one of the three recommended ideas or tools below to your team with your comments or questions on how the idea or tool can be of value to your organization. By simply sharing the item, you can easily engage others in important conversations and activities relevant to your goals and priorities.
To share an idea, tip, step, or tool with your comments via e-mail, select the EMAIL link in the upper right corner of the page that contains the idea, tip, step, or tool that you wish to share.
Discussion 1: Describing your business concept
讨论1：描述你的业务概念
When your team members come up with an idea for a new product or service, they need to develop a business plan. The plan spells out how they intend to meet the expected and unexpected opportunities and obstacles the future holds for their business. And it details how they plan to navigate successfully through the business’s unique competitive environment.
One key element of the plan is the business description. This summary focuses directly on the business concept itself — for example, briefly describing the markets your team members will be pursuing, the product or service itself, and the appeal that the offering will have for its intended users.
The business-concept description gives team members the chance to introduce their idea in terms of its unique qualities and the positive business environment existing for the product or service.
Here they can also make it clear why their concept is exciting. And they can express their commitment and capacity for making the business succeed.
Use these resources to lead a discussion with your team about how to clearly describe their business concept, so they can incorporate this information into the business-description component of their plan.
Note: If your team has only a few members who have an idea for a new product or service, consider partnering with a peer manager to co-lead the discussion for your combined teams.
Consider inviting team members who aren’t currently working on a business concept. They can learn by listening to their colleagues who have business concepts in mind, and may be able to offer helpful feedback their colleagues can use to refine their thinking. You may also choose to pre-select a particular business concept to use as a focus for the discussion.
Working through the discussion guide can take up to 45 minutes. If you prefer a shorter 15- or 30- minute session, you may want to focus only on those concepts and activities most relevant to your situation.
Discussion 2: Identifying operational success factors
讨论2：确定运营成功因素
In developing a business plan for a product or service, your team members must include an operations section in the plan. Operations consist of the processes and activities needed to transform ideas or raw materials into products or services to be sold to customers. To craft an effective business plan, your team members need to develop a high-level view of the operations
required for their business concept.
They should also understand that operations can be valuable sources of competitive advantage.
For example, if your people know of cheap sources of raw materials required for their product,
they can help lower the costs of producing the product. They may then be able to lower the selling price — and attract more customers.
By identifying operational advantages crucial to their business idea, your team members can cite those advantages in the operations section of their business plan. The plan will thus be far more compelling to decision makers who hold the fate of your team’s business plan in their hands.
Use these resources to lead a discussion with your team about what operations will be required to implement their business idea and what competitive advantages those operations might present.
Note: If your team has only a few members who might benefit from the discussion, consider partnering with a peer manager to co-lead the discussion for your combined teams.
Working through the discussion guide can take up to 45 minutes. If you prefer a shorter 15- or 30- minute session, you may want to focus only on those concepts and activities most relevant to your situation.
Start a Group Project启动组项目
Just like any change effort, successfully incorporating new skills and behaviors into one’s daily activities and habits takes time and effort. After reviewing or discussing the concepts in this topic, your direct reports will still need your support to fully apply new concepts and skills. They will need to overcome a variety of barriers including a lack of time, lack of confidence, and a fear of making mistakes. They will also need opportunities to hone their skills and break old habits. To help ensure their success, you can provide safe opportunities for individuals and your team as a whole to practice and experiment with new skills and behaviors on the job.
For example, to encourage the adoption of new norms, you can provide your team members with coaching, feedback, and additional time to complete tasks that require the use of new skills.

Management approaches such as these will encourage team members to experiment with new skills until they become proficient.
Group learning projects provide another valuable technique for accelerating team members development of new behaviors. A group learning project is an on-the-job activity aimed at providing team members with direct experience implementing their new knowledge and skills.
Through a learning project, team members discover how new concepts work in the context of their situation, while simultaneously having a direct and tangible impact on the organization.
The documents below provide steps, tips, and a template for initiating a group learning project with your team, along with two project recommendations for this topic.
How to Write a Winning Business Plan如何写一个成功的商业计划书
A well-conceived business plan is essential to the success of an enterprise. Whether you are starting up a venture, seeking additional capital for an existing product line, or proposing a new activity for a corporate division, you will have to write a plan detailing your project's resource requirements, marketing decisions, financial projections, production demands, and personnel needs. The plan must reflect the viewpoint of three constituencies: the customer, the investor, and the producer. Too many business plans focus excessively on the producer.
How to Make Your Case in 30 Seconds or Less
如何在30秒或更短的时间内立案
If you ran into Warren Buffet on the street, would you know what to say? Having an "elevator speech" ready to go at a moment's notice will enable you to make the most of once-in-a-lifetime communication opportunities. The elevator pitch gets its name from the 30-second opportunity to tell—and sell—your story during a short elevator ride. Thirty seconds is also the typical amount of time you get to capture someone's attention. The purpose of an elevator speech is not to close a deal, but to pique your listener's attention enough to agree to move to the next level of commitment. And it's not just for funding requests—job interviews, networking events, PR opportunities, presentations to executives, and sales all demand the ability to deliver a quick and concise explanation of your case. Here, we present eight tips for being prepared with a winning pitch.
Good Money After Bad善有善报
Christian Harbinson, a young associate at the venture capital firm Scharfstein Weekes, has a difficult decision to make before the next investment committee meeting. He's been watching over SW's investment in Seven Peaks Technologies, and sales of its single product have been disappointing. Now the company's head, Jack Brandon, wants another $400,000 to pursue a new product. Harbinson believes in Brandon and in his proprietary technology—a titanium alloy that prevents surgical instruments from sticking to tissue. 
Three years ago, Brandon quit his job and put $65,000 of his savings into developing a nonstick cauterizing device. Two distributors offered to carry it after they saw his demonstration at a trade show, and a couple of surgeons, quickly becoming enthusiastic, promised testimonials. But if Brandon's cauterizer is to take off, surgeons will have to abandon the forceps they've traditionally used and switch to the Seven Peaks device—a change in behavior that will come slowly if at all. So, Brandon thinks, why not adapt his alloy to a line of forceps? Now Harbinson wonders if he himself has become emotionally
overinvested in Seven Peaks and if this decision is as much a test of his VC potential as of the actual deal. Should Scharfstein Weekes back Brandon's company with a second round of funding, or would it be a case of throwing good money after bad?
Commenting on this fictional case study are Ivan Farneti, a partner with Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures; Fred Hassan, the chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough; Robert M.
Johnson, a venture partner with Delta Partners and a visiting professor at the University of Navarro's IESE Business School; and Christoph Zott, an associate professor of entrepreneurship at Insead.

继续阅读
阅读原文