FEATURE
PAPER
Business
Plan Creation: Does Gender Matter?
The
following paper was presented at the 2006 SBI Mid-Year Conference.
It was written by Ronald G. Cook,
Paul Belliveau,
and Christine Lentz of Rider University.
Abstract
This
article examines the role that gender plays in a microenterprise
program (MEP) that focused on developing
quality business plans. Based on four years of data, women and
men had similar program completion
rates and similar overall business plan scores. However, women
scored significantly better on
the presentation of their plan to judges. Further, the level of
formal education a participant had upon
entering the program mattered, but only for women. This finding
suggests that MEPs that focus on helping
women should pay particular attention to the level of formal education
as an entry requirement.
Introduction
Microenterprises
are commonly described as businesses with limited capital, few
or no
employees, and limited role in the market (Tezler, 1992, Cook and
Belliveau, 2004). They are typically
a self employment option and are often home-based (Cook, Belliveau,
and Sandberg, 2004). Although
microenterprises are also international in scope, our discussion
will focus on microenterprises in the US.
Microenterprise
programs (MEPs) have been created to encourage entrepreneurship
and
economic development at the grass roots level (Servon and Doshna,
2000). According to the 2005
Directory of Microenterprise Programs (Aspen Institute, 2006),
there were approximately 517
microenterprise programs in the United States, providing loans,
technical assistance, and training
services to entrepreneurs. This number has grown substantially
since 1992, when the Aspen Institute
reported only 84 programs in the US.
MEPs tend
to “focus on entrepreneurs who generally confront
higher levels of adversity than do
other entrepreneurs” (Cook, Belliveau, and Sandberg, 2004,
p. 398). These tend to be minority and
women-owned new firms, as over 68 percent of MEPs have a client
base of 50 percent or more women
(Aspen Institute, 2006). As Robb’s (2002) study demonstrated,
survival rates for these ventures are
likely to be lower than those of new firms owned by white males.
Recent statistics document the growth in women entrepreneurship
as “the number of womenowned
businesses in the US grew 20 percent between 1997 and 2002,
twice the national average for all
businesses… and women now own nearly 30 percent of non-farm
businesses in the United States in
2002” (Bergman, 2006, p. 1). Clearly, increased women business
ownership reflects an earlier finding
by Scherer (1990), who noted that in the 1980’s, the number
of self-employed women increased by 69
percent compared to a 13 percent increase in the number of
self-employed men. Even so, women still
lag behind men in both opportunity-based and necessity-driven
entrepreneurship in the US (Breeden,
2004).
Read the Entire Paper...
TIP
OF THE WEEK
Function
of the Executive Summary
The Executive
Summary template in BizPlanBuilder serves two important functions.
First, it should convey to the reader that you have an accurate
understanding of your business. It is like the "hook" in a good
novel. It should compel the reader to continue on to obtain a
fuller picture of your company. If it does this, then the rest
of your plan will have a chance to stand on its own merit.
Second,
due to time or other restraints, the Executive Summary may be
the only section of your plan that some evaluators read first.
How good it is determines whether they read the rest. If you
assume that your reader may have only five minutes to review
your plan, what are the most important points to convey?
All
things considered, the Executive Summary should be brief (one
to three pages) and should contain highlights of your company,
its products, its markets, and its financial position and performance
- both current and projected. Including knowledge of your industry,
management team and financial reports, as well your plan to pay
back investors, will convince your reader that your business
can and will succeed. Most importantly, the Executive Summary
explains your experience and role in the business - and how you
will make it a success (or have made it a success if your plan
is designed to seek funding for expansion).
Parts of the Executive Summary
The
Executive Summary briefly discusses each component of your business
plan. Depending on the BizPlanBuilder template that you use,
these components typically include mini-versions of, for example,
the Company Mission, Market Opportunity, Customer Base, Store
Location, Industry Trends, Service (or Product) Strategy, Business
Model, Management Team, Capital Requirements, Projected Revenue
tables, Business Risk, Exit Strategy and Return on Investment,
and other summaries that correlate with the components of the
plan you choose - as well as a Conclusion. Obviously, the Executive
Summary is your sales pitch to investors. These, of course, can
serve as the outline to a Power-Point presentation that complements
your business plan.
Executive
Summary Checklist
• Have
you written all of the other components of your business plan?
(If you haven't, you shouldn't begin writing the Executive Summary
• Does your Executive Summary convey to the reader that you have an accurate understanding of your business?
• Does your Executive Summary compel the reader to continue on in order to obtain a fuller picture of your company?
• Does your Executive Summary cover the most important points of your business plan?
• Does
your Executive Summary contain highlights of your company, its
products, its markets, and its financial position and performance
- both current and projected?
• Does your Executive Summary contain knowledge of your industry, management team, and financial reports and discuss your plan to pay back investors?
• Is your final copy of the Executive Summary one to three pages in length?
| Burke
Franklin and Jill E. Kapron. BizPlanBuilder Express:
A Guide to Creating a Business Plan with BizPlanBuilder10
- 3rd Edition Thomson Southwestern.
Mason, Ohio. 2007. p31& 32. |
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Small Business Policy
The Consulate General of Sweden in New York together with The Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research and The Swedish Federation for Private Enterprise invites you to an exciting seminar at the Consulate General of Sweden on the 10th of November.
Meet three exciting speakers with different perspectives on the entrepreneur and the small business sector. Comparisons between the U.S. and Sweden as well as a closer look at the role of the entrepreneur in innovation and entrepreneurship is on the agenda for this morning seminar.
The seminar will be held at the Consulate General of Sweden - One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Avenue/48th Street, Conference room 46th floor, New York. It will take place November 10, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00pm. This seminar is free of charge but regisration is required and space is limited. To Register: entrepreneurship@swedennewyork.com
For General Information: mikael.jorstig@fsf.se
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CONFERENCES
BSC
|
| Who: |
Balanced Scorecard
Collaborative
|
| What: |
2006 BSC North American Summit
|
| Where: |
Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego, CA |
| When: |
November 7-9, 2006 |
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AGB
|
| Who: |
Association
for Global Business
|
| What: |
18th International Conference
|
| Where: |
Hyatt Regency, Newport Beach, California,
USA |
| When: |
November
16-19, 2006 |
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SES
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| Who: |
Search
Engine Strategies - Incisive Media
|
| What: |
Search
Engine Marketing & Optimizatio
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| Where: |
Hilton Chicago - Chicago, IL |
| When: |
December 4-7, 2006 |
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ICSB
|
| Who: |
International
Council for Small Business
|
| What: |
World Conference
|
| Where: |
Turku, Finland |
| When: |
June 13-15, 2007 |
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MEI
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| Who: |
MEI
|
| What: |
The
3rd International Symposium on Management, Engineering
and Informatics
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| Where: |
Orlando, Florida, USA |
| When: |
July 8-11, 2007 |
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CALLS FOR PAPERS
CIJM
|
| Who: |
Cyprus
International Journal of Management |
| What: |
11th
volume, No.1, Autumn 2006 of the Cyprus International
Journal of Management
|
| Where: |
N/A |
| When: |
May
24-27, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
November 30, 2006
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HIC
|
| Who: |
Hawaii International
Conference
|
| What: |
7th Annual Hawaii International Conference
on Business
|
| Where: |
Waikiki
Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, Honolulu Hawaii, USA |
| When: |
May 24-27, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
January 19, 2007
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IFERA
|
| Who: |
International
Family Enterprise Research Academy
|
| What: |
7th Annual IFERA Conference 2007
|
| Where: |
European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel,
Germany |
| When: |
June 20-23, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
February 10, 2007
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