starting a business

1. Business plans- A business plan includes where the business is at the time of writing the
document, including their resources and abilities. Then where they plan to be at a specific
point in the future, this could be how much they want to increase their profits, they may
want to reduce their outgoings, or to increase their assets.
A business plan is to help encourage a business to focus on the tasks that they want
to achieve. By doing this they may also be able to convince banks to provide them with
loans to improve their business because the banks would be able to see that they have got a
clear, realistic plan to be completed within a deadline.
Business models- A business model is to help the owners of the business create a product or
service that customers feel like they need. By creating a business model to business can first
look at what they want to sell, and then how they are going to make money off of it. They
must include the supplies used, the labour, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, delivery
and time it takes to process the sale. This all takes time and therefore, costs money/ The
business needs to make sure that they are pricing their time as appropriately as they would
be when it comes to working out the cost of the raw materials.
A sustainable business model also includes integrating social and environmental
issues into their business plan. These types of business models must be forward thinking to
be able to survive in a changing economy and to appeal to the needs of future customers
and generations.
Mission statement- A mission statement outlines the purpose of the company for those in
the organisation and to the public. A mission statement is important because it ensure that
everyone in and around the business are ‘on the same page’. A mission statement will also
include a company’s current capabilities, such as their activities.
Example- The mission of Make-A-Wish International is to grant the wishes of children with
life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and
joy
Brand positioning-
Brand positioning is where the company wants to have a place in the consumers mind, they
want their customers to think of their brand before they think of the company’s
competitors. They do this by making sure that they have a clear plan of who their target
market is and what they are going to do to appeal to them.
Example- Tesco supermarkets do this by having the most expensive brand at the consumers
eye level, then the middle-priced brand above and the cheapest brand at the bottom of the
shelves. This is because they want the consumer to see the item that makes the business
the most money before they see any other items.
Value drivers-
Value drivers are anything that can be added to a product or service that will increase its
value to consumers, this can allow the business to have a competitive advantage. A
company will be able to increase its sales and position on the market by adding value drivers
and will increase the possibility of customers buying the product.

2. Example-
How can a small business market themselves?
Newspaper
- Local radio
- Sponsorship for local events
- Social media
- Word-of-mouth
- Local networking group (BNI)
In business, what is a blueprint and how would this relate to customers and marketing?
A company will make a blueprint of the things that they want to incorporate into their
business processes. It is very similar to a business model, it includes what the business is
planning to do in the future and how they plan to do this.
Example-

3. Intellectual Property- this is used for things like inventions or designs. An example of this
would be a patent, copyright or trademark. This enables people to not have their ideas
stolen, this is fairer systembecause if a sole trader has an idea then they won’t lose their
idea to a bigger company who can sell the product or service at a much cheaper rate.
Copyright- Copyright is a piece of legislation that guarantees a piece of work is original and
the product of the persons own skill. Copyright protects work from being exposed or copied
by other people.
Trademarks- trademarks set apart one person’s work to another, this includes, logos,
slogans, or colours. There are 45 different classes to choose from meaning that a few
companies might have the same name, but they would be in different classes.