What Is the Process of Writing a Business Plan?

 

What Is the Process of Writing a Business Plan?

                                         

Symbols come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Money from investors, banks, or financial institutions is one example of such a symbol.

A successful Business Plan (a successful manipulation of symbols) results in the receipt of credits (money, another kind of symbol). What are the rules of symbol manipulation? What are the characteristics of a successful Business Plan in our example?

(1) It is intimately related to reality. The symbol system must be isomorphic in order to map reality. We must be able to recognize reality as soon as we see the symbols organized.

If we react to a Business Plan with skepticism ("it's too good to be true" or "some of the assumptions are unrealistic"), this criterion is not satisfied, and the Business Plan fails.

(2) It rearranges old, known data to produce new, emerging patterns.

The manipulation of symbols must contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the world (very much as a doctoral dissertation should).

When confronted with a Business Plan, for example, we must respond with wonder and interest ("That's right! - "I never considered it" or "(organized) in this way makes sense").

(3) All of the symbols must be internally consistent. The requirement for external consistency (compatibility with the real world, a realistic representation system) was stated previously. This one is different: all symbols must coexist peacefully, and the system must be logical.

As an example, consider the Business Plan:

Reactions like "This assumption/number/projection defies or contradicts the other" suggest a lack of internal coherence and a definite inability to get money (to manipulate the appropriate symbols).

(4) Another need is transparency: all information should be available at all times. The manipulation will fail if the symbol system is opaque — if data is absent or, worse, concealed.

In our case, if the candidate refuses to denude himself, to disclose his most sensitive portions, his vulnerabilities as well as his strong points, he is unlikely to receive funding. Macedonia's accounting system, albeit being reformed, is a prime example of concealment in a location where exposition should have reigned.

(5) The fifth criterion is universality. Languages are represented using symbol systems. Everyone should be able to understand the language — without any ambiguity. Both the manipulator and the manipulated should have access to a shared lexicon, such as a dictionary.

Remarks such as "Why is he employing this weird technique of calculation?" and "Why did he neglect to compute the cost of financing?" are clear indicators of a Business Plan's failure to manipulate. "What does this phrase imply, and what does he mean by saying it?"

(6) The symbol system must be all-inclusive. It cannot arbitrarily reject certain symbols. It cannot overlook the existence of conflicting meanings, double entendres, and ambiguities. It must encompass all potential meanings as well as ALL of the symbols accessible to the system.

Let's go back to the Business Plan:

A Business Plan must include all accessible data – as well as all known ways for processing it. It may safely construct a hierarchy of priorities and preferences – but it must first show all of the options and then make a choice while providing excellent justifications for doing so.

(7) The symbol system must be linked to other symbol systems that are useful. These connections might be official or casual (implied, by way of mental association, or by way of explicit reference or incorporation).

Returning to the Business Plan:

It is pointless to create a Business Plan that ignores geopolitical, macroeconomic and marketing factors. Is the region a good place to invest?

What are the territory's current rules and regulations, and how likely are they to change? What exactly is the competition, and how can it be neutralized or co-opted? All of them are external variables and external symbol systems. Some of them are inextricably and formally related to the subject matter at hand (Laws, customs tariffs, taxes, for instance). Some are loosely related to it: replacement products, new technology, ethical and environmental concerns, and so on. The Business Plan is meant to ring true in the reader's thoughts and provoke the emotion, "How very accurate!!!"

(8) There must be a visible hierarchy in the symbol system. There are and have been initiatives to create and employ non-hierarchical symbol systems. They all failed, resulting in the formation of a formal or informal hierarchy. The technical name is "Utility Functions." This is not a speculative demand. In today's complicated financial markets, utility functions drive the majority of investment decisions.

The author(s) of the Business Plan must say clearly what he wants and what he wants most, what is a must-have, and what would be great to have. He must define and specify his preferences, priorities, needs, and specifications. If he gives equal weight to all aspects of the Business Plan, his message will be misunderstood by those attempting to decipher it, and his application will be denied.

(9) The symbol system must be seen to fulfill a (useful) function and to make an attempt to succeed. As a result, it must be direct, comprehensible, and unambiguous, and it must include lists of requests and wishes (all of them prioritized, as we have mentioned).

When a computer is faced with several tasks at once, it prioritizes them and allocates its resources in accordance with this list of priorities.

A computer is the physical manifestation of a symbol system, as is a bank that gives credit. The same rules apply to the human body.

All-natural (and most human) systems have a goal in mind.

(10) The final – but far from least – need is that the symbol system communicates with humans. It's pointless to have a computer without a screen, a bank without customers, or a business plan without someone to examine it. When modifying symbol systems, we must constantly keep the "end-user" in mind and be "user friendly" to him. A bank, a company, or even a country does not exist. Humans, like me and you, are at the end of the line.

To persuade people to provide credits, we must first inspire them to do so. We must appeal to their emotions and senses: our symbol system (=presentation, Business Plan) must be aesthetically pleasing, forceful, persuasive, attractive, resonant, engaging, and interesting. All of these are illogical (or, at the very least, non-cognitive) responses.

We must appeal to their intelligence. Our symbol system must be rational, logical, hierarchical, not implausible, truthful, and consistent both internally and externally. All of this must result in motor motivation: the hand that signs the cheque that has been provided to us should not tremble.

THEREFORE, THE PROBLEM IS NOT WHERE TO GO, BUT EVEN WHEN TO GO IN ORDER TO OBTAIN CREDITS.

THE PROBLEM IS HOW TO MOTIVATE BY COMMUNICATION (=manipulation of symbols).

Using this idea of symbol manipulation, we can distinguish three types of finance organizations:

(1) Those who work with intangible symbols. When evaluating business proposals, the World Bank, for example, utilizes factors that cannot be measured (how can one quantify the contribution to regional stability, or the rise in democracy, or the improvement in human rights records?).

(2) Individuals who work with semi-quantifiable symbols. Organizations such as the IFC and the EBRD make decisions based on sound – quantitative – commercial and financial criteria. However, if they were only focused on business, they would not have made many of the investments that they are making and in the geographical areas of the world in which they are making them.

(3) There are also traditional financial institutions that only deal with quantitative, measurable elements. Most of us are familiar with this sort of funding institution: commercial banks, private companies, and so on.

Whatever type of financial institution we have, we must never forget:

We're dealing with people who are primarily influenced by the manipulation of symbol systems. Following the aforementioned guidelines would ensure success in securing finance. Making the correct national decision — would propel a country into the twenty-first century without having to revisit the twentieth.