The Ernst & Young Business Plan Guide, Third Edition

Chapter Seven. General Company Description

The body of the business plan begins with a general description of the company. This description should take no more than a few pages. It should present the fundamental activities and nature of the company. A fine level of detail is not appropriate in this section because the preparer will have the opportunity to offer further detail in the rest of the proposal.

This section of the plan should address questions such as: Is the company a manufacturer, retailer, or service business? What customers is it attempting to serve? What is it providing its customer base and how? Where is it located? Where will it do business (locally, nationally, internationally)?

Some further insight should also be offered as to what stage the company has reached. Is it a rank start-up business without a fully developed product line? Has it developed a product line but not yet begun to market its product? Is it already marketing its products and anxious to expand its scale of activity? Or is it an entity that is looking to diversify its operations?

It is important to articulate the business objectives. Perhaps the company is seeking a certain level of sales or geographic distribution. Or perhaps it hopes to become a publicly traded company or an attractive acquisition candidate. A statement of such objectives is important to the reviewer and may succeed in generating significant interest on the reviewer’s part. Of course, these objectives must appear to be realistic ...