MMBA 6510 FAQ – Revision Date: January 2011
Contents
Where do I start if I don’t know what to do? 2
What questions should I ask myself if I think a New Venture Business Plan is right for me? 3
What if I am not sure about selecting a business or organization to analyze? 4
What Do I need to consider if a Due Diligence Report is right for me? 4
What are good resources to look for examples of Business Plans? 5
What are good resources to look for examples of Due Diligence Reports? 6
What does “New Venture” mean? Does it mean that I can’t write a business plan for an existing business? 6
What kind of information should be in the background section of my project if I am writing a Business Plan for a New Venture? 6
What kind of information should be in the background section of my project if I am doing a Business Analysis (Due Diligence Report)? 7
Do I need to substantiate my reasons for choosing my project? 7
How long should my vision and mission statement for my New Venture be? 8
Can I develop a Vision and a Mission statement for my New Venture and not include any citations and referencing? 8
If I am doing a Business Analysis (Due Diligence) report, what do I have to write about when I analyze the Vision and Mission Statements? 8
I am doing a Business Analysis (Due Diligence) report, what do I have to do if I think that the business I am investigating has the right Vision and Mission and I don’t have recommendations about how to improve or change it? 9
How do I find out more about the culture that exists at a business I am studying for my Business Analysis (Due Diligence Report)? 9
How do I know what type of Legal status my venture should have or how do I assess whether the business I am analyzing has the right legal status? 9
How do I figure out and ensure that my product or service is aligned with local laws/regulations and the local culture? 10
How do I figure out my staffing needs and where I can recruit my staff? 11
How do I figure out how much I will need to compensate employees? 11
What am I expected to do to analyze the culture of an existing organization if I am completing a Business Analysis Report? 12
The Rubric talks about “Prescriptive versus Descriptive”, but I don’t really know what that means? 12
The Rubric talks about building an argument, but I am not sure what that means? 12
Do I need to write an introductory paragraph for every list in my paper? 13
Do I need to prepare a reference list for my business plan or due diligence report? 13
Where do I start if I don’t know what to do?
You have two options on the program project:
1) Develop a business plan for a new venture idea you have
2) Develop a business duediligence analysis report for an existing business
Before you decide which option to pursue for this project, you may want to ask yourself these questions:
· Do you have a desire to be an entrepreneur?
· Are you excited about building a business from scratch?
· Do you have a small business that needs a plan?
If your answer is ‘Yes’ to any of these, you may prefer to work on a New Venture Business Plan. See the Question in this FAQ “What questions should I ask myself if I think a New Venture Business Plan is right for me?”
If your answers are no, then the business analysis (due diligence) report may be a better option. See the Question in this FAQ “What Do I need to consider if a Due Diligence Report is right for me?”
If you need assistance in deciding which option is best for you or have specific questions about what you have in mind, consult your instructor or email .
What questions should I ask myself if I think a New Venture Business Plan is right for me?
In order to make sure you are thinking ‘big enough’, think through the following questions to ensure that your idea is not limited to a very small business. Successful entrepreneurs think big and the MBA Program Project is intended to enable you to create a plan that will have opportunity beyond what is commonly thought of as a hobby business.
What if I am not sure about selecting a business or organization to analyze?
The following decision tree is intended to assist you with the process of identifying an organization you may have interest in analyzing.
What Do I need to consider if a Due Diligence Report is right for me?
With the business due diligence analysis option, you can select a company in the industry that you like to know more about for the analysis. The goal is to select a company that will give you the opportunity to practice the theory, concept, and practical knowledge you learned from each MBA course. You will analyze the company and make recommendations for improvements and justify why your recommendations are appropriate and will lead to specified and desired results.
You need to consider the following when selecting the company that you want to do a business due diligence on:
1) You will need to have access todocuments such asstatement of incorporation, organization structure, business plan, and financial statements of the existing business.These types of documents are normally available to the public if it is apublicly traded company. However, for a private company, you will need to ensure that youwill be given access to these documents by the company. No proprietary, confidential, or otherwise internal information relating to a company and its performance that is not publicly available should be used in your work. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not divulge this information. Generally, this type of information is available to senior executives or distributed to employees as confidential and for internal use only. Any information that is available on the Internet, reported by the media, or public knowledge does not fall under this restriction. It is critical that you investigate access to documents at the start of this project to avoid finding out 2-3 classes into the project that you will not have access to the type of information you will need to successfully complete this project.
2)You must change the name of the organization and generalize the location so that you do not explicitly identify the organization. It is important that you redact any information that will lead a reader to easily identify the origination. You are required to change the name of the company in all materials (including drafts shared with peers) to protect the information. In some cases, you may elect maintain confidentiality by removing key pieces of data that might give away the organization’s identity or inappropriately divulge proprietary details. You should work with your instructors when these situations occur.
3) You may not survey or systematically interview employees at the company. If at some point you wish to pursue interviews or surveys, you will need to follow the standard university procedures to obtain prior approval from the Walden University Institutional Review Board. Collecting data from human subjects without IRB approval can result in dismissal from the program. You will need to produce your recommendations based on analysis of documents or observations you are able to make. You will need to be careful that no proprietary, sensitive, or confidential information is disclosed in your reporting.
4) You should find out about the organization’s policies on use of company resources (including email addresses, printing materials etc.) for individual projects. Many organizations have restrictions on use of company resources.
These are the items to consider before you finalize on the company for your project. Keep in mind that you cannot analyze the company on a course-by-course (MBA course) basis if you cannot get access to documents and information.
What are good resources to look for examples of Business Plans?
The Small Business Administration is a good source for this.
http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/writeabusinessplan/index.html
Business Plans Handbooks (Gale Virtual Reference Library) has samples of real business plans from manufacturing, retail and service companies. This database can be accessed through the Walden Library.
What are good resources to look for examples of Due Diligence Reports?
Hoovers Database provides information which can be used for due diligence. This includes information such as an overview of the firm, their web site, sales numbers, competitors, key people and products and operations. This database contains information on over 600 companies and can be access through the Walden Library.
Also available through the Library are Subject Guides. If you click on the Subject Guides link in the Library, you can access a guide on Management and Technology, which is then further broken down into more specific business related topics. Some of these resources can provide due diligence information on companies.
The following is a fairly detailed due diligence checklist that may be helpful in preparing a report: Lannigan, P. (2010). Mergers and acquisitions: Due diligence list. Retrieved from http://lannigan.org/pdf/due_diligence_checklist.pdf
What does “New Venture” mean? Does it mean that I can’t write a business plan for an existing business?
We use the term New Venture to include not only businesses or other organizations that have yet to be started, but also to include businesses that may exist but have not had a business plan to date, or a businesses or organization you want to grow or change direction in some significant way. If you are creating a business plan for an company that already exists but has now plan, you must change the name and location of the business.
No proprietary, confidential, or otherwise internal information relating to a company and its performance that is not publicly available should be used in your work. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not divulge this information. Generally, this type of information is available to senior executives or distributed to employees as confidential and for internal use only. Any information that is available on the Internet, reported by the media, or public knowledge does not fall under this restriction. You may not interview individuals that work at the company or survey those employees. If at some point you wish to pursue interviews or surveys, you will need to follow the standard university procedures to obtain prior approval from the Institutional Review Board. Collecting data from human subjects without IRB approval can result in dismissal from the program.
Do not assume you can use company resources such as email addresses, printing materials etc. for your project. If you work for the organization you are studying, check policies about doing work on company time or using company resources.
What kind of information should be in the background section of my project if I am writing a Business Plan for a New Venture?
Your background section should include information that enables the reader to see the big picture -- including in which market the venture is in; what the product or service is and why it will be successful. Usually background sections are 1-2 pages at most. It is likely you will add to your background throughout your Program Project assignments in your MBA courses. This is a section you may want to review again as you develop your plan.
In addition to background on the company, you’ll want to provide background on the principals from the firm – the owners and managers. Investors will want to know what type of skills, work experience and education the people who are going to start this firm bring to the company.
What kind of information should be in the background section of my project if I am doing a Business Analysis (Due Diligence Report)?
If you are doing a business analysis, you should include the current state of the enterprise, including what product/service the business delivers, where it operates, its relevant history to this point, why it has been successful and so on. The Background should provide the reader with enough information to get a sense of the business as it currently exists.
For the business due diligence option, the background section should include a problem statement. You will be recommending a solution for this critical business problem based on your findings from the business due diligence analysis.
You should also include information on the leaders of the firm, especially those who will be impacting the changes or who have impacted the current successes in the company.
Do I need to substantiate my reasons for choosing my project?
If you select a New Venture Business Plan:
For the purposes of your MBA Program Project, you are expected to delineate the opportunity your New Venture will address or why there is now opportunity to grow or change direction for an existing business or enterprise you have started. This section of your project should focus on the information you have based on your initial research that indicates that your idea has value and a reasonable chance to succeed. You should use evidence you found doing research locally, in the Walden library or using other credible resources that lead you to conclude that the venture has merit.
If you select to complete a Business Analysis (Due Diligence Report)
For the purposes of your MBA Program Project, you will need to substantiate your rationale for selecting the organization you plan to study and indicate why. “To learn more about the company” is not a valid reason for selecting this option since the business due diligence report is not a “book report” project. You will need to support your reason for selecting this organization through your analysis of the current status of the organization and unmet opportunity you identify the organization could potentially achieve. In most cases, you will select an organization from an sector you are most familiar with and have knowledge about. Your expertise will be important as you analyze the organization and make recommendations for improvements that will lead to specific, desired results.