MurdochUniversity Business Plan Competition 1

MurdochCollege Category

Year 10 & 11

Best Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition 2004

(MurdochBusinessSchool)

The MurdochBusinessSchool’s Best Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition is conducted to help support young entrepreneurs in successful business planning. The overall aim of the Murdoch College Category is to help develop business planning capability within students. Advice and professional feedback will be provided to submissions.

MurdochCollege Individual Categories

Students may enter the competition for consideration of the Marketing Plancategory. Students who have already completed assignments within their studies can use these as a foundation for their submission.

Submission of a Business Concept Plan <insert date>.

Requires the submission of (at least ten(10) pages) aBusiness Concept Proposal (BCP) that will communicate your business idea to the competition judging panel. The submission must be presented in MS Word format, single spacing, size twelve font and follow a defined structure as provided in the downloadable template ‘Murdoch College Business Concept.doc’.

The submission must notjust outline basic the business concept but rather focus towards the marketing of the business. The submission be a hard copy form, but will be accepted electronically if the participants have no other means of delivery.

Marketing Plan Category

Investigate a business concept of your choice and in respect of the product or service analyse and develop its design, production/delivery and marketing. This must be accompanied by a breakdown of the costs involved in the production of your product to arrive at the cost price.

Present your findings in the form of a written report. The report will be supported by a visual and oral presentation. You may utilise any medium you wish, or combination of media, to get your message across, although power point is recommended..

In completing the above it is recommended that the following aspects are covered:

  • the need for modification of your chosen product due to consumer demand/need.
  • investigation of the production process - materials/ingredients used, costs, methods used, environmental considerations and any other related matter.
  • investigation of the marketing techniques used - pricing, promotions, packaging, place, etc.
  • a detailed outline of the steps you followed in the modification process.

A core component of the Business Concept will be the marketing plan for your new product. The following is a suggested format.

You will need to research your competition as well as conduct market research into your own product.

Sample Marketing Plan
Executive Summary / Briefly describe:
  • Your Product
  • Your Target Market
  • How you will promote your product
  • Where you will sell your product
NB This is an introductory section to familiarise the reader with your ideas.
The Product / Describe your product in terms of its:
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Opportunities
  • Threats
See pg 186 text book
Describe the packaging of your product
Discuss the brand name
Target Market /
  • Who are your customers?
  • Where do they live?
  • What age group(s)?
  • Percentage male/female
  • Where do they work?
  • What are their spending habits?
  • Are there several target market groups?
See page 284 – 285 of text MC Text
Market Research / Find out about your target market by:
  • Showing your product to a number of typical customers and asking them what they think and how much they would be prepared to pay for it
  • Review consumer trends of your target market through research reports and censuses through reputable organisations like the Australian Bureau of Statistics

Competition /
  • Who are your competitors?
  • Compare your product to theirs eg strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats
  • Compare the prices

Price /
  • Describe how your price was determined.
  • What are your reasons for selecting this price level
  • Do you have a pricing policy?

Place /
  • Where do envisage selling your product
  • Describe the distribution channel(s)
  • What are your reasons for distributing your product by these means

Promotion /
  • Describe all the methods you will use to promote your product
  • Discuss why you have selected these methods, taking into consideration your target market, the cost of advertising, and your means of distribution

The Future /
  • Briefly describe your long term marketing goals
  • What additional information would you need to market your product successfully
  • What modification of your product do you foresee in the future? For what reasons.

General Assumptions

Students may make a number of assumptions as required to adequate develop the Business Concept to support their submission.

Submission Date

The Business Concept submission will need to be submitted to the Murdoch College Coordinator Chris Collinsby the 25thJune 2004.

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