Don't Mistake Business Plans for Planning (It May Be Dangerous to Your Financial Health)

Authors

  • Bill Parks University of Idaho
  • Philip D. Olson University of Idaho
  • Donald W. Bokor University of Idaho

Abstract

Most academic research concerning business plans suggests that business plans  improve the performance of new firms, and virtually all textbooks related to small business advise ent repreneurs to prepare plans before sta rting a business. A survey of the chief executive officers (CEO) in the INC. 500 (America's 500 fastest growing, privatel y held  small  firms )  suggests  otherwise-fewer  than  twenty percent of the respondents indicated that  they had prepared complete business plans before start-up. Furthermore, firms which prepared business plans were less profitable when entering the rapid  growth phase  than those which did not. This article explores benefits and limitations of  business plan preparation.

References

De Geus, Arie P., "Planning as Learning," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 66,No. 2, 1988:

-74.

Gasse, Yvonne, ''ManagementTechniquesand PracticeinSmall Manufacturing Firms,"

Proceedings of the International Council on Small Business, 1979, Quebec City, Canada.

Ludwig, Emil, Napoleon (New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1961).

Megginson, Leon C., Charles R. Scott,Jr.,Lyle R. Trueblood,and William L.Megginson, S uccessful Small Business Management, Fif th Edition (Plano, Texas: Business Publica­ tions, Inc., 1988).

Patton, George S. Jr., War As I Knew It (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1947).

Peters, Tom, Thriving on Chaos (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987).

Robinson, Richard B. Jr., and John A. Pearce II, ''The Impact of Formalized Strategic Planning on Financial Performance in Small Organizations," St rategic Management Journal, Vol. 4, 1983: 197-207 ·

Shuman, Jeff rey C., John J. Shaw, and Gerald Sussman,"StrategicPlanning inSmaller Rapid Growth Companies," Long Range Planning, Vol. 18, No. 6, 1985: 48-53.

Tootelian, Dennis H., and Ralph M. Gaedeke, Small Business M anagement, Second Edition, (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1985).

Downloads

Published

1991-01-04

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (1991)

Section

Articles

License

The Journal of Small Business Strategy (the “Publisher”) and the Author(s) agree as follows:
 
1.Author(s) hereby grant to Publisher all right, title, and interest in and to the Work, including copyright to all means of expression by any method now known or hereafter developed, including electronic format. If Publisher does not publish the Work within two (2) years of the Effective Date, copyright shall revert back to the Author. Publisher agrees to always credit Author(s) as the author(s) of the Work.
 
2.Publisher hereby grants Author a royalty-free, limited license for the following purposes, provided the Work is always identified as having first been published by Publisher.
    •The right to make and distribute copies of all or part of the Work for use in teaching;
    •The right to use all or part of the material contained in the Work in a book by the Author(s), or in a collection of the Author(s)’s work;
    •The right to use and distribute the Work internally at the Author(s)’s place of employment, and for promotion and any other non-commercial purposes;
    •The right to use figures and tables from the Work for any purpose;
    •The right to make presentations of material from the Work;
    •The right to use and distribute the Work on the Author(s)’s Web site and on the Author(s)’s university’s institute repository;
Such license shall be effective when the Work is first published in the Journal of Small Business Strategy.
 
3.The Author(s) represents and warrants that the Work: (a) is the Author(s)’s original work and that Author(s) has full power to enter into this agreement; (b) does not infringe the copyright or property right of another; (c) contains no materials which is obscene, libelous, defamatory or violates another’s civil right, right of privacy, or is otherwise unlawful; and (d) has not been previously published, in whole or in part. Author(s) shall indemnify and hold Publisher harmless against loss or expenses arising from breach of any such warranties.

How to Cite

Don’t Mistake Business Plans for Planning (It May Be Dangerous to Your Financial Health). (1991). Journal of Small Business Strategy (archive Only), 2(1), 15-24. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/233