This article is designed as the starting point for writing a business plan. It first describes what a business plan is. These benefits are discussed: financing, increasing knowledge, preventing poor investment, and planning. A brief description follows of the 10 components of a business plan: executive summary; business description; marketing; research, design, and development; manufacturing; organization; critical risks; financial; milestone schedule; and appendix. Insets focus on these special topics: emerging business forums, a common stumbling block--the writing process, and a business plan checklist--key questions to answer. A brief sampling of the types of places that may have the kind of information needed covers sources of internal data and sources of external data. Drawbacks and limitations to business plans are addressed. The article concludes with a list that outlines 11 suggested resources for business plan development. This information is provided for each resource: title, description, and level of sophistication. These include six specialty books devoted entirely to business plans and five textbooks containing thorough coverage of business plans as well as additional material on entrepreneurship and small business management. (YLB)
