How to write a

Business Plan
Final
formatting

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Final formatting – introductory remarks

 This section focuses on the style form of the Business Plan

 In the following, we are summarizing the style form

requirements to be applied here

 The objective here is to keep the form requirements as simple

and straight forward as possible

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Length and language of business plan

 The appropriate length of the business plan should

be discussed and agreed with the supervisors at the outset

 Rough guideline for the length of the main body:

– 50 pages

 The business plan must be written in English

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Format of text

 Paper format A4

 Printed on one side only

 Typeface “Calibri”, size 11, color black

 2 inches of margin for corrections

 Line spacing 1 1/2

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Cover page

 The cover page provides the most relevant

information about topic, author, date, and university

 The layout of the title page must be formal and

does not need any eye-catching illustrations or fancy
decoration

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Cover page – layout requirements

EMBA in International
Management and Leadership
Al Yamamah University, Riyadh (Saudi-Arabia)
International MBA
INSEEC University, Paris (France)
[Title]
Supervisor: [Professor‘s name]
EMBA
Business
Plan
Presented by
[Name & YU
ID Number]
[Month, year]
©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh
Sworn statement

 Each student is required to make the following sworn oath:

 “I hereby solemnly declare on my oath that the work presented

has been carried out by me alone without any form of illicit
assistance. All sources used have been fully quoted.”

 Signature

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Intellectual property

 The student is covered by all laws relating to copyright and

commercial property rights

 Students are reminded to be cautious signing non- disclosure

or secrecy agreements as may be demanded by some
commercial enterprises in the context of a Business Plan
project; YU and INSEEC will not assume any liability nor duty
not to disclose information included in a Business Plan
document for the above purposes.

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Table of contents – levels of headings

 There should never be more than four levels of

headings, e.g.
– 1. (Chapter heading)
– 1.1 (Chapter sub-heading)
– 1.1.1
– 1.1.1.1

 There is a full stop behind the first level, no full stops behind the
other levels

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Tables, graphs and figures

 Tables, graphs, figures and illustrations can greatly enhance

assignment presentation, if they are used in moderation.

 As with the written word, make sure that information

presented in this manner is properly referenced.

 Design of graphs and illustrations must be simple and

reduced to the best possible minimum.

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Tables, graphs and figures (cont‘d)

 It is not appropriate to post pictures on the title page

 Try to avoid three-dimensional graphs and illustrations;

graphs do not need to be spectacular; they need to support
your argumentation in a professional manner

 Place them as close as possible to where they are referred to in

the text; every table, graph or figure MUST be discussed in the
text!

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Tables, graphs and figures (cont‘d)

 While graphs, charts and other kinds of illustration can be

referred to under the general caption of "Figures", it is
customary to use the word “Table” as a caption for word-based
summaries

 Headings of figures are usually placed under the illustrations,

while headings of tables are positioned above

 The correct method of introducing them into your text is to

refer to the figure or table by number: “As Table 4 shows....”
or “(See Figure 2)”

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Citations

 “I am using this direct quote only because I could

not paraphrase it.” (Bui, 2008, p. 14)

 Bui and Meyen (2010) argued that having a Chihuahua as a

companion extended people’s life spans (Bui & Meyen,
2010, p.125).

 Bui, Meyen and Nguyen (2010) argued that having a

Chihuahua as a companion extended people’s life spans (Bui,
Meyen, et al., 2010, p. 125).

© Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Citations – Websites

 http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html, [date retrieved:dd/mm/yy].

© Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

References (cont’d)

Books:

 Hofstede, G. (2003). Culture’s consequences:

Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations
across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (2nd ed).

 Bartlett, Ch. A., Ghoshal, S. (1998). Managing across borders.

The transnational solution. London: Random House.

Chapters in books:

 Dinges, N. G. (1983). Intercultural competence (pp.

References (cont’d)

176–202). In: D. Landis, R. W. Brislin (Eds.), Handbook of

intercultural training. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Pergamon.

Articles:

 Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The critical incident

technique. Psychological Bulletin 51: 327–358.

 Cattell; R. B., Vogelman, S. (1977). A comprehensive trial of

the scree and KG-criteria for determining the number of
factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research 12: 289–325.
Reference

 For all matters relating to quotations and

bibliography students should refer to:

 Bui, Y. (2009). How to Write a Master’s Business Plan.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Plagiarism

 Every source used MUSTbe documented

 Not doing so is “plagiarism”

 An electronic version of the Business Plan must be provided;

plagiarism software will be applied

 Plagiarism results in failing the Business Plan; no second

chance!
Grading

 Academic papers will be graded along a given grading scale

ranking as follows:
A+ (95-100),
A (90-94),
B+ (85-89),
B (80-84),
C+ (75-79), or
F (below 75).

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

Grading (con’t)

 The following criteria will be considered (cont’d)

– Format. Standard rules regarding format and referencing

are consistently applied; the paper is professionally
formatted following the academic conventions as given in
this guide

– Method. Appropriate scientific methods are used and

applied in reasonable, constructive and correct ways to
deal with the topic in question; a clear argumentation is
demonstrated

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

 This is YOUR Business Plan, not your professor’s

 The professor will guide you but not write your Business Plan.

 The usual process between you and your professor is:

– You select a topic and get it approved.
– You develop a table of contents and get it approved.
– You provide a sample chapter and get it approved.
– You submit the final work.

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

 The Business Plan MUST cover the following
fields (Example on the table of contents of a
Business Plan:

1. Title Page.
2. Table of Contents.
3. Executive Summary:
o Business Concept & Mission Statement.
o Operating Plan Summary.
o Marketing Plan Summary.
o Financial Plan Summary.
4. Business Discerption:
o What is your Business Project (Business Idea &
©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh
 The Business Plan MUST cover the following
fields (Example on the table of contents of a
Business Plan:
Identification)?
5. Business Project Description:
o The purpose of your business project.
o What will be your product(s)?
o Your products’ market.
o Who’s your customers?
o What information you need.
6. Business Environmental Analysis.
7. Industry Background:
o Industry Description.
©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh
 The Business Plan MUST cover the following
fields (Example on the table of contents of a
Business Plan:
o Industry Competition.
o Industry Development and Growth.
8. Market Analysis:
o Describe and Define Your Target Market.
o Estimating your market share (expected sales) or demand
for your product.
9. Marketing Plan:
o Using your marketing plan as a road map.
o Developing your marketing plan.
o Defining your marketing mix.
©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh
 The Business Plan MUST cover the following
fields (Example on the table of contents of a
Business Plan:
10. Operating Plan:
o Location.
o Operation Procedures.
o Facilities and Layouts.
o Purchasing and Distribution.
o Inventory Management and Control.
o Quality Control and Customer Service.
o Determining breakeven point.
11. Management Plan:
o Managerial structure of your business.
©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh
 The Business Plan MUST cover the following
fields (Example on the table of contents of a
Business Plan:
o Describing your team members’ qualifications and
experiences.
o Introducing the team as a unit.
12. Financial Plan:
o Specifying your business capital requirements
o Providing financial projections in professional ways.
o Conducting breakeven analysis for sales
o Assessing risks and rewards
o Anticipating financial returns.

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh

 The Business Plan MUST cover the following
fields (Example on the table of contents of a
Business Plan:

Get started!
Recommended References:
- Arthur DeThomas and Stephanie Derammelaere. (2008). “Writing a Convincing Business Plan”.
Third Edition. BARRONS.
- Lynda A. Cyr, Mentor. (2007). “Creating A Business Plan”. Harvard Business School Press.
Boston, Massachusetts.

©Dr. Fayq Al Akayleh