Harvard ManageMentor — BUSINESS PLAN DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

Group Learning Project Plan:

Analyze the Business Environment for Your Idea
Use this learning project plan to define your project, schedule project activities, identify necessary resources,
track your progress, and reflect on your project outcomes. Consider adding more or different reflection
questions in Part III to fit your project.

Part I. Define your group learning project

Project description:
Over a 30-day period, team members will break into subteams to analyze the business environment — industry,
competition, target market, and potential customers — for a proposed concept for a new product or service. The concept
may be one chosen by team members, or may be a concept assigned by their manager. Their business environment
analysis will test whether the concept offers a real opportunity that solves a real customer problem. The final outcome of
the learning project will be detailed findings on the business environment that team members can use as a basis for
preparing the “Industry background,” Competitive analysis,” and “Market analysis” sections of their business plan, and
for developing the marketing plan for the concept.

Project goal(s):
Help team members learn how to analyze the business environment for a new product or service so they can gain insights
for developing a marketing plan for their idea.

Project participants:

Part II. Plan and track your progress

Project step Resources needed Target Check when
completion date completed
1. Meet with project team members who have  “Determine Your Day 7
selected or have been assigned an idea for a Information Needs”
new product or service as a focus for (in the Learn section
learning about business plan development. of the Harvard
Form three subteams: ManageMentor topic
 Subteam A will assess the industry that Business Plan
the new offering would be part of. Development).
 Subteam B will analyze the
competition the new offering would
face.
 Subteam C will analyze the target
market for the new offering.

Discuss how each subteam will gather the

information needed to complete their task.

2. Subteams gather the information for their  Key Industry Day 14

specific tasks: Questions, The
 Using the Key Industry Questions, Competitive Analysis,
Subteam A assesses the industry that and Key Idea: The
the new offering would be part of — market analysis pages
including the products and services (in the Learn section
© 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.
 produced by the industry, the size and of the Business Plan
shape of the industry, trends in the Development topic).
industry, and any barriers to entry.
 Using The Competitive Analysis
concepts, Subteam B analyzes the
competition the new offering would
face, including identifying competitors,
articulating what would differentiate the
new offering from rival offerings, and
assessing the level of threat that the
competitors present.
 Using the Key Idea: The market
analysis, Subteam C analyzes the
target market for the new offering,
including indicating the size and growth
of the market, defining who the target
customers are, and explaining why
target customers will buy the new
offering.

3. Reconvene as a full team to share  Key Industry Day 15

findings. If more information is needed to Questions, The
analyze the industry, competition, or Competitive Analysis,
market, subteams conduct additional and Key Idea: The
research. market analysis pages
(in the Learn section
of the Business Plan
Development topic).

4. Subteams each use their findings to draft  Sample Business Plan Day 24
their corresponding section of the business (in the Tools section of
plan (“Industry background,” Competitive the Business Plan
analysis,” and “Market analysis”). Development topic).

5. Reconvene as a full team to share drafts of Day 25

the business-plan components, exchange
feedback, and refine the drafts if
necessary.

6. Meet with your colleagues and your  Reflection questions Day 30

manager to debrief the learning project, found in Part III of this
using the reflection questions in Part III of tool.
this tool.

© 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

Part III. Reflect on your project outcomes
At the conclusion of your group learning project, use the following questions to reflect on your project
experience and outcomes. Consider answering the questions individually or with your project team members.
What did you learn as a result of the project?

What did you find most challenging about this project? How did you surmount those challenges?

What sources did each subteam find most useful for gathering information on the industry, the competition, and the
market for the new offering?

In reviewing your findings from this learning project, what early thoughts do you have about how to craft the “Marketing
plan” section of the business plan for this product or service?

Based on your insights gained from the project experience, what will you or your group do differently going forward as
you analyze the business environment for other possible new products or services?

What suggestions or tips would you give to future participants doing the same or a similar project?

© 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

Part IV. Share your results
Share your findings with others outside of your group: At the conclusion of the project, consider sharing your
lessons learned and project results with others in your organization. For example, you could hold an
information sharing session over lunch or post your findings on a discussion forum.

© 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.