ABSTRACT
The business plan defines the business’s goals, the rationale, and evidence as to why the goals can be attained and the plan for reaching those goals and associated profits from the business plan’s execution. For Fortune 500 companies, the contents of a business plan are very different than those of the start-up company. When the author has written business plans while in Fortune 500 companies, the business plan is more focused on demonstrating the ability to deliver customer revenue and corresponding profit and loss. From that basis, the Fortune 500 company prepares multiyear financial statements, which are then rolled up by each division of the company to derive the overall business plan of the corporation. Being acquired is generally not part of the consideration and obtaining additional funding, if required, is done at the corporate headquarters through the use of debt instruments or use of the public stock market. The company’s historical reputation is its evidence of the ability to achieve its plans.
