For most new ventures, the business plan is a dual-purpose document used both inside and outside the firm.

A business plan can usually be completed in one to three days.

There are two primary audiences for a firm's business plan: a firm's employees and investors and other external stakeholders.

To make the best impression, a business plan should follow a conventional structure.

For most business plans, 25 to 35 pages are sufficient.

According to the textbook, the executive summary is arguably the most important section of the business plan.

The executive summary is a lengthy overview of the entire business plan.

A company's industry analysis and target market analysis are usually included in the same section of its business plan.

Fragmented industries are more receptive to new entrants than industries that are dominated by a handful of large firms.

A tagline is a phrase that a business uses to reinforce its position in the marketplace.

A competitor analysis, which is a detailed analysis of a firm's competitors, should be included in the market analysis section of its business plan.

The major revenue drivers, which are the ways a business earns money, should be first identified in "The Economics of the Business" section of the business plan.

A firm's operating leverage is an analysis of its debt versus its equity.

The management team and company structure section of a business plan is one of the lesser read sections.

An organizational chart is a graphic representation of how authority and responsibility are distributed within a company.

A sources and uses of funds statement is a document that lays out specifically how much money a firm needs, where the money will come from, and what the money will be used for.

The pro forma financial statements are the heart of the operations section of a business plan.

Industry analysis is business research that focuses on the potential of an industry.

A comparison analysis is a detailed evaluation of a firm's competitors.

Virtually all studies have concluded that firm-specific factors are more important than industry-specific factors in terms of firm profitability.

The two trends that are most important to focus on in an industry analysis are business trends and environmental trends.

Business trends include economic trends, social trends, technological advances, and political and regulatory changes.

The five competitive forces model is a framework for understanding the structure of an industry.

The best industry to enter is an industry where the threat of each of Porter's five-forces is low.

There are four factors that determine the threat of new entrants: number and balance of competitors, degree of difference between products, growth rate of an industry, and level of fixed costs.

In most industries, the major determinant of industry profitability is the level of competition among the firms already competing in the industry.

If the buyers are concentrated and they buy from a large number of suppliers, then the bargaining power of buyers is increased.

An emerging industry is a new industry in which standard operating procedures have yet to be developed.

A fragmented industry is one that is characterized by a large number of firms of approximately equal size.

The primary opportunity available to firms in fragmented industries is consolidation. The most common way to do this is through a geographic roll-up strategy, in which one firm starts acquiring similar firms that are located in different geographic areas.

A mature industry is an industry that is experiencing slow increases in demand, numerous repeat customers, and limited product innovation.

Firms that pursue a global strategy use the same basic approach in all foreign markets.

A firm's future competitors are its most important ones.

The three types of competitors a business will face are direct competitors, indirect competitors, and future competitors.

The information that is gathered by a firm to learn about its competitors is referred to as tactical intelligence.

A competitive analysis grid is a tool for organizing the information a firm collects about its competitors.

In the beverage industry, soda, fruit juice, and sports drinks are ________ competitors of bottled water.

Aquafina operates in the bottled water industry. The companies that offer identical or similar products and go after the same customers that Aquafina does are Dasani and Zephyrhills. Dasani and Zephyrhills are Aquafina's:

Shelly James recently launched a firm in the fruit drink industry, and has already exported her fruit drinks to 9 different countries. One thing that Shelly's firm is doing is that it is varying the tastes of the fruit drinks it sells on a country by country basis to meet the demands of the local markets. Shelly's firm is pursuing a ________ strategy.