Writing a Business Plan Imagine you are the Managing Director of a small manufacturing business, building specialist bicycles Encouraged by the company’s success over the past five years, you decide to broaden your customer base to include up-market electrically powered bicycles Your business enjoys a strong financial base and a small but stable and loyal workforce. You believe that by adding an entirely new product is the best way to expand and improve the long term profitability of your business. But before proceeding any further you draw up a business plan to convince yourself, and any investors whose support you may need, that your passion is not misplaced, that there really is a sound business case for your proposed expansion. Make certain assumptions about the current size of your business, typically as shown below: a current turnover of £250,000 employs three people full time, and one person part time there is a marked seasonal bias to your sales You may wish to develop your own name/brand identity. For this undertaking you should consider whether to contract out the design work for the bicycle or have this done in-house, requiring additional skills plus set-up costs, including a software design package. You must analyse the options open to you and decide which approach to take. State the conclusion you reached, together with evidence of your reasoning.