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Mā te whenua e whanake ai te whānau
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Language: English | Māori
Language: English | Māori

Developing a business plan

What is a business plan?

A business plan outlines what needs to happen in the short term to help achieve your long term goals for the whenua.

It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to outline what you're going to do, when, why and how.

It should tie to the strategic plan, with clear actions and ways to measure your work towards achieving the strategic outcomes.

The business plan:

  • is short term, usually outlining work to be done in a year
  • focuses on detail, the ‘how’
  • sets out the action
  • is measurable
  • is action-oriented.

What to include

What you include in the business plan will depend on what you're trying to achieve. 

If the long-term goal is not about making money, for example getting access to landlocked land, or returning the whenua to its original state, you might include:

  • an overview of the current state
  • details of any issues and risks
  • an action plan — what needs to happen and when? Who's responsible? How will you measure and report for each milestone?
  • finance information — like budgets, and how will you fund the work?

If the strategic goal is to build a commercial, money-making operation, you might include:

  • a company overview
  • details of products or services
  • a market analysis
  • a risk assessment
  • a marketing and sales plan
  • an action plan — what needs to happen and when? Who's responsible?
  • a measurement plan and reporting framework — how will you measure and report for each milestone?
  • finance information — like budgets, capital, debts and when they'll be repaid.

Creating a business plan using a balanced scorecard

Monitoring and measuring success

Information from Business.govt.nz about writing a business plan

Getting advice

It can be good to get help with developing a business plan, especially when you're first getting started. 

Find out about getting business planning advice