Business Plan: Management
How to Write the Management Section of a Business Plan
Who runs your business? How is your business structured? That's what a management plan tells you, and that's what this business plan how-to is all about.
The Management section of a business plan usually comes before the Operating Plan, but after the Marketing Plan section. The intent of the Management Plan is to explain in detail who will run the business, what skills and credentials these people have, and how everyone will fit into the organization's structure. While writing the Management Plan, it is essential to take into account how each person will affect the business' bottom line as well, since a business plan is supposed to show how a business' potential profitability.
The easiest way when writing the management plan is to divide the necessary details into the four sections:
Management Plan Section #1: Business Structure
If you are a sole proprietorship, this section of the management plan will compromise one line. But for those who are planning to start a corporation or partnership, you'll need to describe in detail how the business will be structured from a legal perspective, as well as any pertinent details such as how much ownership each partner holds.
Management Plan Section #2: Who Is Running the Business?
Depending on how large your business is, this section can span one line or a couple of pages. Who will take care of the sales and marketing responsibilities? Will there be a purchasing, human resources, production or customer service department? If so, who will run them? (One person can fulfill more than one responsibility). Then, once you have listed each person and their responsibilities, detail the following information for each person and/or position:
- A resume that shows what each person brings to the business;
- Salary, benefits, profit-sharing and any other compensatory information;
- Any applicable contracts such as non-disclosure agreements, which should be provided in full as an Appendix if they apply.
Management Plan Section #3: Professional Support
It is highly recommended that you use professionals to support your business endeavor, such as lawyers, accountants. engineers and consultants. This is the section of the management plan where you'd outline these kinds of support personnel who are integral to your business operations but who aren't actually a part of the business themselves.
Management Plan Section#4: Human Resources
How many people will you need to run your business, and how much will it cost? That's what you need to answer in this, the final section of the management plan. First determine how many staff members you'll need by creating job descriptions for each person, along with how many clients they will be able to take care of on a yearly basis. Then figure out the cost of each employee, including any salary, benefits and governmental requirements. Finally, state how you will go about finding the necessary staff, as well as how the local economy and joblessness rates will affect your human resources efforts.
Want to see what a complete business plan looks like? Then review our Free Business Plan Templates and More Free Business Plan Templates. Or, go back to the Free Business Plan How To.
