PROJECT ORGANIZATION — Business Development Survival Strategies
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4
Strategic Plan ........................................................................................................... 4
Business Plan .......................................................................................................... 7
Legal Structure (coming from CAPLAW) .......................................................10
PROJECT ORGANIZATION
Business Development Survival Strategies
Introduction
Establishing a solid foundation for your new business is vital. Start-up businesses are the engine
of the American economy, accounting for seventy percent of the U.S. job market. However, startup
businesses face risks, especially in the economic climate of today. According to the US Small
Business Administration, about one-half of all new businesses don’t last five years, even in a nonchallenging
economy. Why?
Research suggests that start-up businesses which fail, often fall into a pattern of problems in at
least one of the four following areas:
• Planning. Lack of a plan to guide the business from start-up through expansion.
• Financial Access and Management issues. Including the lack of business forecasting and
limited access to capital for the first few years of the start-up period.
• Human capital. Including not realizing the need for specific experience in the business being
started, for management experience, and a business or entrepreneurial mindset.
• Location. Including inadequate operating facilities , poor geographic location or under- or overimproving
the facility.
So how do we make sure that economic endeavors of Community Action Agencies avoid these
problems? Read on.
This tool-kit will hone in on two of the major “problem areas” identified above: planning and
financial access and management issues. We will...