What Jolito Ortizo Padilla say about "Business Planning"

This is the approach of putting in writing the hoped-for the future financial performance of a new business. It is not just a matter of qualitative fantasizing of asserting " we intend to be innovative market leaders at the forefront of internet technology", for example. It is also a matter of quantitative fantasizing: "And we will make a loss of Sing$ 1.64m in year one, and a profit of  Sing$ 350,000 in year two.

The launching of business idea requires its patron to attribute precise financial numbers to the future cash flow of the business , in the shape of a business plan -number needless to say that rarely bear any relationship to subsequent reality.

So what is the point? There are usually two:
> To obtain funds. Every investor and venture capitalist wants to read a business plan that will help them to assess the likely risk and reward of a project. For the infant business that is selecting finance, the presentation of the plan is a bit like an actor's audition. There are notoriously bad ones and a good one is certainly no guarantee of a part. But with a bad one, you are almost sure never to see the footlights.
> To help the business's promoters focus on some of the fundamental operational issues. For example, what is the  likely size of the market they are entering? Who is likely to be their major competitor. To some extent the setting of operational targets is self fulfilling. If the venture is successful , the targets set are the target reached. They may not be the optimal performance of the organization of course, but merely a satisfactory one.

Business plans are required not only by new business ventures, but also by old businesses trying something new. Proposed mergers and acquisitions require a detailed plan of the future of the merged entity , a venture into a new market requires a business plan and so too does the winding down or even the turning around of an old and tired business.