meaning of competition in business plan

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How to Write Competitive Analysis in a Business Plan (w/ Examples)

Free Competitive Analysis Kit

• Vinay Kevadia
• January 9, 2024

14 Min Read

Every business wants to outperform its competitors, but do you know the right approach to gather information and analyze your competitors?

That’s where competitive analysis steps in. It’s the tool that helps you know your competition’s pricing strategies, strengths, product details, marketing strategies, target audience, and more.

If you want to know more about competitor analysis, this guide is all you need. It spills all the details on how to conduct and write a competitor analysis in a business plan, with examples.

Let’s get started and first understand the meaning of competitive analysis.

What is Competitive Analysis?

A competitive analysis involves collecting information about what other businesses in your industry are doing with their products, sales, and marketing.

Businesses use this data to find out what they are good at, where they can do better, and what opportunities they might have. It is like checking out the competition to see how and where you can improve.

This kind of analysis helps you get a clear picture of the market, allowing you to make smart decisions to make your business stand out and do well in the industry.

Competitive analysis is a section of utmost value for your business plan. The analysis in this section will form the basis upon which you will frame your marketing, sales, and product-related strategies. So make sure it’s thorough, insightful, and in line with your strategic objectives.

Let’s now understand how you can conduct a competitive analysis for your own business and leverage all its varied benefits.

How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis

Let’s break down the process of conducting a competitive analysis for your business plan in these easy-to-follow steps.

It will help you prepare a solid competitor analysis section in your business plan that actually highlights your strengths and opens room for better discussions (and funding).

Let’s begin.

1. Identify Your Direct and Indirect Competitors

First things first — identify all your business competitors and list them down. You can have a final, detailed list later, but right now an elementary list that mentions your primary competitors (the ones you know and are actively competing with) can suffice.

As you conduct more research, you can keep adding to it.

Explore your competitors using Google, social media platforms, or local markets. Then differentiate them into direct or indirect competitors.

Direct competitors

Businesses offering the same products or services, and targeting a similar target market are your direct competitors.

These competitors operate in the same industry and are often competing for the same market share.

Indirect competitors

On the other hand, indirect competitors are businesses that offer different products or services but cater to the same target customers as yours.

While they may not offer identical solutions, they compete for the same customer budget or attention. Indirect competitors can pose a threat by providing alternatives that customers might consider instead of your offerings.

2. Study the Overall Market

Now that you know your business competitors, deep dive into market research. Market research should involve a combination of both primary and secondary research methods.

Primary research

Primary research involves collecting market information directly from the source or subjects.  Some examples of primary market research methods include:

• Purchasing competitors’ products or services
• Conducting interviews with their customers
• Administering online surveys to gather customer insights

Secondary research

Secondary research involves utilizing pre-existing gathered information from some relevant sources. Some of its examples include:

• Scrutinizing competitors’ websites
• Assessing the current economic landscape
• Referring to online market databases of the competitors.

Have a good understanding of the market at this point to write your market analysis section effectively.

3. Prepare a Competitive Framework

Now that you have a thorough understanding of your competitors’ market, it is time to create a competitive framework that enables comparison between two businesses.

Factors like market share, product offering, pricing, distribution channel, target markets, marketing strategies, and customer service offer essential metrics and information to chart your competitive framework.

These factors will form the basis of comparison for your competitive analysis. Depending on the type of your business, choose the factors that are relevant to you.

4. Take Note of Your Competitor’s Strategies

Now that you have an established framework, use that as a base to analyze your competitor’s strategies. Such analysis will help you understand what the customers like and dislike about your competitors.

Start by analyzing the marketing strategies, sales and marketing channels, promotional activities, and branding strategies of your competitors. Understand how they position themselves in the market and what USPs they emphasize.

Evaluate, analyze their pricing strategies and keep an eye on their distribution channel to understand your competitor’s business model in detail.

This information allows you to make informed decisions about your strategies, helping you identify opportunities for differentiation and improvement.

5. Perform a SWOT Analysis of Your Competitors

A SWOT analysis is a method of analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your business in the competitive marketplace.

While strengths and weaknesses focus on internal aspects of your company, opportunities and threats examine the external factors related to the industry and market.

It’s an important tool that will help determine the company’s competitive edge quite efficiently.

It includes the positive features of your internal business operations. For example, a strong brand, skilled workforce, innovative products/services, or a loyal customer base.

It includes all the hindrances of your internal business operations. For example, limited resources, outdated technology, weak brand recognition, or inefficient processes.

Opportunities

It outlines several opportunities that will come your way in the near or far future. Opportunities can arise as the industry or market trend changes or by leveraging the weaknesses of your competitors.

For example, details about emerging markets, technological advancements, changing consumer trends, profitable partnerships in the future, etc.

Threats define any external factor that poses a challenge or any risk for your business in this section. For example, intense competition, economic downturns, regulatory changes, or any advanced technology disruption.

This section will form the basis for your business strategies and product offerings. So make sure it’s detailed and offers the right representation of your business.

And that is all you need to create a comprehensive competitive analysis for your business plan.

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How to Write Competitive Analysis in a Business Plan

The section on competitor analysis is the most crucial part of your business plan. Making this section informative and engaging gets easier when you have all the essential data to form this section.

Now, let’s learn an effective way of writing your competitive analysis.

1. Determine who your readers are

Know your audience first, because that will change the whole context of your competitor analysis business plan.

The competitive analysis section will vary depending on the intended audience is the team or investors.

Consider the following things about your audience before you start writing this section:

Internal competitor plan (employees or partners)

Objective: The internal competitor plan is to provide your team with an understanding of the competitive landscape.

Focus: The focus should be on the comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of competitors to boost strategic discussions within your team.

Use: It is to leverage the above information to develop strategies that highlight your strengths and address your weaknesses.

Competitor plan for funding (bank or investors)

Objective: Here, the objective is to reassure the potential and viability of your business to investors or lenders.

Focus: This section should focus on awareness and deep understanding of the competitive landscape to persuade the readers about the future of your business.

Use: It is to showcase your market position and the opportunities that are on the way to your business.

This differentiation is solely to ensure that the competitive analysis serves its purpose effectively based on the specific needs and expectations of the respective audience.

2. Describe and Visualise Competitive Advantage

Remember how we determined our competitive advantage at the time of research. It is now time to present that advantage in your competitive analysis.

Highlight your edge over other market players in terms of innovation, product quality, features, pricing, or marketing strategy. Understanding your products’ competitive advantage will also help you write the products and services section effectively.

However, don’t limit the edge to your service and market segment. Highlight every area where you excel even if it is better customer service or enhanced brand reputation.

Now, you can explain your analysis through textual blocks. However, a more effective method would be using a positioning map or competitive matrix to offer a visual representation of your company’s competitive advantage.

3. Explain your strategies

Your competitor analysis section should not only highlight the opportunities or threats of your business. It should also mention the strategies you will implement to overcome those threats or capitalize on the opportunities.

Such strategies may include crafting top-notch quality for your products or services, exploring the unexplored market segment, or having creative marketing strategies.

Elaborate on these strategies later in their respective business plan sections.

4. Know the pricing strategy

To understand the pricing strategy of your competitors, there are various aspects you need to have information about. It involves knowing their pricing model, evaluating their price points, and considering the additional costs, if any.

One way to understand this in a better way is to compare features and value offered at different price points and identify the gaps in competitors’ offerings.

Once you know the pricing structure of your competitors, compare it with yours and get to know the competitive advantage of your business from a pricing point of view.

Let us now get a more practical insight by checking an example of competitive analysis.

Competitive Analysis Example in a Business Plan

Here’s a business plan example highlighting the barber shop’s competitive analysis.

1. List of competitors

Direct & indirect competitors.

The following retailers are located within a 5-mile radius of J&S, thus providing either direct or indirect competition for customers:

Joe’s Beauty Salon

Joe’s Beauty Salon is the town’s most popular beauty salon and has been in business for 32 years. Joe’s offers a wide array of services that you would expect from a beauty salon.

Besides offering haircuts, Joe’s also offers nail services such as manicures and pedicures. In fact, over 60% of Joe’s revenue comes from services targeted at women outside of hair services. In addition, Joe’s does not offer its customers premium salon products.

For example, they only offer 2 types of regular hair gels and 4 types of shampoos. This puts Joe’s in direct competition with the local pharmacy and grocery stores that also carry these mainstream products. J&S, on the other hand, offers numerous options for exclusive products that are not yet available in West Palm Beach, Florida.

LUX CUTS has been in business for 5 years. LUX CUTS offers an extremely high-end hair service, with introductory prices of $120 per haircut.

However, LUX CUTS will primarily be targeting a different customer segment from J&S, focusing on households with an income in the top 10% of the city.

Furthermore, J&S offers many of the services and products that LUX CUTS offers, but at a fraction of the price, such as:

• Hairstyle suggestions & hair care consultation
• Hair extensions & coloring
• Premium hair products from industry leaders

Freddie’s Fast Hair Salon

Freddie’s Fast Hair Salon is located four stores down the road from J&S. Freddy’s has been in business for the past 3 years and enjoys great success, primarily due to its prime location.

Freddy’s business offers inexpensive haircuts and focuses on volume over quality. It also has a large customer base comprised of children between the ages of 5 to 13.

J&S has several advantages over Freddy’s Fast Hair Salon including:

• An entertainment-focused waiting room, with TVs and board games to make the wait for service more pleasurable. Especially great for parents who bring their children.
• A focus on service quality rather than speed alone to ensure repeat visits. J&S will spend on average 20 more minutes with its clients than Freddy’s.

While we expect that Freddy’s Fast Hair Salon will continue to thrive based on its location and customer relationships, we expect that more and more customers will frequent J&S based on the high-quality service it provides.

2. Competitive Pricing

John and Sons Barbing Salon will work towards ensuring that all our services are offered at highly competitive prices compared to what is obtainable in The United States of America.

We know the importance of gaining entrance into the market by lowering our pricing to attract all and sundry that is why we have consulted with experts and they have given us the best insights on how to do this and effectively gain more clients soon.

Our pricing system is going to be based on what is obtainable in the industry, we don’t intend to charge more (except for premium and customized services) and we don’t intend to charge less than our competitors are offering in West Palm Beach – Florida.

3. Our pricing

• Payment by cash
• Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine
• Payment via online bank transfer (online payment portal)
• Payment via Mobile money
• Check (only from loyal customers)

Given the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our payment plans without any itches.

4. Competitive advantage

5. SWOT analysis

Why is a Competitive Environment helpful?

Somewhere we all think, “What if we had no competition?” “What if we were the monopoly?” It would be great, right? Well, this is not the reality, and have to accept the competition sooner or later.

However, competition is healthy for businesses to thrive and survive, let’s see how:

1. Competition validates your idea

When people are developing similar products like you, it is a sign that you are on the right path. Having healthy competition proves that your idea is valid and there is a potential target market for your product and service offerings.

2. Innovation and Efficiency

Businesses competing with each other are motivated to innovate consistently, thereby, increasing their scope and market of product offerings. Moreover, when you are operating in a cutthroat environment, you simply cannot afford to be inefficient.

Be it in terms of costs, production, pricing, or marketing—you will ensure efficiency in all aspects to attract more business.

3. Market Responsiveness

Companies in a competitive environment tend to stay relevant and longer in business since they are adaptive to the changing environment. In the absence of competition, you would start getting redundant which will throw you out of the market, sooner or later.

4. Eases Consumer Education

Since your target market is already aware of the problem and existing market solutions, it would be much easier to introduce your business to them. Rather than focusing on educating, you would be more focused on branding and positioning your brand as an ideal customer solution.

Being the first one in the market is exciting. However, having healthy competition has these proven advantages which are hard to ignore.

A way forward

Whether you are starting a new business or have an already established unit, having a practical and realistic understanding of your competitive landscape is essential to developing efficient business strategies.

While getting to know your competition is essential, don’t get too hung up in the research. Research your competitors to improve your business plan and strategies, not to copy their ideas.

Create your unique strategies, offer the best possible services, and add value to your offerings—that will make you stand out.

While it’s a long, tough road, a comprehensive business plan can be your guide. Using modern business planning software is probably the easiest way to draft your plan.

Use Upmetrics. Simply enter your business details, answer the strategic questions, and see your business plan come together in front of your eyes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is swot analysis a competitive analysis.

SWOT analysis is just a component of a competitive analysis and not the whole competitive analysis. It helps you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business and determine the emerging opportunities and threats faced by the external environment.

Competitive analysis in reality is a broad spectrum topic wherein you identify your competitors, analyze them on different metrics, and identify your competitive advantage to form competitive business strategies.

What tools can i use for competitor analysis?

For a thorough competitor analysis, you will require a range of tools that can help in collecting, analyzing, and presenting data. While SEMrush, Google Alerts, Google Trends, and Ahrefs can help in collecting adequate competitor data, Business planning tools like Upmetrics can help in writing the competitors section of your business plan quite efficiently.

What are the 5 parts of a competitive analysis?

The main five components to keep in mind while having a competitor analysis are:

• Identifying the competitors
• Analyzing competitor’s strengths and weaknesses
• Assessing market share and trends
• Examining competitors’ strategies and market positioning
• Performing SWOT analysis

What is the difference between market analysis and competitive analysis?

Market analysis involves a comprehensive examination of the overall market dynamics, industry trends, and factors influencing a business’s operating environment.

On the other hand, competitive analysis narrows the focus to specific competitors within the market, delving into their strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning.

About the Author

Vinay Kevadiya

Vinay Kevadiya is the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, the #1 business planning software. His ultimate goal with Upmetrics is to revolutionize how entrepreneurs create, manage, and execute their business plans. He enjoys sharing his insights on business planning and other relevant topics through his articles and blog posts. Read more

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How to Write a Competitive Analysis for Your Business Plan

11 min. read

Updated January 3, 2024

Do you know who your competitors are? If you do, have you taken the time to conduct a thorough competitor analysis?

Knowing your competitors, how they operate, and the necessary benchmarks you need to hit are crucial to positioning your business for success. Investors will also want to see an analysis of the competition in your business plan.

In this guide, we’ll explore the significance of competitive analysis and guide you through the essential steps to conduct and write your own. 

You’ll learn how to identify and evaluate competitors to better understand the opportunities and threats to your business. And you’ll be given a four-step process to describe and visualize how your business fits within the competitive landscape.

• What is a competitive analysis?

A competitive analysis is the process of gathering information about your competitors and using it to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This information can then be used to develop strategies to improve your own business and gain a competitive advantage.

• How to conduct a competitive analysis

Before you start writing about the competition, you need to conduct your analysis. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Identify your competitors

The first step in conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis is to identify your competitors. 

Start by creating a list of both direct and indirect competitors within your industry or market segment. Direct competitors offer similar products or services, while indirect competitors solve the same problems your company does, but with different products or services.

Keep in mind that this list may change over time. It’s crucial to revisit it regularly to keep track of any new entrants or changes to your current competitors. For instance, a new competitor may enter the market, or an existing competitor may change their product offerings.

2. Analyze the market

Once you’ve identified your competitors, you need to study the overall market. 

This includes the market size , growth rate, trends, and customer preferences. Be sure that you understand the key drivers of demand, demographic and psychographic profiles of your target audience , and any potential market gaps or opportunities.

Conducting a market analysis can require a significant amount of research and data collection. Luckily, if you’re writing a business plan you’ll follow this process to complete the market analysis section . So, doing this research has value for multiple parts of your plan.

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3. Create a competitive framework

You’ll need to establish criteria for comparing your business with competitors. You want the metrics and information you choose to provide answers to specific questions. (“Do we have the same customers?” “What features are offered?” “How many customers are being served?”)

Here are some common factors to consider including: 

• Market share
• Product/service offerings or features
• Distribution channels
• Target markets
• Marketing strategies
• Customer service

4. Research your competitors

You can now begin gathering information about your competitors. Because you spent the time to explore the market and set up a comparison framework—your research will be far more focused and easier to complete.

There’s no perfect research process, so start by exploring sources such as competitor websites, social media, customer reviews, industry reports, press releases, and public financial statements. You may also want to conduct primary research by interviewing customers, suppliers, or industry experts.

You can check out our full guide on conducting market research for more specific steps.

5. Assess their strengths and weaknesses

Evaluate each competitor based on the criteria you’ve established in the competitive framework. Identify their key strengths (competitive advantages) and weaknesses (areas where they underperform).

6. Identify opportunities and threats

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, identify opportunities (areas where you can outperform them) and threats (areas where they may outperform you) for your business. 

You can check out our full guide to conducting a SWOT analysis for more specific questions that you should ask as part of each step. 

• How to write your competitive analysis

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to present your findings in your business plan. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Determine who your audience is

Who you are writing a business plan for (investors, partners, employees, etc.) may require you to format your competitive analysis differently. 

For an internal business plan you’ll use with your team, the competition section should help them better understand the competition. You and your team will use it to look at comparative strengths and weaknesses to help you develop strategies to gain a competitive advantage.

For fundraising, your plan will be shared with potential investors or as part of a bank loan. In this case, you’re describing the competition to reassure your target reader. You are showing awareness and a firm understanding of the competition, and are positioned to take advantage of opportunities while avoiding the pitfalls.

2. Describe your competitive position

You need to know how your business stacks up, based on the values it offers to your chosen target market. To run this comparison, you’ll be using the same criteria from the competitive framework you completed earlier. You need to identify your competitive advantages and weaknesses, and any areas where you can improve.

The goal is positioning (setting your business up against the background of other offerings), and making that position clear to the target market. Here are a few questions to ask yourself in order to define your competitive position:

• How are you going to take advantage of your distinctive differences, in your customers’ eyes? 
• What are you doing better? 
• How do you work toward strengths and away from weaknesses?
• What do you want the world to think and say about you and how you compare to others?

3. Visualize your competitive position

There are a few different ways to present your competitive framework in your business plan. The first is a “positioning map” and the second is a “competitive matrix”. Depending on your needs, you can use one or both of these to communicate the information that you gathered during your competitive analysis:

Positioning map

The positioning map plots two product or business benefits across a horizontal and vertical axis. The furthest points of each represent opposite extremes (Hot and cold for example) that intersect in the middle. With this simple chart, you can drop your own business and the competition into the zone that best represents the combination of both factors.

I often refer to marketing expert Philip Kohler’s simple strategic positioning map of breakfast, shown here. You can easily draw your own map with any two factors of competition to see how a market stacks up.

It’s quite common to see the price on one axis and some important qualitative factor on the other, with the assumption that there should be a rough relationship between price and quality.

Competitive matrix

It’s pretty common for most business plans to also include a competitive matrix. It shows how different competitors stack up according to the factors identified in your competitive framework. 

How do you stack up against the others? Here’s what a typical competitive matrix looks like:

For the record, I’ve seen dozens of competitive matrices in plans and pitches. I’ve never seen a single one that didn’t show that this company does more of what the market wants than all others. So maybe that tells you something about credibility and how to increase it. Still, the ones I see are all in the context of seeking investment, so maybe that’s the nature of the game.

4. Explain your strategies for gaining a competitive edge

Your business plan should also explain the strategies your business will use to capitalize on the opportunities you’ve identified while mitigating any threats from competition. This may involve improving your product/service offerings, targeting underserved market segments, offering more attractive price points, focusing on better customer service, or developing innovative marketing strategies.

While you should cover these strategies in the competition section, this information should be expanded on further in other areas of your business plan. 

For example, based on your competitive analysis you show that most competitors have the same feature set. As part of your strategy, you see a few obvious ways to better serve your target market with additional product features. This information should be referenced within your products and services section to back up your problem and solution statement. 

• Why competition is a good thing

Business owners often wish that they had no competition. They think that with no competition, the entire market for their product or service will be theirs. That is simply not the case—especially for new startups that have truly innovative products and services. Here’s why:

Competition validates your idea

You know you have a good idea when other people are coming up with similar products or services. Competition validates the market and the fact that there are most likely customers for your new product. This also means that the costs of marketing and educating your market go down (see my next point).

Competition helps educate your target market

Being first-to-market can be a huge advantage. It also means that you will have to spend way more than the next player to educate customers about your new widget, your new solution to a problem, and your new approach to services. 

This is especially true for businesses that are extremely innovative. These first-to-market businesses will be facing customers that didn’t know that there was a solution to their problem . These potential customers might not even know that they have a problem that can be solved in a better way. 

If you’re a first-to-market company, you will have an uphill battle to educate consumers—an often expensive and time-consuming process. The 2nd-to-market will enjoy all the benefits of an educated marketplace without the large marketing expense.

Competition pushes you

Businesses that have little or no competition become stagnant. Customers have few alternatives to choose from, so there is no incentive to innovate. Constant competition ensures that your marketplace continues to evolve and that your product offering continues to evolve with it.

Competition forces focus & differentiation

Without competition, it’s easy to lose focus on your core business and your core customers and start expanding into areas that don’t serve your best customers. Competition forces you and your business to figure out how to be different than your competition while focusing on your customers. In the long term, competition will help you build a better business.

• What if there is no competition?

One mistake many new businesses make is thinking that just because nobody else is doing exactly what they’re doing, their business is a sure thing. If you’re struggling to find competitors, ask yourself these questions.

Is there a good reason why no one else is doing it?

The smart thing to do is ask yourself,  “Why isn’t anyone else doing it?”

It’s possible that nobody’s selling cod-liver frozen yogurt in your area because there’s simply no market for it. Ask around, talk to people, and do your market research. If you determine that you’ve got customers out there, you’re in good shape.

But that still doesn’t mean there’s no competition.

How are customers getting their needs met?

There may not be another cod-liver frozen yogurt shop within 500 miles. But maybe an online distributor sells cod-liver oil to do-it-yourselfers who make their own fro-yo at home. Or maybe your potential customers are eating frozen salmon pops right now. 

Are there any businesses that are indirect competitors?

Don’t think of competition as only other businesses that do exactly what you do. Think about what currently exists on the market that your product would displace.

It’s the difference between direct competition and indirect competition. When Henry Ford started successfully mass-producing automobiles in the U.S., he didn’t have other automakers to compete with. His competition was horse-and-buggy makers, bicycles, and railroads.

Do a competitive analysis, but don’t let it derail your planning

While it’s important that you know the competition, don’t get too caught up in the research. 

If all you do is track your competition and do endless competitive analyses, you won’t be able to come up with original ideas. You will end up looking and acting just like your competition. Instead, make a habit of NOT visiting your competition’s website, NOT going into their store, and NOT calling their sales office. 

Focus instead on how you can provide the best service possible and spend your time talking to your customers. Figure out how you can better serve the next person that walks in the door so that they become a lifetime customer, a reference, or a referral source.

If you focus too much on the competition, you will become a copycat. When that happens, it won’t matter to a customer if they walk into your store or the competition’s because you will both be the same.

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

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Home > Business Plan > Competition in a Business Plan

Competition in a Business Plan

… there is competition in the target market …

Who is the Competition?

By carrying out a competitor analysis a business will be able to identify its own strengths and weaknesses, and produce its own strategy. For example a review of competitor products and prices will enable a business to set a realistic market price for its own products. The competition section of the business plan aims to show who you are competing with, and why the benefits your product provides to customers are better then those of the competition; why customers will choose your product over your competitors.

• Who are our competitors?
• What are the competitors main products and services?
• What threats does the competitor pose to our business?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors?
• What are the objectives in the market place of the competitors?
• What strategies are the competitors using?
• What is the competitors market share?
• What market segments do the competitors operate in?
• What do customers think of the competition?
• What does the trade think of the competitor?
• What makes their product good?
• Why do customers buy their product?
• What problems do customers have with the product?
• What is the competitors financial strength?
• What resources do the competition have available?

The focus is on how well the customer benefits and needs are satisfied compared to competitors, and not on how the features of the product compare. For example, key customer benefits might include affordability, can be purchased online, or ease of use, but not a technical feature list.

Competition Presentation in the Business Plan

The business plan competitor section can be presented in a number of formats including a competitor matrix, but an informative way of presenting is using Harvey balls . Harvey balls allow you to grade each customer benefit from zero to four, and to show a comparison of these benefits to your main competitor products. The competitors might be individual identified companies, or a generic competitor such as ‘fast food restaurants’.

In the example below, the key benefits of the product are compared against three main competitors. Each row represents a key benefit to the customer, the first column represents your business, and the remaining three columns each represent a chosen competitor.

The investor will want to understand that your product has the potential to take a major share of the chosen target market by being shown that it is sufficiently competitive for a number of key customer benefits.

This is part of the financial projections and Contents of a Business Plan Guide , a series of posts on what each section of a simple business plan should include. The next post in this series will deal with the competitive advantages the business has in the chosen target market.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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Competition in Business

Use change management tools to learn how to adapt quickly to competitive actions.

Competition in business is always a challenge. Understand, and use, the definition of strategic planning by using business and sales plan examples. And use change management tools to adapt to competitive actions.

Understanding your competition is important: whether you are starting a new business, operating an existing business, entering new markets, or launching new products and services.

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Competition in business can be a major stumbling block to growth and success.

To develop a strong competitive strategy, it is necessary to conduct a competitive analysis.

One of the best methods of dealing with competitive activity is to learn how to adapt and change quickly.

Use change management tools to learn managing change techniques.

Managing Growth and Change

A definition of strategic planning includes an understand of markets, customers, competition, and your business capabilities. Once you have that understanding (through research), you need to build strategies to handle your competitors.

As a small business owner, you need to develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with your competition (for example, you might want to include a pricing strategy; or perhaps, an alternative competitive strategy to cutting price; or a value chain analysis to assess your competition, and so on) and to operate in highly competitive markets. Even if you are the market leader today, the threat of losing that position tomorrow, or into the future, is very real if you do not have a solid plan in place.

Review sales plan examples to see how, when, where, what and why businesses change their plans to deal with competitive activity.

Writing a marketing plan includes doing a competitive analysis section. You need to assess your competition in business and try to predict what your competition might do in the case that you add new services, lower your price, raise your price, move closer to their markets, hire some of their staff, and more.

To analyze your competition, you must find out as much as you can about them: (do this for the top 3 to 10 competitors; you can analyze fewer if they hold big market shares; or analyze up to 10 if the market is buying from many).

Competition in Business: Focus on Analysis

Create your competitive analysis: gather the following information:.

• Who are your competitors? Identify your Top 3 to 10 (representing up to 80% of market share). List them by company name, business owner, address, etc.
• Who are your indirect competitors that don't necessarily sell the same products or services but their sales can affect your sales (e.g. if you sell motorcycles, bicycles and cars can be your competition)?
• What share of the market does each competitor hold? Get as close as possible. Is their position stronger or weaker in the market this year, compared to last year, compared to 3 to 5 years ago?
• What do you believe to be their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)? What marketing tactics can you use to minimize their strengths and opportunities and maximize their weaknesses and threats?
• What are they doing in the marketing mix side: how are they handling marketing mix product , price strategy building , marketing mix promotion, and place or distribution (the forgotten mix in the 4 Ps of Marketing )? How effective are they with this program (rank them)?
• Do they have a website?
• What's their advertising frequency? Can you estimate their advertising/promotions budget? How do they advertise: television, radio, newspaper, trade magazines, direct mail, point of purchase?
• If their price advertised; is it higher, lower or about the same?
• What are their product/service features, advantages, and benefits (their product positioning , product differentiation, or product life cycle)?
• Compare their marketing mix approach to yours. What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• What is unique about your product or service compared to theirs? What is unique about your business compared to theirs?
• What about your customer service: is it better, worse or the same as your competition?
• Do you share customers? Or are your customers 100% yours?
• For indirect or new competitors: what is their barrier to entry into your direct market?
• Is physical location important in your market? Who has the 'best' location?
• Is brand recognition important in your market? Who has the 'best' brand?

Sources of competitor information:

• Website (if they have one); internet searches to see if the name(s) comes up;
• Annual Report (if they are a public company) - compare profitability of their business (and other comparable business performance measures) to yours;
• Their promotion and advertising program; try to get copies;
• Shared customers;
• Your sales staff; often they know a lot about the competition in business that they face;
• Your suppliers; often they supply your competitors; if they don't they may more freely share information about them;
• Trade shows; you can pick up promotional material from their booth, ask others about them;
• Trade associations; you can meet them directly, or find out more about them;
• Trade magazines; check out the back issues for announcements or news on your competition;
• Other media; newspapers, magazines, books, television, radio;
• If they have a physical storefront open to the public, go in. (Yes, that makes many people squirm but you're not doing anything illegal.) Check out their displays, see how they handle customers, how does their physical space look (clean, tidy and well organized)?

Once you've completed a thorough competitive analysis for your marketing plan, keep it up-to-date .

Understanding your competition in business means reviewing your gathered data on your competitors try to determine what their business strategies and growth objectives are; do your competitive intelligence work regularly. Continually assess progress they might make, against your own business progress. Assess the size of the market and try to determine if it will support the competition - if not, someone will go out of business. Make sure that it's not you.

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Marketing and Life–Cycle

Marketing is a requirement for all businesses: without marketing strategies and tactics your business will struggle to survive.

Not all marketing activities are planned: you might be building your brand recognition through a social media campaign (that's marketing); you might be conducting market research to analyze your competitors and/or segment and target your potential market or to develop the most desirable features, advantages and benefits of your products or services (that's all marketing).

Marketing is pretty all–encompassing; and a challenge for many business owners. The additional challenge is recognizing that the different stages of your business life–cycle: start–up, mid–cycle, mature or late–in–life.

During start–up you need to develop your marketing strategies to grow sales; for example, you might want to use a market penetration pricing strategy to build sales quickly.

During mid–cycle, you need to grow your customer base (often through lead generation) and that need requires different marketing strategies, such as cold calling on prospective clients, email marketing, newsletter and blog sign ups and distribution (all to grow your list of prospects).

During the mature cycle, you need to build your marketing efforts around your brand; your competitive advantage can be in your reputation, history, and identity and on what differentiates your business from your competitors.

Marketing your products and services is not something that you do once (such as a marketing plan) and then never change or do again. You need to be continually researching and building your strategies and tactics to be ahead of the market, and ahead of your competition.

The market is constantly evolving; ever more rapidly with the impacts of globalization and technology. You need to invest resources into marketing to ensure that you build and sustain your business.

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If marketing is not your core strength, or if you don't have enough staff to commit to developing your marketing efforts (and acting on the plan), outsourcing your marketing strategy and implementation will allow you to concentrate on developing your business.

Start with a marketing plan that includes the necessary research, strategy development and implementation action plan. We provide you with the plan tactics, budget, schedule and key performance measurements.

Execute the plan yourself or have us at Voice Marketing Inc. manage the execution for you.

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• Market Research

How to create a competitive business plan

• January 3, 2023

When starting up a business, there are various building blocks you need to have in place for a strong foundation. A profitable idea is one, as is procuring the necessary finances to get everything up and running. Another key element is a well-researched, competitive business plan.

For new entrepreneurs, it can be easy to overlook the importance of a business plan. It might seem like a time-consuming, redundant document, particularly if they feel their idea is foolproof and ready to go.

However, there are many reasons to put together a business plan.

Some will simply see it as a gateway to the funding they require from a bank or other financial institution. In reality, a quality business plan supplies an accurate roadmap, one that points you in the right direction across every stage of running and managing a new business.

One such stage is analyzing the competition .

A competitive business plan is a great educational platform for your entrepreneurial adventure. You can learn more about your competitors, the current market opportunity, where your business fits in, and much more. This guide will explain how to create a competitive business plan, including what areas to focus on and which tools are best for gathering and analyzing data.

What is a competitive business plan?

A competitive business plan is about learning the type of competition your prospective business will face. The other businesses that are vying for the same customers.

Never assume you are out there alone and focus on solely your own path, that is a sure way to fail. Every solid business has to deal with some form of competition. You may not experience this directly during your company’s formative months, but it will always be there, dictating everything from sales numbers to the employees you can attract.

By putting together a competitive business plan, you gain a full understanding of the rivals in your sector. These rivals can take on various forms. For example, a new Italian restaurant could see their main competitor being the long-established pizza joint down the road. An online retail business, however, may be up against multinational organizations, including the likes of Amazon.

The knowledge gained by analyzing the competition assists with constructing a marketing sales strategy . It makes it possible to define how your business will fit into your chosen industry, including available opportunities and how to gain a competitive advantage.

Dive deep enough, and you will also discover the products and services your customer base enjoys, those they avoid, and the types of features they desire in future releases.

Related: 5 Examples of Market Research Branding Done Right

How do you identify competitors?

You cannot create a competitive business plan without knowing your competitors, that part is obvious. What is less obvious is how to identify the competitors you need to focus on.

When operating online, your planned business could be up against a wide assortment of competitors. It is not just local entities that might be on your radar, it may also be national or even global enterprises you are fighting for a market share. A small company might be battling against hundreds, possibly even thousands of competitors.

If you are in that position, trying to analyze all of these is, well, pretty much impossible for a newcomer to the market with minimal resources. Not only that, but it is also not necessary for a competitive business plan.

With that in mind, it is recommended you place the spotlight on 5-10 relevant competitors, both direct and indirect, to produce an accurate, diverse analysis.

What makes a competitor relevant? Of course, they need to operate in the same sector, yet they should also offer similar products and services to what you plan to feature.

With the power of the internet, finding competitors is a breeze. Simply head to Google or Amazon, input keywords that represent your product/service, and see which organizations appear at the top of the search results. These will typically be your main competitors, and not just from a search engine optimization (SEO) point of view!

Related: 3 Ways to do Market Research with Google

What do you include in a competitive business plan ?

You have found a major competitor. They sell products and services that are similar – or even identical – to what you will offer. Yet, simply comparing this aspect is only one step in truly analyzing the competition. You also must focus on elements such as:

• Estimated market share, including sales numbers and revenue.
• The target market you are focusing on.
• Price comparison between your products/services and the competition.
• Customer reviews rivals have received.
• Marketing strategies used by competitors.

Covering aspects like these are essential for getting the most out of your business plan.

Take a product price comparison. If your competitors are, by and large, selling a similar product at a much lower price than you envisioned, you have a few points to consider. Does your product have the added quality to justify the bump in price?

In terms of researching the marketing strategies your competitors use, this can help save your business a lot of time, effort, and finances. You are able to discover the promotional channels that are effective, the ones to put on the back burner, and those which are ripe for experimentation.

The steps to creating your competitive business plan .

You know what a competitive business plan is, how to find competitors, and the type of information to include in this document. However, ample work is necessary to craft a high-quality, effective competitive business plan that will help your company both in the present and future.

To make it a reality, here are the steps you need to take to produce a competitive business plan:

1. Overview of your competitors .

As mentioned above, it is recommended to cover up to ten relevant competitors for your business plan. As well as direct and indirect competitors, a mixture of long-established organizations and fellow startups is advised for a truly diversified analysis.

As the title of this section suggests, it should not delve too deep into the details of each business. This is only an overview of each competitor – the hard work is done later on in the process.

2. Market research .

Now it is time to put in the effort that will ultimately make your competitive business plan worthwhile. In-depth market research comprises numerous components. You need a healthy combination of primary and secondary research. Then with all the information and data collected, this has to be combined and measured accurately.

As for primary market research methods, try out the following:

• Sample the products and services of your competitors
• Perform in-person focus groups
• Get customers to complete an online survey
• Interview customers to gain more insight into their experience

Secondary market research methods can cover the following:

• A study of company records
• Assess the content and structure of competitor websites
• Identify technology and trend developments in your industry
• Factor in the current economic situation
• Read customer reviews

It is true: market research is not something you can do successfully with minimal effort and in just an hour or two. With that said, various tools can help make the task a much more straightforward – and ultimately effective – one. Here are some of our recommendations:

GapScout : It is not all about looking at star ratings. The analysis of customer reviews can reveal a goldmine of information about a company’s products and services. However, discovering the gold within these reviews is time-consuming and tricky. GapScout is the solution.

Our tool, thanks to its specialist AI technology, accelerates the process considerably. It also can identify specific trends, ensuring it uncovers all the valuable data pertaining to a competitor’s product or service.

SEMrush : There are many search engine analysis tools available. One of the best, however, is SEMrush . This can be vital for obtaining SEO-related information like the keywords they use, the backlinks they have pointing back to their website, their most popular web pages, and much more. With this information, you can strengthen your marketing efforts.

SurveyMonkey : If you are on the search for an online survey tool, one of the most popular is SurveyMonkey , and for good reason. With SurveyMonkey, you can create surveys with ease and send these to customers. Once customers complete these surveys, all the data is collated in an easy-to-consume way.

Google Trends : Again, there are countless tools available for discovering the latest trends. Yet if you desire something that combines effectiveness with a price tag that does not go beyond 0, Google Trends is a no-brainer. This free tool allows you to effortlessly find out what users are currently searching for in your industry or topic of choice.

3. Compare and assess .

You have a general viewpoint of the products and services that are offered by the competition. Yet, you cannot simply take a broad approach with such a key element. You need to delve deeper, learning more about each feature and how this compares against what you offer.

With a product, here are the aspects to keep in mind:

• The value it offers
• Number of features
• Ease of use
• Product age range
• Style and design
• Customer support offered

You may not necessarily have to go through all of the above points. You can abbreviate and zone in on the most important features for your competitive business plan. Key aspects are price, features, and overall quality.

It is not just the products or services you want to compare. Another essential factor for any business is marketing, and you should analyze your competitor’s marketing efforts. This includes evaluating their social media, paid ads, email campaigns, product sales copy, and website content.

Again, you want to avoid just a surface analysis of these marketing efforts. You have to dig deep into the promotional strategies of your competitors, answering questions such as these:

• What value are these marketing strategies providing to customers?
• What brand voice are they using?
• What story are they telling with their marketing materials?
• What is the overall mission of the company?
• How successful are they in currently achieving this mission?

Related: 7 Tips when Branding for a Small Business

4. Perform a SWOT analysis .

The nature of a competitive business plan is to study and gather information about your competitors. Nevertheless, you should never lose focus or forget that the plan is built around your business.

This is why a SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats – analysis should be part of your business plan.

With a SWOT analysis, you can uncover your strengths and weaknesses, assess threats, discover possible market gaps, turn any weaknesses into potential opportunities, and more.

Ultimately, it supplies you with a different viewpoint to evaluate your business, giving you additional points to fine-tune your business plan.

The good news: the research you conducted in the previous steps will help significantly with your SWOT analysis.

Related: How to Identify Business Opportunities

5. Understand your competitive position .

With all the work done for your competitive business plan so far, it is time to figure out exactly how your company stacks up against the rest. This is done by understanding your competitive position.

Understanding your position in the competitive landscape gives your business the launch pad to carve out a presence within your target market. This is because it helps you to identify:

• The distinctive differences that make your business different from the rest.
• How you can take advantage of these differences to stand out.
• Your strengths and weaknesses, and how you will work towards the former and hide away the latter.
• The general approach of your business, along with how this will appear to the world.

Position yourself behind a competitor, and you will fail to stand out – which means a lot of lost attention and sales. By recognizing what your business does better than those rivals, you have a selling point, something that will get potential customers to stand up and take notice.

In Conclusion…

Creating a competitive business plan demands a lot of effort on your part. That effort, however, is rewarded in numerous ways. You learn about the competition, you understand what makes them tick, and you can use this information to improve your company’s own standing and long-term future.

A competitive business plan is the best way forward if you want to be successful.

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3.1 How Do We Define Business Competition?

Perfect competition, supply, and demand.

Under a mixed economy, such as we have in Canada, businesses make decisions about which goods to produce or services to offer and how they are priced. Because there are many businesses making goods or providing services, customers can choose among a wide array of products. The competition for sales among businesses is a vital part of our economic system. Economists have identified four types of competition—perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly. We’ll introduce the first of these—perfect competition—in this section and cover the remaining three in the following section.

Perfect Competition

Perfect competition  exists when there are many consumers buying a standardized product from numerous small businesses. Because no seller is big enough or influential enough to affect price, sellers and buyers accept the going price. For example, when a commercial fisher brings his fish to the local market, he has little control over the price he gets and must accept the going market price.

The Basics of Supply and Demand

To appreciate how perfect competition works, we need to understand how buyers and sellers interact in a market to set prices. In a market characterized by perfect competition, price is determined through the mechanisms of supply and demand. Prices are influenced both by the supply of products from sellers and by the demand for products by buyers.

To illustrate this concept, let’s create a supply and demand schedule for one particular good sold at one point in time. Then we’ll define demand and create a demand curve and define supply and create a supply curve. Finally, we’ll see how supply and demand interact to create an equilibrium price—the price at which buyers are willing to purchase the amount that sellers are willing to sell.

Demand and the Demand Curve

Demand  is the quantity of a product that buyers are willing to purchase at various prices. The quantity of a product that people are willing to buy depends on its price. You’re typically willing to buy less of a product when prices rise and more of a product when prices fall. Generally speaking, we find products more attractive at lower prices, and we buy more at lower prices because our income goes further.

Using this logic, we can construct a demand curve that shows the quantity of a product that will be demanded at different prices. Let’s assume that the diagram “The Demand Curve” represents the daily price and quantity of apples sold by farmers at a local market. Note that as the price of apples goes down, buyers’ demand goes up. Thus, if a pound of apples sells for $0.80, buyers will be willing to purchase only fifteen hundred pounds per day. But if apples cost only $0.60 a pound, buyers will be willing to purchase two thousand pounds. At $0.40 a pound, buyers will be willing to purchase twenty-five hundred pounds.

Supply and the Supply Curve  

Supply  is the quantity of a product that sellers are willing to sell at various prices. The quantity of a product that a business is willing to sell depends on its price. Businesses are more willing to sell a product when the price rises and less willing to sell it when prices fall. Again, this fact makes sense: businesses are set up to make profits, and there are larger profits to be made when prices are high.

Now we can construct a supply curve that shows the quantity of apples that farmers would be willing to sell at different prices, regardless of demand. As you can see in “The Supply Curve”, the supply curve goes in the opposite direction from the demand curve: as prices rise, the quantity of apples that farmers are willing to sell also goes up. The supply curve shows that farmers are willing to sell only a thousand pounds of apples when the price is $0.40 a pound, two thousand pounds when the price is $0.60, and three thousand pounds when the price is $0.80.

Equilibrium Price

We can now see how the market mechanism works under perfect competition. We do this by plotting both the supply curve and the demand curve on one graph, as we’ve done in the figure below,  “The Equilibrium Price” . The point at which the two curves intersect is the equilibrium price.

You can see in “The Equilibrium Price” that the supply and demand curves intersect at the price of $0.60 and quantity of two thousand pounds. Thus, $0.60 is the equilibrium price: at this price, the quantity of apples demanded by buyers equals the quantity of apples that farmers are willing to supply. If a single farmer tries to charge more than $0.60 for a pound of apples, he won’t sell very many because other suppliers are making them available for less. As a result, his profits will go down. If, on the other hand, a farmer tries to charge less than the equilibrium price of $0.60 a pound, he will sell more apples but his profit per pound will be less than at the equilibrium price. With profit being the motive, there is no incentive to drop the price.

Introduction to Management Copyright © by Kathleen Rodenburg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Benefits of Business Plan Competitions: What You Need to Know

by Dylan Taylor | Apr 20, 2020 | Business |

If you believe you have a strong idea for a business, you likely know you’ll need to draft a business plan before turning your idea into a reality. Along with helping you explain your strategy to investors, a business plan will help provide you with a roadmap to success. Consider submitting your draft to a business plan competition once you’ve finished developing it. The potential benefits of doing so include the following:

Obtaining Funding

Business plan competitions vary widely in their parameters. For example, while some involve directly submitting an established idea, others allow teams of entrepreneurs to create fresh ideas based on prompts. In addition, many business plan competitions provide awards to their winners in the form of seed funding and/or mentorship from successful entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Meeting Mentors

A mentor can play a very important role in your future success. This is particularly true if you’re a new entrepreneur. With an experienced mentor guiding you, you’re less likely to make common errors, and more likely to make the right choices during the early stages of growing your business. A mentor may also help you grow your professional network.

This is another reason to participate in business plan competitions. Very often, they match participating entrepreneurs with mentors. Even if you don’t win the competition, if your mentor is impressed with you, they might be willing to continue mentoring you after the competition is over.

A mentor is by no means the only helpful person you can meet through a business plan competition. Very often, investors also participate in these competitions. Networking with them would of course be a valuable experience. Additionally, you could meet other entrepreneurs through the competition who you may wish to collaborate with in the future.

Building Your Confidence

Don’t worry if you secretly (or not-so-secretly) doubt your own strengths as an entrepreneur. This is a common experience. While it is important to honestly assess both your skills and idea before spending time and money trying to grow a business with limited potential, you shouldn’t necessarily feel discouraged because you lack confidence.

Many successful entrepreneurs have been in your shoes before. Luckily, business plan competition participants often find that the experience provides them with a degree of validation. This helps them fully commit to their goals.

Practicing Important Skills

A business plan competition doesn’t typically consist of judges merely reviewing the written draft of your business plan. In many cases, you also need to develop and present pitches for your business idea.

This gives you the opportunity to develop an important skill. In the future, you’ll almost certainly need to pitch your ideas to investors. Practicing doing so in a low-stakes environment helps you identify what you must do to improve upon your pitch.

Getting New Perspectives

Odds are good your business plan isn’t perfect. Even if your idea is strong, there is always room for improvement

Many entrepreneurs struggle to identify key weaknesses with their ideas that need to be addressed. Fortunately, during a business plan competition, multiple judges will likely evaluate your pitch. Receiving feedback from multiple sources helps you broaden your perspective and more effectively refine your plan in the future.

Impressing Potential Investors

It’s uncommon for reputable business plan competitions to accept submissions from every interested applicant. Judges don’t have the time to review countless plans.

That’s why they carefully assess applications before selecting participants. Thus, if you were accepted into a business plan competition, you could leverage that fact later by mentioning it to investors. Even if you don’t win, they may be impressed that you participated in the first place. This will at least help you get your foot in the door.

Receiving Media Coverage

Depending on the competition you participate in, your idea may receive attention from business media outlets. This of course provides you with free exposure. If the right person hears about your idea, they might approach you with an offer to invest in it.

These are only a few reasons budding entrepreneurs should consider participating in business plan competitions. Just make sure you don’t assume you’ll be accepted to participate in the first competition you apply to. You may need to try several times before you are selected to compete. When you do, however, the benefits can be substantial.

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Lean Business Planning

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Nature of competition

If it isn’t obvious, and you have something to gain from explaining, then start with the general nature of competition in your type of business, and how customers seem to choose one provider over another. What might make customers decide? Price, billing rates, reputation, or image and visibility? Are brand names important? How influential is word of mouth in providing long-term satisfied customers?

For example, competition in the restaurant business might depend on reputation and trends in one part of the market, and on location and parking in another. For the Internet and Internet service providers, busy signals for dial-up customers might be important. A purchase decision for an automobile may be based on style, or speed, or reputation for reliability.

For many professional service practices, the nature of competition depends on word of mouth because advertising is not completely accepted and therefore not as influential. Is there price competition between accountants, doctors, and lawyers? How much difference does a website, or social media engagement, make in choosing professionals?

How do people choose travel agencies or wedding florists? Why does someone hire one landscape architect over another? Why would a customer choose Starbucks, a national brand, over the local coffee house? Why select a Dell computer instead of an Apple? What factors make the most difference for your business? Why? This type of information is invaluable in understanding and explaining the nature of competition.

I’ve seen this done well as a single slide in a pitch presentation. It has a title like “Keys to Success in [your industry].”

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Business plan competitions and nascent entrepreneurs: a systematic literature review and research agenda

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Business plan competitions (BPCs) are opportunities for nascent entrepreneurs to showcase their business ideas and obtain resources to fund their entrepreneurial future. They are also an important tool for policymakers and higher education institutions to stimulate entrepreneurial activity and support new entrepreneurial ventures from conceptual and financial standpoints. Academic research has kept pace with the rising interest in BPCs over the past decades, especially regarding their implications for entrepreneurial education. Literature on BPCs has grown slowly but steadily over the years, offering important insights that entrepreneurship scholars must collectively evaluate to inform theory and practice. Yet, no attempt has been made to perform a systematic review and synthesis of BPC literature. Therefore, to highlight emerging trends and draw pathways to future research, the authors adopted a systematic approach to synthesize the literature on BPCs. The authors performed a systematic literature review on 58 articles on BPCs. Several themes emerge from the BPC literature, including BPCs investigated as prime opportunities to develop entrepreneurial education, the effects of BPC participation on future entrepreneurial activity, and several attempts to frame an ideal BPC blueprint for future contests. However, several research gaps emerge, especially regarding the lack of theoretical underpinnings in the literature stream and the predominance of exploratory research. This paper provides guidance for practice by presenting a roadmap for future research on BPCs drawing from the sample reviewed. From a theoretical perspective, the study offers several prompts for further research on the topic through a concept map and a structured research agenda.

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Introduction

Business plan competitions (BPCs) give nascent entrepreneurs the chance to present their business ideas to an industry and investment peer group tasked with judging each project and picking the most viable one (Overall et al., 2018 ). Winners are awarded various prizes (McGowan & Cooper, 2008 ). The purpose of BPCs is to stimulate new entrepreneurial activity and support novel entrepreneurial ideas (Kwong et al., 2012 ). In return, BPC organizers emphasize the benefits of participating, such as cash prizes and financing (McGowan & Cooper, 2008 ), visibility and reputational benefits (Parente et al., 2015 ), networking with other aspiring entrepreneurs (Thomas et al., 2014 ), and meeting potential stakeholders, including customers and investors (Passaro et al., 2020 ).

BPCs have been used by new entrepreneurs to kickstart their business ideas (Cant, 2018 ). They have been popular throughout the years, especially during the global recession in the first decade of the 2000s. BPCs have become widely popular across both developed (Licha & Brem, 2018 ) and developing countries (Efobi & Orkoh, 2018 ; McKenzie & Sansone, 2019 ), as poor economic conditions have driven young entrepreneurs toward any opportunity they can find (Cant, 2018 ). Since the origin of BPCs in the USA in the 1980s (Buono, 2000 ), several universities have implemented them in their educational ecosystem to foster practical learning. From there, BPCs have rapidly spread in Europe (Riviezzo et al., 2012 ) and within developing nations in Asia (Wong, 2011 ) and Africa (House-Soremenkun & Falola, 2011 ). Despite contextual peculiarities, the significance of BPCs is equally pertinent for developed and emerging economies (Tipu, 2018 ), as they contribute to shaping a lively local entrepreneurial fabric (Barbini et al., 2021 ).

Opportunities arising from BPC participation come in various forms, including knowledge (Barbini et al., 2021 ), networking, and promotion (Cant, 2016a ); however, finding economic resources to finance entrepreneurial ventures has proven to be the main concern (Kwong et al., 2012 ; McGowan & Cooper, 2008 ). BPCs are attractive to entrepreneurs, as they can be prime opportunities not only to receive feedback on their ideas, but also to get the monetary funds needed to realize them (Mosey et al., 2012 ). In addition, a successful BPC does not merely identify the most intriguing business idea but also supports entrepreneurs during the early stages of their new ventures, whether or not they win the competition (Watson et al., 2015 ).

Several research streams have emerged around the topic of BPCs (Cant, 2018 ). For example, entrepreneurial education has been investigated in several studies (Licha & Brem, 2018 ; Olokundun et al., 2017 ) as a way to effectively provide learning support to nascent entrepreneurs and boost their chances of success. Moreover, university-based BPCs are being explored in terms of their potential as learning experiences and how specific lessons learned during these competitions may affect future entrepreneurial orientations (Overall et al., 2018 ). For example, some argue that promoting sustainable production during BPCs has a tangible impact on the integration of sustainability practices into future business activities (Fichter & Tiemann, 2020 ).

Start-up competitions have gained global prominence since the 1980s (Kraus & Schwarz, 2007 ; Ross & Byrd, 2011 ). Today, they are a popular form of support for nascent entrepreneurs (Dee et al., 2015 ), featuring steady growth in numbers over recent years (Fichter & Tiemann, 2020 ). Consistent with BPCs’ importance, the literature examining them is growing, with an increasing number of empirical studies published each year. However, despite the attention from policymakers and academics, no attempts have been made thus far to review the literature on BPCs systematically. Additionally, there is a need for a structured research agenda that could shed light on currently unexplored topics in entrepreneurship research, such as the role of institutions in emergent entrepreneurial intentions (Audretsch et al., 2022 ; Barbini et al., 2021 ), contextual factors stimulating nascent entrepreneurial intentions (Zhu et al., 2022 ), and the development of richer theory about practical entrepreneurial training (Clingingsmith et al., 2022 ).

To the best of our knowledge, the only previous attempt at synthesizing BPC literature was performed by Tipu ( 2018 ). While their contribution is of absolute importance, its scope was limited to 22 papers published in the early 2000s and late 90 s, thus leaving a consistent portion of recent academic literature unexplored. Consequently, we believe that a systematic review of the BPC literature could be of interest to both practitioners and academics. Building on previous systematic literature reviews (SLRs) from the entrepreneurship field, we aim to provide a detailed analysis of the relevant literature on BPCs. We focus on several key aspects of BPCs that emerged from the analysis, starting with the ways in which they are currently implemented, the benefits they provide to new entrepreneurs, and the role played by BPC promotion in the early stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle (Cant, 2016a ). Our analysis reveals several factors that influence the successful implementation of BPCs as ways to boost the effectiveness of novel entrepreneurial ventures, including entrepreneurial education for individuals who take part in the program (McGowan & Cooper, 2008 ) and entrepreneurs’ personal traits and dispositions (Kwong et al., 2012 ). Therefore, our study is not limited to a synthesis of the existing literature on the topic; rather, it develops a comprehensive framework for both professionals and academic researchers to guide future projects on BPCs. This study is guided by four main research questions (RQs):

RQ1: What is the current research profile of BPC literature?

RQ2: What are the key emerging topics to be found in BPC literature?

RQ3: What research gaps are currently present in the BPC literature and what future research agenda can be set according to said gaps?

RQ4: Can a comprehensive conceptual framework be synthesized from the literature to help academics, practitioners, and other relevant stakeholders?

Drawing on previous SLR research on entrepreneurship (Kraus et al., 2020 ), we synthesized the literature to reach our research goal and answer the questions listed above. RQ1 was addressed by gathering all the available literature that satisfied the inclusion criteria in terms of research scope, relevance, and keywords. The research profile was then obtained by conducting several descriptive observations meant to understand the volume of annual scientific production, the most cited sources, the geographical focus, the theoretical frameworks used by the authors, and the emerging themes across the sample. RQ2 was addressed by reviewing the literature presented in the sample through in-depth content analysis techniques. From the analysis, the following themes emerged across the sample: (1) BPCs as opportunities for entrepreneurial education, (2) the role of BPCs in the promotion and visibility of nascent entrepreneurs, (3) the contexts surrounding BPCs, and (4) methodological choices and research design in BPC publications. Regarding RQ3, we manually reviewed each document to identify relevant research gaps in the BPC literature. This allowed us to suggest several research questions that could serve as a foundation for future studies. Finally, RQ4 was addressed by developing a framework that synthesized the thematic findings of our SLR.

The present SLR can contribute significantly to both theory and practice. Overall, SLRs critically assess and synthesize extant research, developing a comprehensive theoretical framework that can guide scholars and practitioners. In other words, a systematic review highlights the different thematic areas of prior research, delineates the research profile of the existing literature, identifies research gaps, projects possible avenues for future research, and develops a synthesized research framework on the topic (Dhir et al., 2020 ). Thus, from a theoretical perspective, our study should interest a broad range of researchers, as it links back to the ongoing global conversation regarding BPCs. It does so by synthesizing the knowledge on the topic and formulating a structured research agenda that could serve as a reference for researchers to conduct future studies and address issues of topical interest that have yet to receive sufficient attention from authors. The research agenda is built upon extant gaps found in our in-depth analysis of the sample. Similarly, practitioners can use the findings to recognize the drivers and outcomes of BPC programs and shed light on their core characteristics when designing one. Likewise, policymakers should use the present work as a blueprint for BPC planning, as the findings presented in this paper summarize how to set up a BPC effectively.

The article begins by outlining the scope of the research and explaining what types of studies will be included in the SLR in terms of content. We then explain the methodology used to gather the research sample and provide a descriptive overview of the data. Next, we provide a thematic review of the studies featured in the SLR. We identify gaps in the literature and avenues for further research before finally discussing the study’s limitations, as well as its theoretical and practical implications.

Scope of the review

Specifying the scope of the SLR and outlining its conceptual boundaries enhance the search protocol's transparency and academic rigor (Dhir et al., 2020 ). We achieved the above by clearly defining the theoretical background of the phenomenon under investigation, thus establishing the definition of the term BPC and employing it as the conceptual boundary of the review.

The BPC literature is part of a broader stream of competition-based learning in higher education institutions (Connell, 2013 ; Olssen & Peters, 2005 ). The peculiarities of BPCs consist in the presence of rewards for participation (Brentnall et al., 2018 ), the development of core entrepreneurial competencies (Arranz et al., 2017 ; Florin et al., 2007 ), and the overall effectiveness in terms of entrepreneurial survival (Jones & Jones, 2011 ; Russell et al., 2008 ). Previous research has focused on the core elements of BPC programs, such as mentoring, feedback, and networking; the way they affect future entrepreneurial lives (McGowan & Cooper, 2008 ; Watson et al., 2015 ; Watson & McGowan, 2019 ); and the rewards from BPC participation (Russell et al., 2008 ).

From a geographical perspective, the significance of BPCs is equally pertinent for developed and emerging economies (Tipu, 2018 ), albeit nascent entrepreneurs face unique challenges in developing countries, such as the lack of educational support (Hyder & Lussier, 2016 ) and institutional instability (Farashahi & Hafsi, 2009 ). We find the most significant levels of literary production in the USA (Buono, 2000 ), where BPCs originated back in the 1980s, and Europe (Riviezzo et al., 2012 ). BPC programs are also gaining traction in developing countries, especially in Asia (Wong, 2011 ) and Africa (House-Soremenkun & Falola, 2011 ). In China, for instance, BPCs are recognized as a reasonable means to obtain practical entrepreneurial knowledge (Fayolle, 2013 ). Similarly, in Kenya, there is an unprecedented level of interest in BPCs, especially from stakeholders involved in entrepreneurial education (Mboha, 2018 ). Finally, in Australia, Lu et al. ( 2018 ) noted the importance of funding from the federal government, such as the New Colombo Plan or the Endeavour Mobility funding schemes, in terms of support and promotion of BPC programs.

Despite the broad geographical scope of BPC literature, there is still a considerable paucity of research on the impact of BPCs on local entrepreneurship and enterprise development. Additionally, the few published studies feature mixed results. For instance, the study by Russell et al. ( 2008 ) reported a positive impact of the MI50K Entrepreneurship Competition in terms of job creation and overall funding obtained. However, the results of the study by Fayolle and Klandt ( 2006 ) are contradictory, as they note how entrepreneurial training via BPC participation does not always equate to a successful future venture. In this regard, BPC literature echoes decades-old controversial stances in entrepreneurship research, such as the perceived usefulness of business plans (Gumpert, 2003 ; Leadbeater & Oakley, 2001 ).

At this juncture, we also consider it prudent to formulate the definition of BPC that will be used as a conceptual boundary for the present study. While BPCs worldwide share a core definition and essence, they come in various forms (McKenzie, 2017 ). We adopted Passaro et al.'s ( 2017 ) definition of BPC, highlighting three essential structural and procedural features. The first is the presence of an organizing committee overseeing the competition and sponsors willing to invest in the most promising entries (Bell, 2010 ). Second, the participants are required to submit business plans to participate in the competition, and participants often consist of teams, as knowledge sharing across multiple people is deemed a crucial component of entrepreneurial success (Weisz et al., 2010 ). Third, after an initial screening, only participants with the most promising ideas are asked to further develop their business plans in the final stages of the competition (Burton, 2020 ). Thus, with the above conceptual scope in mind, our study includes contributions that have examined BPCs, their core characteristics, their implications for entrepreneurship education, and both the antecedents and consequences of BPC participation. However, we do not include studies investigating entrepreneurship education, universities' incubators, and generic entrepreneurial themes. Such studies have already been discussed at length by previous researchers.

The SLR approach was undertaken in an attempt to present the current literature in a comprehensive and extensive way. SLRs have been widely used in entrepreneurship research, and we use previously published SLRs as a methodological reference to guide our study (Mary George et al., 2016 ; Paek & Lee, 2018 ; Tabares et al., 2021 ). In accordance with previous work (Hu & Hughes, 2020 ), we performed a systematic review of BPC literature divided into two distinct steps. We first extracted the dataset required to perform the study, in what we will refer to as the data extraction phase. We later profiled the sample obtained in terms of descriptive statistics, such as annual scientific production, most cited countries, authors’ networks, and collaborations. Additional analyses were conducted by using the VOSviewer software tool (version 1.6.10., Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands) and Microsoft Excel (Dhir et al., 2020 ). The tools make use of bibliographic data to determine the frequencies of the published materials, design relevant charts and graphs, construct and visualize the bibliometric networks, and calculate the citation metrics.

Data extraction

The three central databases utilized for the present study are Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and Google Scholar, as per the suggestions by Mariani et al. ( 2018 ). The first step in order to conduct the extraction of data was to identify the appropriate set of keywords. Based on the conceptual boundaries of the SLR, we determined an initial set of keywords. The keywords included ‘business plan competitions', ‘business plan contests’, and ‘business creation competitions’. The above keywords were used to perform an initial search on Google Scholar to examine if our keywords were sufficient. The first 50 results were taken into consideration (Dhir et al., 2020 ). We also searched the exact keywords in top journals, such as Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice ; Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal ; International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal ; and Entrepreneurship Research Journal . Subsequently, we updated the list with keywords from the above sources. We consulted the panel to finalize the set of keywords, which ultimately resulted in the following: business plan competition*, business creation competition*, social business plan competition*, business plan contest*, business creation competition*, pitch competition*, pitch contest*. Data were collected from two databases, Scopus and WoS, which are generally well renowned in previous SLR studies on entrepreneurship (Hu & Hughes, 2020 ). Then, a rigorous set of inclusion and exclusion criteria was established. As for the inclusion criterion, we wanted to include only peer-reviewed works. This decision was made to strengthen the validity of the findings. Consequently, all forms of literature that may not have been subjected to a rigorous review process were excluded. This exclusion criterion thus filtered out conference proceedings, book chapters, editorials, websites, and magazine articles from the sample. The English language was used as an additional inclusion criterion to avoid language bias (Dhir et al., 2020 ). A complete list of the inclusion/exclusion criteria can be found in Table 1 .

Data collection and screening of literature

The search for keywords, abstract, and title was done in selected databases using the search string featured in Table 2 . An initial search in Scopus attained 195 distinct records, including full-length articles, book chapters, conferences proceedings, review articles, and research notes. We filtered out three publications written in languages other than English. Further, after manually reviewing each record, we excluded 36 publications that were not related to BPCs and 29 publications other than peer-reviewed journal articles. This step allowed us to reduce the overall number to 76 unique records. The same research protocol was performed on the WoS database and provided an initial total of 68 records, all of which were published in English. We filtered out 24 records as they were conference proceedings, review articles, book chapters, or meeting abstracts. Subsequently, we merged the two collections and removed any duplicate records we found in the process. As a final step, we performed chain referencing to identify further relevant studies that were not found in the previous steps. We then reviewed each publication title to identify and exclude journals that could be referred to as gray literature. This brought the total number of publications to 58, which we agreed to as the definitive number to be considered for the SLR. While somewhat limited, the final sample size is in line with the standards set for management studies (Hiebl, 2021 ) and previously published SLRs in entrepreneurship research (Paek & Lee, 2018 ; Poggesi et al., 2020 ).

Research profiling

Research profiling allowed us to review the sample in terms of several descriptive statistics meant to give us a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the art of BPC research (Dhir et al., 2020 ). Starting with Fig. 1 , we address the annual scientific production of papers included in the sample. Data suggest how BPC literature has been steady over the past two decades, with a sharp increase in recent years. The year 2018 features a significant spike in publications, with 11 distinct records to consider. These trends are in line with the consistent growth in broader entrepreneurship literature, as policymakers have shown increasing levels of interest in BPCs as effective means to create new jobs, foster innovation, and recover from economic crisis (Barbini et al., 2021 ).

Year of publication of the selected studies

Figure 2 shows the distribution of articles throughout the various sources included in the sample. The International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal , International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research , Journal of Entrepreneurship Education , and International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business rank at the top.

Journals publishing the selected studies

In terms of publishing outlets, the variety of journals publishing relevant research on BPC further highlights the increasing attention scholars have devoted to this domain. Through a closer analysis, we note how leading entrepreneurship journals feature most of research articles on BPCs, thus testifying the intersection between the BPC stream and entrepreneurial education literature.

Establishments examined by the selected studies

The examination of the geographic scope of the prior studies is featured in Fig. 3 and it suggests that the majority focused on a single country, with most conducted in the United States. The United Kingdom, China, and Germany also feature a significant number of publications in terms of corresponding authors’ nationality. Other countries include South Africa, Australia, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, France, Nigeria, and Venezuela. The above results corroborate extant research, as it sees the USA as predominant due to them being where BPC first originated (Buono, 2000 ), thus having a more prosperous and profound history. Consistently with previous research, we also find a solid scientific presence in Europe (Riviezzo et al., 2012 ; Waldmann et al., 2010 ) and China (Fayolle, 2013 ). However, developing countries are lagging, possibly because BPCs have only recently become popular there (House-Soremenkun & Falola, 2011 ).

Figure 4 illustrates the top 10 most cited publications. The three most cited papers were published over a decade ago, thus acting as a theoretical foundation for development of the literature stream. More specifically, the work of Liñán et al. ( 2011 ) on factors affecting entrepreneurial intention levels and education is the most cited. In their work, Liñán et al. ( 2011 ) consider and establish empathy as a necessary precursor to social entrepreneurial intentions. At the time of publication, their findings were exploratory in nature, thus prompting several additional studies to expand upon their results and further develop their conclusions.

Most cited global documents

Furthermore, the study by Russell et al. ( 2008 ) on the development of entrepreneurial skills and knowledge by higher education institutions ranks at second place. Russell et al. ( 2008 ) noted that BPCs provide fertile ground for new business start-ups and for encouraging entrepreneurial ideas. Russell et al. ( 2008 ) were among the first to suggest a positive correlation between BPCs and entrepreneurial development, thus becoming a theoretical cornerstone for studies willing to further explore the benefits of BPCs for nascent entrepreneurs (Passaro et al., 2017 ).

The study by Lange et al. ( 2007 ) is the third most cited work. Lange et al. ( 2007 ) supported the hypothesis that new ventures created with a written business plan do not outperform new ventures that did not have a written business plan. Their work is often cited among BPC literature when discussing theoretical assumptions against the effectiveness of business plans and, consequently, BPCs (Watson & McGowan, 2019 ).

Several research methods have been adopted in the sample, both qualitative and quantitative. Figure 5 illustrates the methodological choices found within the sample, distinguished as qualitative, quantitative, mixed, and experimental research designs. The amounts shown in Fig. 5 are in absolute value and equal to n = 33 for qualitative research studies, n = 19 for quantitative research, n = 2 for mixed research, and n = 4 for experimental research. The most common choice in research design is the use of a specific BPC as a single empirical case study (Barbini et al., 2021 ; Efobi & Orkoh, 2018 ; Li et al., 2019 ). For instance, Jiang et al. ( 2018 ) investigated the “Challenge Cup” BPC to subsequently develop a longitudinal analysis on creative interaction networks and team creativity evolution. Similarly, Barbini et al. ( 2021 ) investigated data from a BPC in Rimini through the use of a mixed-method analysis. On the other hand, studies that focus on the educational implications of BPCs tend to use students as respondents, instead of BPC participants (Licha & Brem, 2018 ; Olokundun et al., 2017 ).

The research designs used in the selected studies

In terms of methodological choices, qualitative research on BPCs is dominated by semi-structured interviews and surveys (Burton, 2020 ; Watson & McGowan, 2019 ; Watson et al., 2018 ). The above is due to how in-depth, open-ended interviews fit a case study research design, thus explaining their popularity in BPC literature (Watson et al., 2015 ). Additionally, amid qualitative research, we find focus groups (Lu et al., 2018 ), fuzzy-set (Lewellyn & Muller-Kahle, 2016 ), content analysis, and cross-sectional research (Passaro et al., 2017 ). Moreover, quantitative studies include partial least squares models (Fichter & Tiemann, 2020 ; Overall et al., 2018 ), regression analysis, longitudinal studies (Jiang et al., 2018 ; Watson et al., 2018 ), and descriptive empirical research based on surveys. Partial least squares regression models are the most popular choice in regards to quantitative BPC research (Fichter & Tiemann, 2020 ; Overall et al., 2018 ), as they have allowed authors to, among other research, test the impacts of several variables on the entrepreneurial activity of BPC participants (Fichter & Tiemann, 2020 ) and to measure the effectiveness of universities’ promotion of entrepreneurship through events, BPCs, and incubators (Overall et al., 2018 ).

Figure 6 was made with the VOSviewer tool and shows the interactions between the most prolific countries in BPC literature. It showcases the co-citation network between the authors in the sample, sorted by their country of origin. In other words, countries appearing near within the diagram have closer collaboration. The size of each bubble indicates the relevance of each country within the network in terms of overall citations. Several main collaboration groups were found, each highlighted in a distinct color. Consistently with the geographical scope of the sample illustrated in Fig. 3 , the UK and the USA play a predominant role in the collaboration network.

The cross-country co-citation network

VOSviewer can also analyze the co-occurrence year between keywords. Through the co-occurrence chronology of keywords, the first co-occurrence time between keywords can be clearly displayed, which helps to understand the research in the field of BPC and how it has evolved over time. The co-occurrence chronology view is shown in Fig. 7 . The color of the line between the keywords in the figure indicates the first co-occurrence time of the two. The thicker the line, the greater the intensity of the two co-occurrences and the greater the number of co-occurrences between the two keywords. We notice how the field initially started around the topic of entrepreneurial education, as highlighted by the purple and blue clusters. Progressively, the focus has shifted towards social media, business development, innovation, and marketing, most likely due to the growing relevance of digital transformation throughout the past decade.

The co-occurrence chronology view of keywords

To provide readers with a comprehensive and in-depth overview of the BPC literature, we analyzed and synthesized the sample using qualitative content analysis. This technique allows researchers to identify key emerging themes from a sample and to group the records depending on their similarities (Baregheh et al., 2009 ). Three researchers conducted the content analysis independently to uncover the thematic structure of the sample. Later, we shared our findings and discussed divergent thoughts and interpretations. The discussion was aided by a senior researcher with relevant expertise in entrepreneurship research. After much debate, we agreed to arrange the results according to four themes: (1) BPCs as opportunities for entrepreneurial education, (2) benefits of BPC participation, (3) the ideal BPC blueprint, and (4) methodological choices and research design in BPC publications. This classification allowed for a more structured overview of the sample that also afforded enough space and detail to adequately review each literature stream. The research questions that emerged from each theme are presented in Table 3 , and they could act as the backbone for future studies on the topic.

BPCs and entrepreneurial education

While entrepreneurship education existed prior to the 1960s, it only became more significant in the second half of the 20th century. Entrepreneurship education was also much more popular in the USA than in the rest of the world, due to a much greater variety of courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels (Dana, 1992 ). Greater academic interest in entrepreneurship was sparked at the beginning of the 21st century, however, and it has increased rapidly over the past two decades, in terms of both scientific publications and courses available to nascent entrepreneurs (Liñán et al., 2011 ).

Overall et al. ( 2018 ) emphasize the importance of universities in entrepreneurial education and BPCs. Oftentimes, universities combine traditional lectures with more practical activities, such as BPCs, to provide students with a more practically oriented schedule. Similarly, Licha and Brem ( 2018 ) highlight the tools and services available to nascent entrepreneurs via universities, including incubators, accelerators, and entrepreneurship-specific teaching methods. The findings of Licha and Brem ( 2018 ) also suggest that universities tend to give their own spin to entrepreneurial programs and that different cultures lead to different results for BPC participants and nascent entrepreneurs in general. While differences may emerge across programs based in different countries (Lewellyn & Muller-Kahle, 2016 ; Zhou et al., 2015 ), the core elements of such competitions remain stable (Parente et al., 2015 ).

Entrepreneurial programs have steadily increased in popularity over the past decade, thus prompting a newly found interest in BPCs as core components of said programs (Laud et al., 2015 ). Raveendra et al. ( 2018 ) identified several skills that universities can transfer to BPC participants, such as time management, problem solving, communication skills, and brainstorming. Although the development of these skills is not, strictly speaking, universities’ prerogative, both governments and employers want skilled entrepreneurs in society (Russell et al., 2008 ). Indeed, BPCs are a prime opportunity for novel entrepreneurs to develop entrepreneurial skills thanks to the potential for networking with peers and a practice-focused competitive environment. Such an opportunity appears to be tied to the historical appeal of BPCs, as they have attracted students from a plethora of disciplines and sectors throughout the decades (Russell et al., 2008 ).

When BPCs are approached with positive attitudes and open minds, participants can actively benefit from what they learn during their entrepreneurial journeys (McGowan & Cooper, 2008 ). The results of their learning experiences tend to emerge during their entrepreneurial careers, as entrepreneurial skills are held in high regard by various stakeholders and shareholders alike, including investors and business angels (Olokundun et al., 2017 ). Several empirical case studies strengthen these findings, illustrating the importance of BPCs as learning opportunities and their importance in terms of future entrepreneurial life (Cervilla, 2008 ; Li et al., 2019 ; Mancuso et al., 2010 ). It is worth mentioning that some studies in the sample had contradictory results, as universities are not always able to promote entrepreneurship with satisfactory results (Wegner et al., 2019 ).

However, the conversation around entrepreneurial education is still developing. For example, not much has been said about interdisciplinary personalized training and self-learning activities (Li et al., 2019 ). Cervilla ( 2008 ) echoes the same necessity in terms of creating and nurturing an interconnected environment around universities and spin-offs. A first set of exploratory findings suggests that the intervention of external professionals could benefit the entrepreneurial education of students; however, much remains to be said about which skills are valued the most by nascent entrepreneurs (Raveendra et al., 2018 ), incentives and returns for universities that host BPCs (Parente et al., 2015 ), and BPCs as a means to instill proactive entrepreneurial intentions in students (Olokundun et al., 2017 ).

Additionally, the debate surrounding the role of higher education institutions in entrepreneurial education remains very active. While universities’ support for BPCs has been proven to benefit participants in the past (Saeed et al., 2014 ), the findings of Wegner et al. ( 2019 ) suggest that the actions of universities have little to no impact on students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Contradicting results can also be found in other studies (e.g., Coduras et al., 2016 ; Shahid et al., 2017 ), which suggests that additional research is needed to expand this literature stream further. Authors have stressed the importance of intangible benefits gained from BPCs, as participants view them as valuable learning experiences and hold the competencies gained from them in high regard, albeit not entirely useful in day-to-day routines (Watson et al., 2018 ). Still, on the topic of competence development, studies have highlighted that stressing the importance of specific skills during BPCs can seriously impact future entrepreneurial ventures (Overall et al., 2018 ).

Finally, several points of contention emerge when discussing the educational outcomes of BPCs. The literature suggests that nascent entrepreneurs rely on BPCs to refine their business ideas and get feedback (Grichnik et al., 2014 ; Tata & Niedworok, 2018 ); however, empirical and theoretical contributions to BPCs as learning experiences are limited and unclear (Schwartz et al., 2013 ). To address this issue, Watson et al. ( 2018 ) claim that researchers need to understand how participation in university-based BPCs affects entrepreneurial learning outcomes among nascent entrepreneurs. So far, the results have been contradictory. Fafchamps et al. ( 2014 ) found little to no impact on the growth of such entrepreneurial ventures.

Non-educational benefits of BPC participation

It goes without saying that winning a BPC implies a significant increase in visibility, which could lead to finding new stakeholders who could prove useful to the project (Parente et al., 2015 ). However, gray areas still exist. As Parente et al. ( 2015 ) suggest, the role of media coverage could be further improved by involving experts specialized in business and entrepreneurship, instead of generalist media alone. Competition promoters should also invest considerably more time and resources into social media promotion, as social media platforms have become more and more prominent over the years for both entrepreneurs and their potential market (Cant, 2016b ; Palacios-Marqués et al., 2015 ). This is especially relevant for tech-savvy entrepreneurs who are active on social media platforms and could benefit from social media exposure, but they need institutions to act accordingly in this regard (Botha & Robertson, 2014 ). Cant ( 2016b ) found that participants in BPCs were satisfied with the exposure they received from the event, noting that it was worth the effort. However, the author also stressed the importance of event promoters being savvy with social media promotion, which was not always the case.

More broadly speaking, BPC winners have been shown to possess a greater survival rate in entrepreneurial life due to a number of factors, including financial aid, attractiveness in the eyes of stakeholders, and a positive impact on investors (McKenzie, 2017 ). Additionally, McKenzie ( 2017 ) analyzed the YouWiN! competition and noted its impact on the survival rates of established firms and start-ups. The main effect of the competition was to enable firms to buy more capital, innovate more, and hire more workers, hence making the BPC an effective tool for long-term growth. The above results add to a pre-existing debate that has characterized entrepreneurship research in the past, as authors do not seem to reach a universal consensus on the perceived usefulness of business plans (Gumpert, 2003 ; Leadbeater & Oakley, 2001 ). Still, on the topic of firm survival, the results of the study conducted by Simón-Moya and Revuelto-Taboada ( 2016 ) are especially interesting for policymakers responsible for aid programs aiming to foster entrepreneurship, as they show how the quality of a business plan alone can be a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition to explain firm survival. Hence, there is a need for policymakers and institutions to foster entrepreneurship via institutional aid and programs, BPCs included.

Moreover, Fichter and Tiemann ( 2020 ) found that the promotion of sustainability in competitions leads to the integration of sustainability practices into future entrepreneurial activities. However, they warn that policymakers need to effectively plan the integration of sustainability with the entrepreneurial mindset of BPC participants, as generic sustainability orientations do not automatically lead to the integration of sustainability goals into future business activities (Cornelissen & Werner, 2014 ). This sentiment has been echoed in more recent research (Daub et al., 2020 ). The debate on the importance of BPC participation still features a few areas that have yet to be fully explored and discussed. For example, Tata and Niedworok ( 2018 ) claim that the evaluation of business plans changes throughout the phases the idea undergoes, which leads to a more prominent role of subjective feedback in the very early stages of their development. Much like business plan evaluators, nascent entrepreneurs change the way they value their competencies over time (Watson et al., 2018 ): what appeared most useful during their time spent educating themselves might not coincide with what is deemed most relevant during their actual entrepreneurial life; however, more evidence is required to get a proper understanding of this phenomenon.

The ideal BPC blueprint

Several studies have been conducted to explore the contexts in which BPCs thrive and the traits they need to possess to successfully shape future entrepreneurs. Cant ( 2018 ) was one of the first authors to provide a tentative blueprint for future competitions, which included a call for a more structured approach and better planning via a set of universal traits that a BPC should possess regardless of the country or culture in which it is set. Drawing on Bell ( 2010 ), Cant ( 2018 ) also stresses the importance of a go-to model as a means for inexperienced institutions to organize and manage a BPC properly without the need for previous experience.

Additionally, several common trends have emerged that could help determine a generalized BPC blueprint as accurately as possible. First, it is important to ensure that the BPC is embedded in an entrepreneur-friendly ecosystem in which both nascent entrepreneurs and professionals, such as venture capitalists, business angels, and generic investors, can interact and network with each other in a seamless way (Passaro et al., 2017 ). The formulation and development of a business plan is an extremely important yet delicate step for new entrepreneurs, and being able to effectively assess their opportunities and make use of feedback from established professionals is crucial (Botha & Robertson, 2014 ). This two-way feedback mechanism can be implemented both in the early stages of competitions via workshops and lectures and after the winner is picked so that everyone has the chance to understand their results and improve (Cant, 2018 ).

Cant’s ( 2018 ) blueprint stresses the importance of industry specialists aiding participants with their submissions. This finding is supported by a case study by Moultry ( 2011 ), in which industry professionals effectively participated in lectures, provided panel discussions, and helped conduct a BPC for pharmacy students. The vast majority of students who took part in the experiment claimed that the help of industry professionals significantly increased their understanding of business plans and consequently increased their chances of future entrepreneurial success. Moreover, establishing a collaboration network that ties BPC participants to industry professionals greatly increases the chances of survival for university spin-offs (Cervilla, 2008 ).

Finally, an effective BPC should provide winners and, when possible, participants in general with enough resources to fund the early stages of their entrepreneurial journeys (Feldman & Oden, 2007 ; Kolb, 2006 ). Funding nascent entrepreneurs through BPCs could provide several benefits that significantly increase their chances of survival, while also providing them with new opportunities, such as access to debt and equity capital (Burton, 2020 ). However, nascent entrepreneurs themselves need to be able to convince investors that their business ideas are worthy of their funding and resources, and in that regard, opportunity templates vary among people who occupy different professional roles (Tata & Niedworok, 2018 ). While expressing their concerns about founders speculating on financial rewards in the business-idea phase and proposing their own BPC evaluation framework, Tata and Niedworok ( 2018 ) call for a balanced number of jurors from each professional domain to mitigate unfair rating biases. However, much about BPC blueprints remains to be determined. Cant ( 2018 ) explains that there are no set rules applicable to all competitions and that, given the increase in popularity of BPCs all over the world, evaluating similar competitions in Europe and Asia would be a natural progression for this specific literature stream.

Methodological choices and research design in BPC publications

The BPC literature features several research design choices, with both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection. Generally speaking, there is a noticeable predominance of empirical research based on case studies and descriptive analysis of BPC scenarios (Efobi & Orkoh, 2018 ; Li et al., 2019 ), with little emphasis on theoretical underpinnings or theory development. Multiple longitudinal studies were identified in the sample (Mosey et al., 2012 ; Watson et al., 2018 ; Jiang et al., 2018 ). We were not able to find SLRs on the topic of BPCs, other than the one performed by Tipu ( 2018 ).

From a qualitative perspective, there were several case studies from both developed (Licha & Brem, 2018 ) and developing countries (Efobi & Orkoh, 2018 ; McKenzie & Sansone, 2019 ). A few qualitative studies have also taken an experimental approach (Fafchamps & Quinn, 2017 ; Fafchamps & Woodruff, 2017 ), which was made possible by the availability of students and higher education institution facilities at the authors’ disposal. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in a few studies, mostly with exploratory intentions (Burton, 2020 ; Watson & McGowan, 2019 ).

Only one study can be labeled as mixed methods research (Barbini et al., 2021 ), whereas the remaining studies were quantitative. Methodological approaches using partial least squares regression are prevalent in BPC research (Overall et al., 2018 ; Wegner et al., 2019 ; Fichter & Tiemann, 2020 ) in which authors attempted to test the impacts of several variables on the entrepreneurial future of BPC participants. For example, Fichter and Tiemann ( 2020 ) used structural equation modeling to test whether the integration of sustainability goals into BPC programs affects the future business outcomes of nascent entrepreneurs, especially in terms of the inclusion of sustainability topics. Moreover, Wegner et al. ( 2019 ) applied a similar research design to determine whether universities’ role in promoting entrepreneurship contests such as BPCs positively affects students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Finally, Overall et al. ( 2018 ) used the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a theoretical framework to measure the effectiveness of universities’ promotion of entrepreneurship through events, BPCs, and incubators.

Additionally, the topic of BPCs is multi-theoretical in nature, allowing scholars to use various theoretical underpinnings to investigate their nature. The sample features several theoretical frameworks used by authors, including screening and signaling theory for the analysis of early-stage venture-investor communication (Wales, et al., 2019 ); the Fishbein–Ajzen framework to predict planned behavior based on four components of reasoned action (Overall et al., 2018 ); institutional theory as a means to explain variation in entrepreneurial intention (Lewellyn & Muller-Kahle, 2016 ); and variations of the psychological model of “planned behavior” (Liñán et al., 2011 ). It is worth noting that while theoretical perspectives are plenty, records featured in the sample do not use multiple theoretical lenses in the same study. Finally, we find a few studies synthesize and develop their unique theoretical frameworks based on extant theory and empirical observations (Wen & Chen, 2007 ; McGowan & Cooper, 2008 ), even though a considerable portion of the sample features purely empirical results (McKenzie, 2017 ; Moultry, 2011 ).

Research gaps

Several research gaps were identified in the sample. To give a more thought-out structure to the presentation of these results, we classified the gaps into two categories: gaps related to the data and gaps related to the analysis.

Data-related gaps

A few studies had generalizability problems. The exploratory nature of some case studies presented intrinsic limitations to generalizability, as the findings were sometimes not applicable to different contexts (Cervilla, 2008 ; Li et al., 2019 ). For example, Licha and Brem’s ( 2018 ) study features two universities located in Germany and Denmark. Future research could expand upon their findings by investigating several other universities in different countries to strengthen and confirm their results.

Several studies have employed qualitative research methods using exploratory (Parente et al., 2015 ) or experimental approaches (Efobi & Orkoh, 2018 ; McKenzie, 2017 ). There are inherent weaknesses in such research, as self-reported surveys cannot guarantee unbiased responses (Efobi & Orkoh, 2018 ). Similarly, semi-structured interviews feature the same bias; however, their results can be verified with follow-up quantitative research on a larger scale (Licha & Brem, 2018 ; Watson et al., 2015 , 2018 ).

Some studies were also limited due to their sample sizes. Small-scale studies are valuable for exploratory research, as they allow for an initial step into a novel investigation, but they lack in terms of representativeness (Tornikoski & Puhakka, 2009 ; Watson et al., 2018 ; Barbini et al., 2021 ). For example, Wegner et al. ( 2019 ) warn readers of the intrinsic limitations of small sample sizes and ask for larger-scale surveys that could potentially test and expand the results of their initial exploratory research. Moreover, Watson et al. ( 2018 ) claim that it is important to investigate other types of competitions and not limit the scope of BPC research to university-based competitions. In doing so, future research could yield new insights and even adopt comparative perspectives to determine the differences between the two worlds (Watson et al., 2018 ).

Gaps related to analysis

Several main gaps were identified related to analysis, including a narrow focus of prior research, limited geographic scope, and a lack of theoretical underpinnings. A few studies were conducted with very narrow foci, effectively leaving the door open for future studies to bridge the gaps they highlighted. For example, Barbini et al. ( 2021 ) focused on the educational backgrounds of nascent entrepreneurs without considering the implications of their work experience. This gap could be addressed in some capacity by future research. Furthermore, Wegner et al. ( 2019 ) point out that their research shared the same limitation, as they focused on comparing individual students’ entrepreneurial intentions rather than comparing the same individual’s intentions over time. They suggest that future research could explore the influence of universities and BPCs on students’ entrepreneurial intentions (Liñán et al., 2011 ).

Another issue related to the analysis was the limited geographic scope of the sample. While the BPC literature includes contributions from both developed and developing countries (Olafsen & Cook, 2016 ), contextual empirical evidence from both sides of the spectrum is limited. Cross-cultural analysis from different countries could lead to new findings and a more comprehensive look at the BPC phenomenon, especially in developing countries, as thus far only one study exists.

Finally, another gap identified in the sample was the lack of theoretical underpinnings in many of the studies. Most of the selected manuscripts featured qualitative case studies or empirical survey-based data (Cervilla, 2008 ; Li et al., 2019 ). Although their findings were insightful, the authors themselves note that the exploratory nature of most of the studies reflects the need for more theory-building studies on BPCs or the implementation of behavioral theories to strengthen the hypotheses developed by researchers.

Potential research areas

We identified several research areas that could be explored in the future by entrepreneurship researchers. Our selection was based on a combination of our manual review of the content included in the sample and the need for further research expressed by the authors themselves. The suggestions refer primarily to the replication of exploratory research, the need for further longitudinal research, and the testing of hypotheses and measures developed by the authors, each of which is discussed below.

Replication of exploratory studies

The lack of representativeness in the studies was the most evident and recurrent gap highlighted in the sample. Scholars could start from the preliminary research findings provided by current BPC research and replicate studies in different geographical contexts. Although BPCs share several similarities in the way they function and are managed, differences in their efficacy and the survival rate of winners and participants in general can arise. However, replicability is useful for demystifying not only the entrepreneurial lives of winners, but also BPC designs themselves. For example, the blueprint developed by Cant ( 2018 ) can be replicated and tested in several contexts to validate its effectiveness and to provide novel insights into it. Future research is required to explore this ongoing debate and to find as much information as possible on how to plan the support of professionals from outside of universities accordingly (Burton, 2020 ) and how they affect BPC participants’ attitudes and entrepreneurship intentions (He et al., 2020 ).

Longitudinal studies on BPC participants’ entrepreneurial survival

Multiple authors have called for longitudinal studies designed to follow the lives of BPC participants both prior to and after the contests take place. A few longitudinal studies already exist; however, they have also called for more studies with similar research designs. For example, Watson et al. ( 2018 ) call for longitudinal research to test the notion of competition competency they introduced in their study. Similarly, Jiang et al. ( 2018 ) claim that their longitudinal approach was severely limited by being narrowly focused on a single competition. Therefore, they call for further longitudinal studies to strengthen the validity of their findings.

Collecting longitudinal data seems to be a fitting way to contribute to BPC research, specifically, and to entrepreneurial research, more broadly, as metrics could help researchers understand the development of nascent entrepreneurial ventures over time while highlighting the effects of factors such as entrepreneurial education or institutional support for BPC participants at the beginning of their journeys (Wegner et al., 2019 ). Currently, little research has been conducted on a longitudinal basis; thus, there is still a severe lack of understanding of BPCs’ impacts on the entrepreneurial teams and businesses that emerge from them (McGowan & Cooper, 2008 ).

Utilization of diverse research methods

Scholars could make use of a more diverse set of research methods in future BPC studies to overcome the paucity of theoretical contributions and quantitative research in general. While several exploratory studies serve as a strong starting point for BPC research (Burton, 2020 ; Parente et al., 2015 ), it is important to approach the topic in a more multidisciplinary manner, for instance, by including more mixed-method studies in the future (Barbini et al., 2021 ). This could lead to more comprehensive results and a more holistic understanding of the BPC literature among academics and practitioners (Efobi & Orkoh, 2018 ).

Diverse theoretical perspectives

Little theory is currently available on BPCs (Cant, 2018 ). Although multi-theoretical in nature, BPC literature draws on a limited number of existing theories, such as the quadruple-helix model (Parente et al., 2015 ) and the TPB (Overall et al., 2018 ). While the results from exploratory research are interesting and valuable, most of these studies are not underpinned by theory or theoretical frameworks of any kind. Furthermore, the paucity of theoretical underpinnings in our sample can be used as a prompt for future research. To date, only a few studies have grounded their research in established theories (Lv et al., 2021 ; Overall et al., 2018 ). Future research could try to bridge this gap, especially with behavior-centered theories and frameworks, which could be used to address several research questions in terms of BPCs’ impacts on future entrepreneurial lives and the way nascent entrepreneurs incorporate what they learn during competitions into their everyday professional practice (Watson & McGowan, 2019 ).

Theoretical framework

After reviewing the theoretical underpinnings found within the sample, we find a predominance of the conceptual framework developed by Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975 ), namely the theory of reasoned action (TRA), which allows for a systematic theoretical orientation on beliefs and attitudes to perform a certain behavior. By using the TRA as a base reference, we synthesized extant theoretical research found in the BPC literature. We listed several independent and dependent variables depicted in previous work, reviewed the connections found between them, and illustrated the role played by moderating variables. The framework also serves as a reference to determine the impact each factor has on BPC participants in their entrepreneurial futures. The framework is illustrated in Fig. 8 .

BPC theoretical framework

In the context of BPC, several antecedents can be identified as determinants of future entrepreneurial behavior. Our framework draws on previously published theoretical underpinnings to define both the antecedents of entrepreneurial activity and the multiple intrinsic factors that contribute to its multifaceted nature. We start by identifying entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial competence, which have been investigated in the literature through the theoretical lens of the TPB (Ajzen, 1991 ). Then, drawing on the theoretical model Lv et al. ( 2021 ) developed, we expect entrepreneurial teaching and practice support to positively impact future entrepreneurial intention and the development of entrepreneurial competencies. This theoretical assumption is backed by a few studies (Liñán et al., 2011 ) and deemed worthy of further attention. For example, future research could adopt a hierarchical multiple regression to determine the impact of entrepreneurial teaching on future entrepreneurial intention (Olokundun et al., 2017 ). Alternatively, the impact could be investigated through multiple regression models by developing a set of factors tailored to the entrepreneurial education programs and extracted via questionnaires (Liñán et al., 2011 ).

Drawing on entrepreneurial research, we find the perceived desirability of entrepreneurship and the perceived feasibility of entrepreneurship (Schlaegel & Koenig, 2014 ) as the two main attitudes toward entrepreneurial intentions (Ajzen, 1991 ; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975 ). In other words, per the theoretical model proposed by Overall et al. ( 2018 ), entrepreneurial orientation leads students and nascent entrepreneurs to the desirability of an entrepreneurial career and the perceived feasibility of said career, which subsequently influence their entrepreneurial intentions. Then, drawing on the TRA and TPB frameworks, we propose that when individuals possess strong desirability toward an entrepreneurial career and perceive said career as feasible, they will most likely form entrepreneurial intentions (Overall et al., 2018 ).

We define entrepreneurial teaching as the essential aspect of entrepreneurship education. Research suggests that educational support affects nascent entrepreneurs by providing them with adequate skills to tackle better entrepreneurial life (Grichnik et al., 2014 ; Tata & Niedworok, 2018 ). In other words, entrepreneurial education programs actively contribute to entrepreneurial development (Škare et al., 2022 ). The positive effects of educational support on entrepreneurial success and intention can be found in empirical studies (Thomas et al., 2014 ; Passaro et al., 2020 ). More specifically, we note entrepreneurial education as a key factor in influencing innovation and development. The entrepreneur’s competencies are seen as an individual and organizational resource that needs to be properly developed through educational programs in order to bring out its potential for the entrepreneurial future (Salmony & Kanbach, 2022 ). Overall, drawing on the theoretical framework of Lv et al. ( 2021 ), we find both entrepreneurial teaching and entrepreneurial practice, intended as BPC participation, to affect their entrepreneurial intention significantly.

A set of moderating control variables can be used to provide a more comprehensive overview of the influence played by the stakeholders mentioned above. Wegner et al. ( 2019 ) suggest that future research could specify how age moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial support variables and the outcomes of BPC participants. Other studies have also supported the use of age as a moderator of the effectiveness of BPC support on entrepreneurial intention (Cant, 2018 ; Passaro et al., 2020 ). Furthermore, McGowan and Cooper ( 2008 ) claim that entrepreneurs’ levels of knowledge could be tested as moderating variables of entrepreneurial intention and behavior, as BPC participants might have different backgrounds and levels of expertise, which could influence the outcomes of their entrepreneurship activities. Additionally, Lewellyn and Muller-Kahle ( 2016 ) propose using gender as a moderator of entrepreneurial activity. Finally, Terán-Yépez et al. ( 2022 ) discuss the use of affective dispositions as variables influencing entrepreneurial activity. Future research could expand upon their findings and use hope, courage, fear and regret as moderating variables of entrepreneurial intentions.

Entrepreneurial intention as a variable that affects entrepreneurial behavior is backed by a theoretical study conducted by Overall et al. ( 2018 ), underpinned by the TPB (Ajzen, 1991 ). A positive correlation between the two was deemed consistent and statistically significant. In conclusion, the above framework could help explore the connection between BPC participation and the development of entrepreneurial activity, which thus far has received little empirical attention in research. Future research could delve further into the impact of BPC participation and institutional support on entrepreneurial activity to give proper closure to a long-lasting debate on the usefulness of BPC as a stimulant for entrepreneurial practice (Fayolle & Klandt, 2006 ; Russell et al., 2008 ). In addition, many methodological approaches could effectively encapsulate the impact described above, as seen in entrepreneurship research. For instance, future studies could employ a longitudinal case study approach (Overall et al., 2018 ) to follow nascent entrepreneurs in their journey and determine the impact of BPC participation. Longitudinal studies have proven effective in capturing the factors and variables influencing entrepreneurial life over the years (Petty & Gruber, 2011 ).

Conclusions

The purpose of this SLR was to critically analyze the literature related to BPCs and set the future research agenda for the area of entrepreneurship. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first SLR to review research focused on recent BPC literature (Tipu, 2018 ), thus making our contribution original in its approach. The originality of the study lies in it being the first attempt at conducting an SLR on the topic of BPCs and contributing to science in several ways, as depicted below. Our study on BPC research has several implications for both academics and practitioners. From a theoretical perspective, our study makes several contributions to BPC and entrepreneurship literature. It does so by not only synthesizing extant research, but also by providing a structured research agenda built upon the several gaps found amid BPC literature. A further contribution to science is the development of a theoretical framework that will enable future researchers to have a bird’s-eye view of the domain and structure their future contributions accordingly. From a practical perspective, the study is of interest to practitioners and nascent entrepreneurs, as it provides policymakers and practitioners with a BPC blueprint featuring state-of-the-art characteristics and several key implications on how and why participating in BPCs is beneficial to nascent entrepreneurs. We propose a more detailed look at both theoretical and practical implications below.

Implications for research

Our main research contribution is a detailed review of the recent literature on BPCs, which can be deemed original, as no authors have attempted to systematically synthesize the existing BPC research. Our approach to the design of the SLR was twofold. We first provided a descriptive overview of the sample in terms of annual scientific production and geographical relevance. We then applied qualitative content analysis to highlight key emerging themes that were used to identify foci for future research directions. Based on our classification, we contend that the theoretical advancement of this research area requires greater attention to both antecedents and consequences of BPC attendance.

Our second contribution was the development of a research framework to synthesize existing knowledge on BPCs and to provide new and original insights into the BPC literature stream. Our framework explicates the role played by BPCs in the professional lives of nascent entrepreneurs (McKenzie, 2018 ; Overall et al., 2018 ) in terms of how it affects their entrepreneurial behavior (Burton, 2020 ; Passaro et al., 2017 ) and identifies the specific characteristics BPCs should feature to be as effective as possible. The same framework also helps define the scope for future research, as it identifies several avenues that future entrepreneurship scholars should explore (Fichter & Tiemann, 2020 ; Li et al., 2019 ). The framework provides future researchers a bird’s-eye view of the existing knowledge base in the area, indicating, at the same time, what remains underexplored or ignored. Additionally, by profiling extant research on BPCs, we offer scholars a comprehensive overview of potentially appropriate outlets for their studies, along with the most widely used methods and theories that could help them design their future research.

Finally, we contribute by systematically uncovering crucial research gaps in the reviewed literature on BPCs from both a methodological and a content perspective. From a methodological perspective, our analysis has revealed the need for future research to broaden the methodological scope of BPC research (Efobi & Orkoh, 2018 ). Thus far, the BPC literature stream has been dominated by empirical research featuring case studies and experimental designs (Cervilla, 2008 ; Li et al., 2019 ; Mancuso et al., 2010 ). Quantitative and mixed-method research is needed to further expand upon the findings of exploratory BPC research and to test their validity on a larger scale. From a content perspective, our study has defined a structured research agenda synthesized from extant gaps. We have identified and listed several research questions that could drive future work on the topic. Additionally, our study has highlighted the uneven distribution of BPC research from a geographical standpoint. While their significance is equally pertinent for developed and emerging economies (Tipu, 2018 ) and BPC programs are becoming increasingly popular in developing countries (House-Soremenkun & Falola, 2011 ; Wong, 2011 ), our findings suggest that country-specific production is still lagging behind pioneering nations, namely the USA and the UK. Hence, there is a need for additional evidence from developing countries, along with cross-cultural analyses to highlight the cultural differences in BPC and entrepreneurial education.

Practical implications

Our study has multiple implications for BPC practices. First, it provides policymakers and practitioners with a BPC blueprint featuring state-of-the-art characteristics. Drawing on Cant’s ( 2018 ) BPC blueprint, which was an attempt to identify an ideal set of characteristics for BPCs, we reviewed and expanded upon their findings by adding new points of view taken from empirical studies found in our sample to add new insights and incorporate more contributions from the literature. Overall, the ideal BPC should feature active participation from industry professionals, as they can provide participants with valuable insights into the professional world (Botha & Robertson, 2014 ), which BPC research has shown to be important (Moultry, 2011 ). Furthermore, a serious effort should be made to guarantee BPC participants funds and financial resources for the early stages of their entrepreneurial lives, as material support and knowledge sharing are both crucial to increasing their chances of survival (Burton, 2020 ; Passaro et al., 2017 ).

Second, our study informs practitioners of the importance of longitudinally monitoring BPC participants throughout their entrepreneurial lives (Watson et al., 2018 ). Longitudinal data allow a better understanding of the factors and variables influencing entrepreneurial life (Petty & Gruber, 2011 ). This could help BPC organizers better weigh the design choices in their educational courses by monitoring the returns they get from the seeds planted during the developmental phase of nascent business ideas (Jiang et al., 2018 ). Longitudinal monitoring of BPC participants is valuable in several ways. As suggested by McKenzie ( 2017 ), BPC winners tend to possess a greater survival rate in entrepreneurial life, which contributes to the debate on whether the quality of business plans affects the future survival rate (Simón-Moya & Revuelto-Taboada, 2016 ). Practitioners and policymakers should be asked to monitor and support BPC participants after the competition. As noted by Cant ( 2018 ), building a long-lasting collaboration with BPC participants increases their chances of survival, regardless of whether they have won the actual competition. The role played by BPC organizers in building a post-competition collaborative network is vital and has a significant impact on the survival rate, employment, profits, and sales of ventures participating in BPCs (McKenzie, 2017 ).

Our study could also be beneficial to managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals alike, as it can provide them with several key implications on how and why participating in BPCs is beneficial to nascent entrepreneurs, in terms of visibility, knowledge development, and networking opportunities (Thomas et al., 2014 ; Passaro et al., 2020 ). This is true both for novel entrepreneurs who have yet to emerge and for industry professionals who are willing to get in touch with future generations of entrepreneurs and stimulate the discussion around the topic of BPCs (Barbini et al., 2021 ). While participants generally obtain more tangible benefits from winning BPCs, their very participation in the competition can provide several intangible benefits as well, primarily in terms of networking opportunities and skill development. In this regard, our study is of practical significance for nascent entrepreneurs willing to partake in BPCs, as it features a clear depiction of what to expect to gain from the competition.

Limitations and future research

We adopted an SLR methodology to analyze the available research on BPCs. Our systematic review of the BPC literature provided descriptive and original contributions to the field. Four research questions were addressed in this article. RQ1 was addressed by providing an overview of the current state of the art of BPC research in what we refer to as research profiling. Fifty-eight unique records were extracted from the Scopus and WoS databases and analyzed in terms of annual scientific production, publication sources, geographical contexts, and influence in terms of citations. We addressed RQ2 by adopting qualitative content analysis and identifying several emerging themes across the sample, which led to a structured overview of the existing knowledge on BPCs. In regards to RQ3, we were able to identify several research gaps in the empirical literature and suggest avenues for further research. Finally, we addressed RQ4 by developing a theoretical framework that uses the above sample as its foundation. The framework aims to investigate the multidimensional nature of BPCs and provide future researchers with a theoretical underpinning for their studies.

In regards to future research directions, our systematic review has highlighted several thematic areas of prior research and investigated extant gaps both in terms of topics and in terms of methodological choices. We have, thus, identified various possible avenues for future research and presented them in a theoretical framework, that acs as a synthesized view of the existing research, serves as the basis for identifying visible gaps in prior research and suggesting various theme-based research questions and avenues of future research. In other words, the framework aims to investigate the multidimensional nature of BPCs and provide future researchers with a theoretical underpinning for their studies.

There are a few caveats worth mentioning regarding this study, some of which are intrinsic to the SLR methodology. First, the sample may not have included a few records that did not appear in the online repository due to missing or different keywords. Although chain referencing reduces the chances of this happening, the risk is still there and needs to be addressed. Second, our research protocol included only peer-reviewed journal articles written in English, as conference proceedings, book chapters, and review articles were excluded from the sample. Future research could include gray literature and other sources to compare their results with those published in peer-reviewed journals. Third, the scope of the SLR was limited to BPCs. Therefore, it did not explore nascent entrepreneurs or the role of entrepreneurial education in universities in general, despite both topics being strongly related to BPCs. Future SLRs could take a broader approach and discuss the topic of entrepreneurial education, to which the BPC stream contributes.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Dana, LP., Crocco, E., Culasso, F. et al. Business plan competitions and nascent entrepreneurs: a systematic literature review and research agenda. Int Entrep Manag J 19 , 863–895 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-023-00838-5

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• COMPETITION

Definition of Competition

Competition is a common economic concept that describes the rivalry or struggle between individuals, firms, or groups for resources, market share, or recognition. It can exist between businesses competing for customers, employees competing for jobs, or even countries competing for dominance in the global market. In a competitive environment, participants utilize all of their resources and skills to gain an advantage over their competitors and achieve their goals. Competition is an essential aspect of many industries and can often lead to innovation, improved products, and better services for consumers.

Uses of Competition

Competition is a commonly used term in business contexts, often referring to the rivalry between companies and their products or services. It involves the efforts of businesses to attract customers, increase sales, and gain a larger market share. This type of competition encourages businesses to constantly innovate, improve their products and services, and offer competitive prices in order to stay ahead of their rivals. Another way the term competition is used in business is to describe the act of competing for a certain goal or objective. This can include competing for funding, resources, or opportunities. For example, in a business setting, employees may compete with each other for a promotion or a raise. Companies may also compete for contracts or investments. One unique application of the term competition is in the concept of co-opetition. Co-opetition, a combination of cooperation and competition, refers to the idea of businesses working together to jointly achieve common goals while also competing against each other. This approach allows companies to share resources, knowledge, and expertise in areas where they may not have a competitive advantage, while still competing in other areas. Uses: 1. Competition between businesses drives innovation and improvement, ultimately benefiting consumers by offering a wider range of products and services at competitive prices. 2. Competition within a company can motivate employees to perform better and increase their productivity in order to stand out and advance in their careers. 3. Co-opetition can be a beneficial strategy for businesses looking to enter new markets or launch new products, as it allows for shared risks and costs while still allowing for competition in the market.

Relevance of Competition to Specific Industries

Competition is a fundamental concept in economics that refers to the rivalry between firms or businesses operating in the same market, striving to attract customers and maximize profits. It is a crucial aspect of any industry, as it drives innovation, efficiency, and quality, ultimately benefiting consumers. In specific industries, the concept of competition plays a vital role in shaping their dynamics and performance. Let us discuss the relevance of competition in three industries: 1) Retail Industry: Competition is essential for the retail industry as it is a highly competitive market. With numerous retailers offering similar products, competition drives businesses to differentiate themselves by offering better prices, quality, and customer service. This creates a healthy competitive environment, benefiting consumers with a variety of choices and competitive prices. 2) Telecommunication Industry: In the telecommunication industry, competition drives innovation and technological advancements. With several players operating in the market, each striving to attract and retain customers, there is a constant need to introduce new and improved services, such as faster internet speeds, better network coverage, and additional features. This leads to a highly competitive market, benefitting consumers with better services and competitive pricing. 3) Healthcare Industry: Competition in the healthcare industry is crucial as it directly impacts the quality and accessibility of healthcare services for patients. With the introduction of private healthcare providers, competition has increased significantly, putting pressure on public healthcare facilities to improve their services and reduce waiting times. This competition ultimately benefits patients by providing them with better options for healthcare services at competitive prices. In addition to these industries, competition holds significance in many other industries, such as technology, automotive, and hospitality. In the technology industry, competition drives companies to innovate and improve their products to gain an edge over their competitors. In the automotive industry, competition leads to the production of better and more efficient vehicles at competitive prices. In the hospitality industry, competition drives businesses to provide better services and facilities to attract customers and stand out in a highly competitive market. In conclusion, the concept of competition is relevant to all industries, as it fosters innovation, efficiency, and quality, benefitting both businesses and consumers. Without competition, industries would lack the drive to improve and innovate, ultimately leading to a stagnant market and limited options for consumers.

Real-World Example of Competition

Real-World Example1: Situation: A company is launching a new product in the market. Application: The company is facing intense competition from other similar products already available in the market, as well as potential new entrants in the future. Outcome: The company has to carefully strategize and differentiate its product in order to compete effectively and gain a significant market share. This could involve factors such as pricing, marketing, product features, and customer service, all geared towards staying ahead of the competition and attracting and retaining customers. Real-World Example2: Situation: Two sports teams are competing against each other in a championship game. Application: Both teams are trying to outperform each other and win the game, which involves using their skills, tactics, and strategies to gain an advantage over the competition. Outcome: The outcome of the game will depend on how well each team competes against the other, and the winning team will receive recognition, rewards, and potentially future opportunities as a result of their successful competition. In this scenario, competition is a driving force for both teams to perform at their best, leading to a thrilling and intense game for spectators.

Related Business Terms

Related Term 1: Business Model Brief description of related term 1: A business model is a framework for creating value for customers and generating revenue for a company. It outlines the key activities, resources, and partnerships necessary for a company to operate and be successful. Related Term 2: Value Proposition Brief description of related term 2: A value proposition is the unique offering or benefit that a company provides to its customers. It is a statement that defines what sets a company apart from its competitors and why customers should choose to do business with them. Related Term 3: Revenue Streams Brief description of related term 3: Revenue streams are the different sources of income for a company. This can include sales revenue, subscription fees, advertising revenue, or any other form of income generated by the company's products or services. Related Term 4: Market Analysis Brief description of related term 4: Market analysis is the process of evaluating the potential demand for a product or service in a particular market. It involves researching the target market, analyzing competitors, and identifying opportunities and risks to inform business decisions. Related Term 5: Competitive Advantage Brief description of related term 5: A competitive advantage is a unique aspect of a company that sets it apart from its competitors and gives it an edge in the market. This can include factors such as lower costs, superior products or services, or a strong brand image. Related Term 6: Customer Segmentation Brief description of related term 6: Customer segmentation is the process of dividing a company's target market into smaller groups based on shared characteristics such as demographics, behaviors, or needs. This allows companies to tailor their products and marketing strategies to better meet the needs of each segment. Related Term 7: Business Plan Brief description of related term 7: A business plan is a written document that outlines a company's goals, strategies, and financial projections. It serves as a roadmap for the company's future and is often used to attract investors or secure funding. Related Term 8: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Brief description of related term 8: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy and software system used by companies to manage and analyze interactions with current and potential customers. It helps companies to better understand and meet the needs of their customers, ultimately driving customer loyalty and revenue. Related Term 9: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Brief description of related term 9: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable values that indicate how successful a company is at achieving its goals. They are used to track progress, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions. Related Term 10: Marketing Strategy Brief description of related term 10: A marketing strategy is a plan of action designed to promote a product or service and reach target customers. It includes the selection of target markets, positioning, and marketing tactics to effectively communicate the company's value proposition and drive sales.

The importance of understanding the competition in modern business practices cannot be overstated. In today's highly competitive and constantly evolving business landscape, having a thorough understanding of your competitors is crucial for the success and growth of any business. One of the main reasons why understanding the competition is so important is that it allows businesses to stay ahead of the curve. By studying and analyzing the strategies, products, and services of competitors, businesses can gain valuable insights into industry trends and market demands, and adjust their own offerings accordingly. This not only helps in keeping up with the competition but also enables businesses to proactively anticipate and adapt to changes in the market. Another important aspect of understanding the competition is its role in communication. In order to effectively communicate with customers and stakeholders, businesses need to have a thorough understanding of the industry and its key players. This includes knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, their target audience, and their unique selling points. Such information allows businesses to differentiate themselves and effectively communicate their value proposition to customers. Moreover, understanding the competition plays a critical role in decision-making. Knowing your competitors' strategies, strengths, and weaknesses can provide valuable information for making informed business decisions. For example, a business can use this knowledge to identify gaps in the market that its competitors have not tapped into and capitalize on those opportunities. It can also help in identifying potential threats and developing strategies to mitigate them. In conclusion, understanding the competition is essential in modern business practices as it helps businesses stay relevant, competitive, and successful. It enables effective communication with customers and stakeholders and plays a crucial role in decision-making. By continuously monitoring and analyzing the competition, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and ensure their long-term success in the ever-changing business landscape.

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Understanding the Value of Business Plan Competitions

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Introduction

Business plan competitions provide tremendous value for entrepreneurs, investors, and individuals alike. Being part of a business plan competition not only helps entrepreneurs become successful but provides well-rounded individuals with greater insight into how a business can be successful. At its core, a business plan competition is a contest where multiple individuals or teams submit a business plan for a proposed venture. The entries are judged on a variety of criteria, and typically the winners receive monetary rewards, or in-kind prizes.

A business plan competition can bring many potential benefits to participants, from gaining greater insights into the business planning process, to networking opportunities and external recognition, to obtaining mentorship opportunities. Let’s take a closer look at the potential benefits of participating in a business plan competition.

Research Opportunities

Business plan competitions offer excellent research opportunities that you can take advantage of to gain a better understanding of the industry you are entering into. This research is invaluable as it can help you to identify potential problems, as well as provides you with a wealth of information on how to improve your business proposal.

Gaining a More In-Depth Understanding of any Given Industry

By entering into a business plan competition, you have the opportunity to gain a more in-depth understanding of the industry, as experts from the field are on hand to provide you with valuable feedback on your business plan. These professionals can provide you with insight into the industry and help you to identify potential problems you may run into, as well as provide advice on how to fix any problems that may arise.

Acquiring Valuable Data and Feedback From Professionals

Business plan competitions also provide you with valuable data and feedback from professionals. These experts can provide you with valuable feedback on your business plan and can help you to identify potential areas of improvement. This data can be used to identify potential problems and come up with solutions that can be used to improve your business proposal.

In addition to providing you with invaluable feedback from professionals, you also have the opportunity to observe other business plans and learn from their successes and mistakes. This can be invaluable in helping you to avoid pitfalls and ensure that your business plan is competitive and successful.

Networking Opportunities

Business plan competitions provide a higher level of networking opportunities compared to other events. Participants have the chance to meet and interact with mentors, potential collaborators and partners, who can provide valuable insights into their venture and offer the help they need to grow and succeed.

Connecting with mentors who can provide advice and guidance

Business plan competitions are a great platform to meet and interact with experienced entrepreneurs, professors and venture capitalists in the same field. These mentors can provide valuable advice and guidance to young entrepreneurs on their venture, giving them the opportunity to learn from their experience.

Connecting with potential collaborators or partners

Participants in business plan competitions also have the opportunity to meet potential collaborators or partners. This can include business owners, research organizations, government agencies, angel investors or venture capitalists, who can provide new insights into the venture and help it grow and succeed.

Presenting Opportunities

Business Plan Competitions can create significant opportunities for participants to hone their professional skills. Through the course of research, creating, and presenting a business plan, participants begin to develop various valuable communication, presentation and critical thinking skills. These skills promote not only professional growth, but also personal confidence.

Developing Important Communication, Presentation and Critical Thinking Skills

Learning how to communicate, present, and critically think are essential traits every entrepreneur, business professional, and team member should possess. Business Plan Competitions give contestants an opportunity to master these skill sets through practice and experience. Communication is a key factor in the success of any venture, whether large or small. It pertains not only to the people already within a business or team, but also the client and customer outreach. Therefore, learning the ability to effectively communicate will be essential for success.

Presenting and critical thinking skills can equally advantageous. Presenting ideas, plans, and strategies gives participants the chance to effectively communicate their vision and goals. These skills can be used both in and out of a business setting. Developing strong presentation skills can make a significant difference when it comes to fostering team connections, asking for funds, or pitching a product. Moreover, critical thinking is a must for understanding complex business situations and finding the best solutions. Business Plan Competitions give participants experience in discerning the best course of action.

Learning How to Effectively Present a Business Idea

When it comes to presenting a business plan, especially in the context of a competition, the stakes are high. As such, it is important to understand the nuances of presenting a business idea. Business Plan Competitions provide the perfect opportunity to learn how to effectively present a business concept. Participants learn to display the most important aspects of their business plan clearly, concisely, and persuasively. After participating in such a competition, it will become easier to present one’s business idea in any setting.

Overall, Business Plan Competitions offer many opportunities for personal and professional growth. Not only can the contestants gain invaluable insight into their plans and strategies, but they can also develop important communication, presentation and critical thinking skills. Such skills are essential in any business environment and will help participants in leading innovative and successful ventures.

Expanding Horizons

Participating in business plan competitions can be an incredible opportunity for entrepreneurs to increase their knowledge base. While focusing on the industry that the entrepreneur is initially targeting, competing can also be a chance to explore other options that could lead to new opportunities.

Exploring other industries or sectors that could lead to new opportunities

Not only is developing a deeper understanding in one’s chosen field important, but entrepreneurs should also consider looking into other industries. During the research and writing process of the business plan, one should consider what companies are doing well, investments that have been made, hot products, and international development. A competitor should search for trends in other sectors that offer insight into the market, and the location of their own target industries. Research of other companies and industries can help an entrepreneur develop a diving new angle or idea for their own product or service.

Increasing overall knowledge and understanding of the business world

In addition to researching other sectors, participating in a business plan competition can help an entrepreneur grow their overall understanding of the business world. Through completing market research, organizing the company’s budget and operations strategies, and understanding the entrepreneurial process, entrepreneurs can learn the key concepts of operating a successful business. It is important to gain the knowledge necessary to build a strong business plan, as well as the insights that can be gained throughout the competition process.

In conclusion, business plan competitions can be incredibly helpful for entrepreneurs interested in expanding their knowledge and exploring new opportunities. When participating, one should explore other industries and learn the key concepts of the business world to gain a better understanding of the entrepreneurial process. By doing so, entrepreneurs have a greater chance of succeeding in their competition and expanding the possibilities for their business.

Mentorship can be seen as one of the most valuable advantages of participating in business plan competitions. Mentorship allows participants to receive guidance on their project from experienced professionals and learn and grow from an experienced perspective. Experienced mentors can provide critiques on strategies and approaches, offer advice, provide valuable contacts and networking opportunities, and hold people accountable to their objectives and goals. Advising entrepreneurs to help them develop realistic plans and objectives is a great way to foster their success.

Receiving mentorship from experienced professionals is beneficial on several different fronts. By receiving mentorship, competitors are able to gain insights on how to best approach various challenges and identify the most effective way to achieve success. Through mentorship, competitors have the opportunity to ask questions, explore ideas, and receive valuable feedback and advice. Mentors are typically knowledgeable about the industry field, providing participants with an invaluable opportunity to learn from a professional with expertise.

Additionally, mentorship can help to foster relationships with industry veterans and professionals. Having a mentor can be instrumental in bringing ideas to life, offering advice and resources for growth, and providing feedback for improvement. Mentorship can also provide guidance and support for navigating the industry, and help participants envision the successful development and execution of their project and business plan.

Receiving Guidance on a Project from Experienced Professionals

Receiving guidance on a project from experienced professionals can help competitors to better understand the industry and how to effectively maneuver and reach the desired outcome. Mentors can provide competitors with strategic insights and advice on how to best develop their project and business plan. Through mentorship, competitors are able to receive guidance and support, learn techniques, and receive help in creating an effective strategy and approach.

Learning and Growing from an Experienced Perspective

Finally, mentorship can help competitors gain insights into the industry from an experienced perspective. Mentors are knowledgeable about trends, resources and other related topics, offering participants a valuable opportunity to learn from an industry veteran. Mentorship provides competitors with the opportunity to observe, ask questions, and receive help in areas where further knowledge is needed.

By utilizing mentorship in the business plan competition, competitors can have the opportunity to gain invaluable insights about the industry, explore ideas, receive guidance and support, and ultimately, have the possibility to earn invaluable rewards. Mentorship is an invaluable resource and has been referred to as one of the most important aspects of success. Those who participate in business plan competitions should take advantage of this unique opportunity to further their project, vision, and understand what it requires to achieve success in their field.

Business plan competitions are a great way for entrepreneurs to gain exposure and hone their skills and idea. As more and more entrepreneurs enter these competitions, a greater understanding of the value behind these competitions can be seen. By understanding the value of business plan competitions, entrepreneurs have the chance to benefit from the various networking opportunities that these competitions provide, as well as the possibility of winning funding and acclaim for their idea.

Summary of Benefits of Participating in a Business Plan Competition

Participating in a business plan competition can provide entrepreneurs many benefits, including the following: valuable feedback on their business plans, constructive criticism to help strengthen their plans, connection with potential investors, and better understanding of the startup process in a competitive atmosphere. Participants may also take advantage of the wide network of mentors and likeminded entrepreneurs, and build skills in public speaking and communication. Additionally, a business plan competition can provide invaluable support to further develop their plans and advance the idea.

Outlining of Key Areas to Focus on When Researching and Preparing for a Business Plan Competition

When researching and preparing for a business plan competition, entrepreneurs should focus on the following key areas:

• Research: Make sure to research the competition thoroughly and follow the instructions given by the organizers.
• Planning: Give yourself enough time before the deadline, so that you can plan the project ahead of time and refine your idea.
• Networking: Take advantage of the great networking opportunities provided by the competition.
• Feedback: Get feedback from mentors and other like-minded entrepreneurs, as this will help you to improve your plan.
• Pitch: Practice your pitch, so that you can deliver it with clarity and confidence during the competition.

Business plan competitions can be a great way for entrepreneurs to gain exposure and hone skills, so it is important to understand the value of these competitions in order to make the most of them.

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Win Your Own Business Don't overlook business plan competitions as a potential source of capital.

Apr 25, 2007

A business plan is an essential element in getting funding for a new business. Entrepreneurs show their plans to venture capitalists, angel investors, banks, and even friends and family in the hopes of raising capital. But there's one source of financing that most entrepreneurs neglect: business plan competitions.

Business plan competitions offer new entrepreneurs the chance to earn fame and startup capital. There are more than 50 business plan competitions in the United States, many of which offer startup capital to the winner.

The best known competition is Moot Corp, started in 1984 at the University of Texas by two MBA students who wanted a challenge similar to moot court in law school. They envisioned a competition in which MBAs working in teams would conceive an idea for a new business, develop the idea into a written business plan, and present the plan to a panel of judges consisting of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, accountants, lawyers and management consultants. Moot Corp soon expanded into a national and then international competition.

The contest with one of the biggest prizes is the $100,000 competition sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Other high-profile schools, including Harvard Business School, Duke University, University of Chicago and Wharton Business School, host competitions open to teams with at least one member that attends their institution.

A growing number of competitions are open to entrepreneurs with any affiliation. Industry-specific competitions exist for technology-based ventures, as well as businesses focused on seniors and other niches. Internationally, there are competitions for entrepreneurs in Asia, India and Canada.

A great source for finding out about competitions is the Business Plan Competition Directory at SmallBusinessNotes.com . In addition, local business schools have information about any contests they sponsor.

Moot Corp and its imitators are far from moot. Many business plans entered in the competitions become blueprints for actual companies. 1-800 CONTACTS, a mail-order contact lens firm, won the contest put on by Brigham Young University in 1995. Today, the company has annual sales of nearly $250 million.

For many fledgling businesses, the experience can be more valuable than the prize. Ampersand Art Supply, an art supply distributor, won the University of Texas plan competition in 1993. Their presentation impressed one competition judge so much he invested $300,000 in the company. WebLine Communications Corporation, an internet technology firm, won the MIT competition in 1993. In addition to the prize, founder Pasha Roberts eventually raised more than $8 million from investors impressed with his plan's finish. Even business plans that don't win benefit from constructive criticism from the judges.

David H. Bangs has worked with small business owners for 20 years. He has experience on both sides of the financial table, having been an entrepreneur and a loan officer for Bank of America. He is the founder of Upstart Publishing and author of Business Plans Made Easy and Nonprofits Made Easy .

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

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Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How to Create the Best One for 2024

It is more important than ever to create and maintain a powerful marketing strategy. Here are the 10 main steps to help you create the ultimate marketing strategy.

Omer is the COO and Co-Founder at Mayple. Started the platform over 5 years ago. 1000+ experts and 600+ happy customers later he is leading the marketing + customer service teams. Avid surfer and remote work enthusiast.

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Natalie is a content writer and manager who is passionate about using her craft to empower others. She thrives on team dynamic, great coffee, and excellent content. One of these days, she might even get to her own content ideas.

Updated May 1, 2024.

Marketing is a dynamic and ever-changing field. The top digital marketing strategies change with the consumer and technology trends of the day. This is why every company needs a good marketing strategy that's well-planned and has well-defined milestones and objectives. Once you have the right map, the chances you’ll reach the goals you’ve set for your business are much higher.

That means, that while most of us are eager to start launching our marketing efforts the minute after we decide to start a business, we actually need to invest in planning so we won’t waste our limited budget and energies on the wrong things.

If you're a company/startup owner or marketer you need a good digital marketing strategy to hit your goals.

In this guide, we've put together the 10 main steps that you need to follow to build the ultimate marketing strategy for your business. We will take you step-by-step through the process, so you won’t miss a thing and get your digital marketing strategy all figured out.

We have some very useful tips and examples that will make it easier to understand.

If you want to read up on marketing strategy check out our list of the best marketing strategy books. 

Now, let's define some of the basic terms.

What is marketing strategy?

Marketing strategy is a long-term, forward-looking approach and an overall game plan of any organization or any business with the fundamental goal of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage by understanding the needs and wants of customers.

A marketing strategy is a broad strategy that encompasses everything from how a company positions itself, to the creative, the strategic partners, the media relations, the marketing mix , and the channels and tactics.

A marketing strategy refers to a firm's overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services. It also contains the company's value proposition, key brand messaging, data on target audience and customer demographics, and other high-level elements.

The broad marketing strategy is what used to fall under the term "branding" back in the more ambiguous days of marketing. It's a practical summary of the key details of the strategy and some of the broad goals and methods used to achieve them.

What is the difference between a marketing strategy and a tactic?

Marketing strategies are broader than specific tactics. For example, a business could have a content strategy for their social media channels or for search engine optimization, and then they could have specific tactics they execute for each channel.

Here's the correct order to follow:

Overall marketing strategy -> Digital marketing strategy -> Specific tactics

For example, here's a great video that introduces specific marketing tactics. These aren't strategies, these are very specific ways you could grow your sales, which would all be included as part of a larger set of marketing strategies inside of your marketing plan.

» Looking for specific tactics? Head over to our Ultimate Guide on Digital Marketing. 

What is the importance of marketing strategy?

Sometimes marketers and eCommerce owners get lost in the weeds, in the bits and bytes. They lose track of the overall vision of the business and the large goals. They lose track of the target audience and the main pain points that their product solves for the customer. When that happens, the specific tactics that the business employs can lose their effectiveness.

So, a marketing strategy is not some dusty old document that you put on the top shelf and forget about it. It's a vital process of discovering your company's top goals and objectives and ways to achieve them. That becomes a blueprint or a sample marketing plan for everything you do to better market your product or service.

Let's jump into it.

1. Define your brand value and offering

Your brand strategy is about defining the core values of your brand to make sure that they align with what your prospect and existing customer find important, that they align to your industry trends and competitive environment, and to what you actually offer ie your product.

That’s not an easy task, but without it, all the other marketing tasks become much more difficult.

Here are some good marketing strategy examples from data-driven brands that succeeded in doing it right:

AllBirds - Sustainable, transparent, comfortable

AllBirds began as a darling brand in Silicon Valley in 2014 and quickly grew to a $1.4B valuation in 2018. The shoe company set out to create the world's most comfortable, and they overshot their goal.

Their products are fully sustainable and made out of wool and bamboo, and their branding is impeccable. Their mission statement reads - "Allbirds is on a mission to prove that comfort, good design, and sustainability don't have to be mutually exclusive".

In just four years they became the market pioneers of sustainable footwear. It all started with a launch on Kickstarter, in fact, here's their Kickstarter video:

The brand has a really quirky brand voice, and its values are transparency, sustainability, and comfort.

Here's an email with an order confirmation:

You can see the same quirky humorous brand voice in their social media posts.

Besides the humor and the spunky brand personality, the brand has really taken advantage of this concept of transparency. They display the materials they use in a creative way and get down to the fine details.

And that ties really nicely with their overall mission and their third brand value - sustainability.

Ultimately, the quirky brand voice and the incredible brand values of sustainability and transparency led Allbirds to build a super-engaged audience online that has contributed the most to the brand's growth.

Yes, it is a really comfortable product (the NY Times called it "the most comfortable shoe in the world"), but without a strong brand and a focus on the user experience, Allbirds would not have been the giant that it is today.

Casper - "here to awaken the potential of a well-rested world"

Casper is a mattress company that has completely revolutionized the industry. They were the first direct-to-consumer mattress company and quickly grew to a $1.1B valuation in 2019.

Casper's brand values are all about dreaming big, innovation, and bringing joy to a tired industry.

Look how they merge the "dreaming big" brand value with a pun about sleeping in their purchase receipt email.

And here's another great email asking for a review.

Casper's strong brand helped it launch other successful products, like the Casper Glow, which is an innovative bedtime light that changes its light temperature and brightness automatically and can be remotely controlled through an app.

There are a lot of big and abstract words thrown around when talking about brand value creation, so here's a simple way to think about it.

A simple formula to find the right values that define your brand is this:

• Think about the main pain points/needs/frictions your brand is solving
• Translate it into a value-based language
• Make sure it fits your beliefs and motivations

2. Identify customer pain points and expectations

"People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!" - Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School Professor

One of the top reasons why products or services fail is when their makers fail to identify the customers' pain points. In other words, they don't meet the customer's needs or they don't solve a vital problem in their lives. Also, those needs may change over time so it's important to continue examining the customer journey and solve your current customer challenges.

One of the classic examples is the Segway. It was a device that was said to eliminate walking. It could go up to 12.5 miles per hour, had a lithium battery, and made you look like a dork. It was hailed as the device that would make walking obsolete, and it failed miserably.

It's a sad story but the creator of the device actually drove it off a cliff and died. The problem with the Segway is that no one wanted to stop walking, people love walking, people loved running, so it failed to meet the customer's need and to identify a pain point.

What are the different types of customer pain points?

the most basic pain point is financial. Does your product help your customers save money? Is it more cost-effective than the alternatives? Are the savings short-term or long-term? And if your product is cheaper than the alternatives, does that price difference create enough value for the customer?

These are some of the important questions you should ask yourself. An example of this is Target's launch of the brand Smartly with hygiene/cleaning products all under $2 (approximately 70% less than similar products by other brands).

Convenience

Another really important pain point is convenience. Does your product make your peoples' life more convenient? The classic example of this is Netflix, a brand that became a household name because it was incredibly more convenient than it competitor Blockbuster.

Instead of having to shlep to Blockbuster, for example, and pay all of those late fees customers could now get DVD's straight to their doorstep. Fast forward to 2020, Netflix is worth $203 billion and Blockbuster is is out of business. The company that made me more convenient for people won.

Service is another major factor in solving a customer's pain point. Service refers to the entire customer experience and includes things like - warranty, maintenance, replacements, customer service , and ease of use. A really good example of this is the solar company SolarCity, which was acquired by Tesla in 2016.

SolarCity's solar panels weren't cheaper than the competitors they simply had a better warranty and maintenance on them and that's why customers preferred them. This is one of the major drivers that helped SolarCity become the nation's largest residential solar provider.

Easy steps to identify your customer's pain point

Ok, so we've talked about the type of customer pain points that there are, but how do you identify them for your own company and product? Here are some helpful suggestions that will get you on the right path.

Create a customer journey map

Identify what makes your customers buy your product and how they arrived at your physical or online store. This should include the channels that they visited - a search result, a Facebook ad, a social media post, an email, and other online and physical media. At each stage identify possible pain points and uncover the customer's motivation for using your product.

This will also help you evaluate your marketing mix and see if there are any channels that you need to add.

Survey your customers

Another good way to find the customer pain point is by surveying your customers. Ask your customers what they like and don't like about your product and what are some of the factors that led to their choice. There are a ton of survey tools you could use like Typeform or SurveyMonkey .

Look at customer reviews

If you are thinking of launching a new product you should look at the customer reviews of your existing products. These will tell you a lot about your customers' preferences, expectations, and pain points. What's particularly powerful for eCommerce sites are visual reviews - photos or videos that customers post alongside the text of their reviews. You can use tools like Pixlee, Yotpo, or Loox to collect and display visual reviews.

Ask your sales team

Another good way to find your customer's pain points is to ask your sales team. After all, your salespeople are the ones that hear and have to respond to the objections of your prospects and customers, hence they are the most aware of what people are looking for in your products or services.

Sit down and have a discussion with your sales team. Try to find out what your customers like/dislike about your product, what are the issues that they bring up the most, and what makes them turn down the product. If your marketing team interfaces directly with your customers you could also ask them for feedback.

Study your competitors

It's super important to conduct a competitor analysis to analyze the competitor landscape, in any industry. That's how Netflix and Apple began when they strove to make a product that's better and more innovative than the status quo. Identify where you are, and what your market position is .

Look at all your competitor products, their marketing mix, the type of promotion and media they publish, and their strategies. Identify the pain points that they are solving and ones that are still unresolved. One strategy is to try to solve the same pain points, just better. Another strategy is to go after pain points that remain unresolved, to create something that people haven't seen before.

Use the STP framework

Another effective marketing technique is to use the STP framework. STP stands for segmenting, targeting, and positioning.

• Segmenting - is where you divide the market into distinct groups (or target market segments).
• Targeting - is where you determine which customer segment you want to focus your marketing efforts on. And
• Positioning - is the creation of the brand position, the marketing mix, and other various marketing strategies in order to appeal to your potential customers in your target market and try to influence them to make a purchase decision.

The STP framework helps brands identify the types of marketing strategies and channels that will be required to successfully market their product or service to their customers.

3. Identify market trends and competition

That brings us to our next topic - creating a competitive analysis. This is a crucial step in the marketing strategy plan creation because this is where you will identify what differentiates your product or service from the competition.

You can do this through a simple SWOT analysis to determine your brand's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Without this step, it's going to be very difficult to create a product that provides unique value to the consumer and stays competitive with the market trends of the day. So this analysis is crucial and this is how you go about it:

Identify your competitors

The first step of any competitive analysis is to find out who your competitors are. Find out all the different companies that have similar products and services. Look at their social media content, search in related or niche online communities, news mentions, and product reviews.

Categorize your competitors

Now that you have a detailed list of all of your competitors it's time to categorize them. Put them into different groups - primary, secondary, and tertiary competitors. This will help you get clarity on which of your competitors are directly competing with you and which ones you should focus on in your analysis.

Take a look at their social media and branding

The next step of the competitive analysis is to find out all you can about each competitor. Look at all the various social media pages, the content, and the branding that they use on their site and their email marketing campaigns. This will give you a visual understanding of their brand positioning and how your product or service differs from theirs.

Be sure to check out their influencer marketing campaigns to see the kind of branded image that they try to portray online. Look at their display ads (owned media) and UGC(earned media).

Conduct a site audit to look at traffic sources and positioning

This part is the more technical side of the branding audit. Use a tool like Ahrefs , SimilarWeb , or Alexa to check the keywords that each competitor ranks for and their various traffic channels. This will give you the precise search terms that the user searches for and the specific needs that your competitors meet.

For example, you might discover that a competitor is using a type of content that you're not using yet or a traffic channel that you haven't expanded into. This is super valuable information to have for your online marketing strategy.

Look at their pricing

Use a tool to track competitor prices and see how you compare on various products, categories, and by season. Your cometitors may be using different pricing strategies on holidays, weekends, or busy seasons (depending on your niche) and you can get ahaed just by using a few dynamic pricing rules and tweaking your strategy a bit. So this part of the research is critical.

4. Create your value proposition

Now that you have your story right, it’s time to build the right strategy for your marketing. That means making business decisions about what you are delivering and to whom.

Your product or service tells the most about your brand.

This is the actual hands-on experience prospects and customers have with your brand, and it can affect their perception of it the most.

Use your values to make sure you walk the talk and implement what you said about yourself in your offering.

Here are some examples to help you get the hang of it:

Walmart - translating brand values to service language

IKEA - Brand values & design

Most people will know right away this is IKEA’s products - humble, simple and functional.

5. Identify your target audience

Deciding on your target audience could change the way you present your brand and even the language you use to do it.

We love to use simple models for complex decisions.

We found it is much more effective and fun.

Use this model to map the different target audience groups that you have, and prioritize them accordingly in your audience analysis.

(This is actually one of the models we used to determine our target audiences)

You would want your first-tier target audience to have good market potential for business growth, and it wouldn’t be a Via Delarosa to convince them to buy what you have to offer.

This is not the only tool you need to characterize the people you are going to invest most of your marketing spend to reach out to.

The second tool we recommend for you to use is defining your personas - or, in other words, asking who your ideal customer is, your target customer, to the smallest details.

To define your main persona you can use this question list:

• Who is my persona? Is he a male or is she a female? What age is he or she? Name your persona and attach a photo so it will be easier for you to plan your messaging accurately.
• What is my persona's initial state of mind? - his or her emotions and thoughts before starting the decision-making process?
• What are the different stages of his or her decision-making process until purchase?

If you’re about to launch a new service or product that prospects or customers are not used to using or buying, you might consider applying this psychology of change model. After all, you’re trying to change people's perception here.

Each stage represents a psychological state of mind of people until they reach a decision to take action. You can use the needs that are listed below to create your marketing creative tools that will effectively move your persona to take action.

Identify the following for each stage of the buyer's journey:

• What are your persona’s expectations? What are his goals?
• What process does she go through in this stage? Where does she look for information? Who do they speak with?
• How would you describe the customer's experience at each point of the customer journey?
• What is your objective for each of their decision-making stages?
• What actions can help you achieve these objectives?

Now that you've identified your ideal customers, how are you going to reach them?

That brings us to the next step.

6. Identify partners and potential collaborators

Identifying your potential partners or collaborations is a critical step of reaching your ideal customer. It may be that there are online communities that already exist where your customers hang out. It could be that you need to work with a distributor or get a marketing partner to help you reach them.

This is a critical point to consider before you execute your inbound marketing strategy. Sometimes finding and working with the right partner could give you access and help you achieve 10X the results. This could be through revenue sharing or an affiliate program . It could also be done by social networking at industry events or online conferences.

We’re on the digital marketing portion of our guide and it contains 3 parts - deciding on your creative & messaging, selecting the marketing channels that you’ll be using, and deciding on a strategy and a marketing budget for each channel.

Let’s dive in.

7. Decide on the messaging and creative of your brand

Most businesses (and especially startups) can’t afford to hire a digital marketing specialist in-house so they use the services of freelancers or digital agencies .

From now on, you have a critical job of guarding your brand’s values and strategy in the messaging and creative you’ll create and the different tactics you’ll use.

That’s what storytelling is about .

Make sure that the service provider you hired is aligned with your brand and the various marketing strategies that you want to employ, so they can apply your strategy to the actual marketing communication you’ll have with your potential customers.

Here are two brilliant brands that keep to their authentic brand strategy throughout their messaging:

National Geographic - how to create the “wow” and “wonder” visually

National Geographic knows how to present stunning photography and help us discover the wonders of our world. They constantly keep the language they use on their ads (paid and earned media) to be aligned with these brand values.

8. Define your marketing channels

Now that you have defined your value proposition, your partners, and your creative assets and messaging it's time to select the right marketing channels for your marketing mix.

This is one of the most crucial steps in the process of creating your marketing strategy. Each digital marketing campaign will vary greatly based on the marketing channels that you'll pick. You need to select those marketing channels that fit your brand and your product.

Let's cover a few of the main marketing channels and their best practices.

Social media

Social media marketing is a vital part of any digital inbound marketing strategy and there are certainly a lot of things that you could do. Also, keep in mind that successful social media campaigns can help you get more traffic from search.

Organic social media is used for the awareness stage, or the lead generation stage, of the marketing funnel while a Facebook ad is used for the last stage, or the conversion stage. There are a lot of various platforms and strategies you could use and it's important to pick the right channel for your product.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the best and most effective social media channels to use for different types of companies:

• For visual eCommerce products - use Instagram and Pinterest, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter
• For B2B companies - use LinkedIn, Instagram, ProductHunt, and Angellist
• For B2C companies - use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest
• For written content-heavy companies - use Medium, Quora, and Reddit
• For GenZ-focused companies - focus on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok

Red Bull is a great example of a brand that has a brilliant social media marketing strategy. Early on they realized that if they wanted to connect to their target consumer they couldn’t just use the traditional marketing and sales campaigns that all the other beverage companies were using.

They decided to create videos of athletes breaking world records and doing unthinkable things like jumping off airplanes and falling 23 miles and skiing down the Himalayas. To date, the Red Bull YouTube channel has garnered more than 10 million subscribers and more than 2.5 trillion views.

This is obviously a very expensive strategy and won’t make sense for most brand marketing budgets, but it’s a good example of a brand sharing success stories and targeting their consumers the right way on social media.

Social advertising

Ads are becoming more and more popular on social media platforms because the recent algorithm changes continue to favor them and decrease organic reach. After all, that’s how social platforms make their money so you have to use paid media to get anywhere these days.

Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram are the most popular platforms for advertising. For B2B you can use Quora, Reddit, or LinkedIn.

Top Advertising Tips:

• Create a lookalike audience on each platform and for each type of campaign that you're running
• Organize your campaigns based on the marketing funnel (top, middle, and bottom)
• Match your copy and designs to your target audience
• Retarget your audience and site visitors on Facebook, Pinterest, and Google.

Paid Advertising

Social media advertising is just a subset of online advertising. Other digital advertising can include native advertising, Google ads, Google shopping, banner ads, and much more. Each ad requires thorough strategic planning to make sure that the messaging and creatives match your market segments to help attract new leads and retain current customers.

Influencer marketing

Working with influencers is one of the most lucrative marketing channels you could go into. Studies show that businesses make $5.20 for every $1 that they spend on influencer marketing. And 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations for their purchase decisions. That’s huge.

That means that on average about half of your customers are going to be searching for influencer posts so it is essential that these people are recommending you and your product online. Now, influencer marketing is different than when your users post images of your product. Influencer shots are called paid media (just like ad campaigns) while user-generated content (UGC) is called earned media.

Top Influencer Marketing Tips:

• Pick influencers based on the type of audience they have, and their level of engagement (not the size of their following)
• Run giveaway campaigns with groups of influencers
• Run stories on Instagram because they are clickable
• Conduct competitor research to see which influencers they are using on all the relevant platforms
• Use YouTube influencers to create videos about your product or service
• Use real data to determine which influencers are your best performers

Pro tip: Looking to find the right influencers for your next campaign? Check out our list of the top influencer marketing tools .

Email marketing

This is going to surprise you but the ROI of emails still remains among the highest in all of the different digital marketing channels and platforms. Studies show that email marketing provides a $42 return on every $1 you spend , which is terrific.

Top Email Marketing Tips:

• Use UGC or earned media in your campaigns
• Set up email campaigns and email flows (cart abandonment flow, welcome flow, sunset flow)
• Create campaigns with educational content, don't just send constant product promotion
• A/B test different types of content, copy and formats based your data to better match your campaigns with your audience
• Continue to grow your email list with popups, subscription forms, contests, giveaways, and promotions
• Create segments based on customer engagement or average order value and create personalized campaigns

That is not to say that the other channels don’t help or assist the sale, it’s like the functions of the various team members in a soccer match. There could have been 5-6 players that touched the ball before it reached the goal post. The same thing happens in marketing.

A user can interact with a brand on numerous channels before they buy their products or services. Which is why it’s really important to have an effective “omnichannel” strategy, a strategy that includes many marketing channels.

Here are a few examples of channels that work really well when combined with email marketing:

Push notifications

Push notifications are those messages you get on your browser on a desktop device or on your mobile screen. They work really well when combined with emails. You could send off the email in the morning for example, and then follow it with a push notification 30-60 minutes later, to remind the user to check out your deal of the day.

Push notifications have a click through rate that’s 7 times higher than emails , so when sent after the email they increase your chances of getting a sale that much more.

Chatbots and messaging

One of the quickest and most effective ways to communicate with customers is through text messages and this has become its own marketing channel. You can set up automated messages and flows that gets sent to a customer or even a chatbot that is able to bring them from product discovery all the way to purchase, without any human involvement.

You can also use this channel to send people a product promotion, a cart abandonment flow, or a content promotion.

Text messages are much more personal and that’s what makes them so powerful for brands. According to Social Media Today , chatbot messages get open rates of over 80% and click-through rates of over 50% so these messages provide an additional and very effective way to augment and boost your email marketing performance.

Search Engine Optimization

One of the most overlooked strategies is Search Engine Optimization, especially for eCommerce. It involves optimizing a site's content to make it easier for search engines to find it and display it.

There are numerous new ways to get displayed on search engines than ever before - in the images section, as videos, quotes, products, how-to's, Q&A, and much more. SEO is a super effective marketing channel and can bring a lot of targeted and high-quality traffic to any site.

Top SEO tips:

• Use Google Search Console data to find the keywords and searches that you get the most traffic from
• Optimize your on-page content with a tool like Ahrefs or Moz
• Build a comprehensive backlink strategy based on competitor data and best practices

Now remember, not all SEO best practices will fit your needs or make sense. It's a delicate balance between SEO and the user experience (UX) and that requires some tough decisions sometimes. So always learn from your data and keep your audience as first priority and you will win.

Content Marketing

Last but not least, let's talk about your content marketing strategy. Content provides a way for users to find your product or service online. Use content to target your ideal buyer persona, acquire new customers, and delight and retain your existing customer base.

To use content marketing successfully, brands have to create different content for each part of their marketing or sales funnel. For example, a company might put educational content at the top of the funnel for first-time visitors and more promotional content for those shoppers who are ready to buy.

Top Content Marketing Tips:

• Write long-form blog posts for organic search traffic
• Publish comparison and shopping guides for the middle-of-the-funnel visitors
• For B2B: create lead magnets, white papers, and gated marketing research
• Use UGC, video content, and longer descriptions on your social media posts to tell your story

Public Relations (PR)

Last but not least, there's PR. Public relations is one of the most effective growth strategies that can help solidify your brand image and expand your digital presence.

Now that we’ve covered the various marketing channels that you should consider to grow your business, let’s talk strategy.

9. Select a strategy and budget for each channel

It’s now time to select a specific strategy and a budget for each of the marketing channels that you’ve chosen for your brand. Here are a few helpful steps:

Identify your business goals

What are your goals? Pick a few strategic business goals or KPIs (key performance indicators) to focus on in the short term. A really helpful rubric for this is what’s called SMART goals . Smart stands for:

• S pecific - describe clearly what you want to accomplish
• M easurable - set goals that you could measure
• A chievable - these goals have to be achievable and not way out of reach
• R elevant - set goals that improve the specific aspects of your marketing, so no vanity metrics.
• T ime-bound - pick marketing objectives that you can achieve within a certain time frame.

Now that you’ve set up your goals it’s time to look at your market.

Here's a fantastic video from Hubspot to watch about setting the right marketing goals for your business:

Conduct market research

Gather information about your market - the size, growth, social trends, search trends, and demographics of your target market. Find out what is possible and feasible to accomplish and which channels, content types, and media, are used to reach your target customer, and which you should add to your marketing mix. You can use a PEST analysis or a SWOT analysis to help you with your market research .

A PESTEL analysis is a marketing framework or management method that helps businesses assess major external factors that influence its operation, in order to become more competitive in the market.

PESTEL stands for political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal. For example, legal factors could include a new regulation that significantly limits a brand's ability to sell their product in a particular region. Political factors could include new trade restrictions, tariffs, or a new tax policy. Environmental factors could include weather conditions, seasonality, and even natural disasters.

Align your strategy with your ideal customer

Go back to the customer personas that you’ve created at the beginning of this process and make sure that your strategy aligns with your personas. Look at the trends, at the type of customers that you are going to be able to reach, and tweak accordingly.

It’s performance time!

At this point, you have your brand story and values, your go-to market strategy, and a professional to run your marketing efforts.

From this point forward, you should focus on much more tactical management. That means iterative testing of your content and creatives, of your target audience segments and even of the words you use on your ads CTAs (call-to-action buttons).

Which brings us to the last step of the process:

10. Analyze your results

This is one of the most crucial steps in anything you do in marketing. Once you test something you have to analyze the results and continue testing. Data is crucial in every aspect of marketing and the omnichannel data you get from testing marketing strategies is the best kind of data to have. Smart marketing managers use data to continue iterating and optimizing their growth strategies.

Once you have the results of your strategy you can then make the changes you need to make and A/B test various aspects to get even better results.

BONUS: Examples of Marketing Strategy Templates

There’s no one-size-fits-all marketing strategy, and if you’ve read this entire guide to this point - you’re probably eager to implement some of the various strategies we talked about. And you’ve probably discovered a lot of topics that you should learn more about to really perfect your marketing strategy.

Here are some of our favorite resources + marketing strategy examples + templates. These are really effective and comprehensive. They cover a really broad range of channels and use cases so you can find some value regardless of which business you’re in. Choosing the right marketing strategy template is the secret behind creating an effective marketing strategy.

How to Plan Your Marketing Strategies in 12 Steps ( CoSchedule )

This beautiful strategy guide has everything you need to know to create the perfect strategy. The best part is that it shows everything visually in each section, and has a really simple marketing strategy template to follow to create your own strategy.

Plus, CoSchedule started off as a content marketing tool for inbound marketing teams (they are now much more than that), so they go into a brief history of content marketing, inbound marketing, and how it all started.

The best part about CoSchedule is that they have a feature where that allows you to divide the tasks among your team members. For example, if you're a content team manager you can use this to visually display who writes each piece of content, who edits it, and who publishes that piece of content on the team.

This is a crucial and super effective step that gets missed pretty often. Once a brand makes their strategy, it’s important to delegate the work and get started on the execution.

10 Marketing Strategies to Fuel Your Business Growth ( Entrepreneur )

This is an old one but when we read it we thought it has the perfect sequence of some of the most successful marketing strategies for an eCommerce business. It has literally everything you need to market successfully.

We’re talking influencers, email marketing automation, content marketing, video content, Facebook retargeting and search engine optimization. This post is an excellent broad overview of eCommerce marketing at its finest.

The Essential Guide to Marketing Strategies ( Hurree )

Hurree is one of the best marketing blogs ever. This post in particular gives a really good detailed overview of each step of creating a marketing strategy. It also has a variety of videos sprinkled throughout the post that explain concepts deeper, and the best part - they have a whole section of marketing automation. Hurree is a marketing automation platform so you know to expect some talk of automation in every single one of their posts. This is a segway from traditional marketing principles to present-day automation and beyond.

The 11 Best Marketing Strategies We Tried This Year ( WordStream )

This post is for the more advanced marketer who wants to really hone in on the top strategies that work in 2022. It’s written by Sujan Patel, the one and only, and he goes over things like webinars, reaching out to other tools in the industry, brand partnerships, search marketing, evergreen content, SMS, and non-traditional social media channels. Check out this post, even though it was written in 2018, it remains one of the best lists of marketing strategies on the web.

The Ultimate Digital Marketing Strategies Guide ( HubSpot )

This is a classic resource from HubSpot and we like about it is how clearly they define every term, every type of content and marketing tactics that you should develop. They also include 5 examples of marketing ads and dissect each one. It’s a great read and you will get a lot of value out of it.

That’s it, folks.

Now that you have a better idea of how to craft the ultimate marketing strategy for your business or startup it’s time to go out there and absolutely smash it.

What are the 5 marketing strategies?

The 5 P's of Marketing are - Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People. These are key marketing strategies that are used to position any business strategically.

What are the 5 C's of marketing?

The 5 C's is a technique used to help marketers better position their business and make more informed business decisions. The "5 C's" stand for Company, Customers, Competitors, Collaborators, and Climate. It's a type of analysis that helps marketers look at the whole picture as an ecosystem in which the business lives in.

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Competition

Level A2 / B1

Topic Business

Type Business English

Lesson plan overview

This video-based Business English lesson plan is aimed at pre-intermediate (A2) and low-intermediate (B1) professionals. It deals with the topic of competition in business and is packed with useful expressions and collocations , as well as speaking activities. Students will discuss the benefits of business competition, strategies to stay competitive and will work on creating a strategy for a business aiming to increase its market share. For higher-level students, you can take a look at the related topics “ Busines models “, “ Big tech monopolies ”, and “ Idioms: competition ”. You can also combine this lesson with other video-based Business English lessons suitable for A2-B1 level students, such as “ Teamwork ” and “ Hard skills and soft skills ”.

Speaking : The lesson starts with 10 discussion questions about students’ favorite brands and products, why they like them and who are their competitors, as well as the benefits of competition for consumers. 

Confusing words : Students learn the difference between competence, competition, and competitor. First they match each word to its definition. Then they complete 8 sentences with the correct word.

Vocabulary : Students learn 9 important business collocations (e.g. c ompetitive advantage, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, market share, profit margin, business model ). First they create the  collocations. Then, to practice, students choose the correct expression to complete 8 sentences. After that students analyze the sentences and write down the verbs that are commonly used with these expressions (e.g. increase market share, measure customer satisfaction, do market research ). To extend on the topic of verb+noun collocations, students choose the correct verb to complete 9 sentences (e.g. dominate the market, increase sales, beat the competition ). After that there are 3 activities to practice all of these collocations. First, students are tasked with writing 5 sentences related to competition, using some of the vocabulary they’ve just seen. Next, they are asked to complete 5 sentences with their own ideas. Finally, students discuss the competition in their industry, using 8 discussion questions given.

Listening : This is a video-based lesson. Students watch a short video called “ The benefits of competition ”, and complete 2 comprehension activities. First, they are asked to tick the benefits mentioned in the video. Next, they complete the transcript with the words they hear.

Speaking: Business strategies. The rest of the activities are focused on speaking and practicing the vocabulary learned in this lesson. Students look at 13 strategies to stay competitive and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Next, they are given 2 business scenarios and are asked to come up with ideas on how to increase their market share, applying some of the strategies from the previous activity. Finally, and this task can also be given as homework, students are tasked with researching a well-known company, its pricing strategy, business model and competitive advantages.

To review the vocabulary from this lesson, you can use the conversation cards , which feature 12 conversation questions and double down as flashcards for students to use individually.

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Teacher’s lesson plan

Student’s worksheet

Student’s interactive PDF

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How to Write the Competitor Analysis Section of the Business Plan

Writing The Business Plan: Section 4

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

The competitor analysis section can be the most difficult section to compile when writing a business plan because before you can analyze your competitors, you have to investigate them. Here's how to write the competitor analysis section of the business plan.

First, Find Out Who Your Competitors Are

If you're planning to start a small business that's going to operate locally, chances are you already know which businesses you're going to be competing with. But if not, you can easily find out by doing an internet search for local businesses, looking in the online or printed local phone book, or even driving around the target market area. 

Your local business may also have non-local competitors that you need to be aware of.

If you're selling office supplies, for instance, you may also have to compete with big-box retailers within a driving distance of several hours and companies that offer office supplies online. You want to make sure that you identify all your possible competitors at this stage.

Then Find Out About Them

You need to know:

• what markets or market segments your competitors serve;
• what benefits your competitors offer;
• why customers buy from them;
• as much as possible about their products and/or services, pricing, and promotion.

Gathering Information for Your Competitor Analysis

A visit is still the most obvious starting point - either to the brick and mortar store or to the company's website. Go there, once or several times, and look around. Watch how customers are treated. Check out the prices.

You can also learn a fair bit about your competitors from talking to their customers and/or clients - if you know who they are. Other good "live" sources of information about competitors include a company's vendors or suppliers and a company's employees. They may or may not be willing to talk to you, but it's worth seeking them out and asking.

And watch for trade shows that your competitors may be attending. Businesses are there to disseminate information about and sell their products or services; attending and visiting their booths can be an excellent way to find out about your competition.

You'll also want to search for the publicly available information about your competitors. Online publications, newspapers, and magazines may all have information about the company you're investigating for your competitive analysis. Press releases may be particularly useful. 

Once you've compiled the information about your competitors, you're ready to analyze it. 

Analyzing the Competition

Just listing a bunch of information about your competition in the competitor analysis section of the business plan misses the point. It's the analysis of the information that's important.

Study the information you've gathered about each of your competitors and ask yourself this question: How are you going to compete with that company?

For many small businesses, the key to competing successfully is to identify a market niche where they can capture a  specific target market  whose needs are not being met.

• Is there a particular segment of the market that your competition has overlooked?
• Is there a service that customers or clients want that your competitor does not supply? 

The goal of your competitor analysis is to identify and expand upon your competitive advantage - the benefits that your proposed business can offer the customer or client that your competition can't or won't supply.

Writing the Competitor Analysis Section

When you're writing the business plan, you'll write the competitor analysis section in the form of several paragraphs. 

The first paragraph will outline the competitive environment, telling your readers who your proposed business's competitors are, how much of the market they control and any other relevant details about the competition.

The second and following paragraphs will detail your competitive advantage, explaining why and how your company will be able to compete with these competitors and establish yourself as a successful business.

Remember; you don't have to go into exhaustive detail here, but you do need to persuade the reader of your business plan that you are knowledgeable about the competition and that you have a clear, definitive plan that will enable your new business to successfully compete.

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Rethinking Business Plan Competitions

Examining the pitfalls and potential of social business plan competitions, and how educators can redesign them for greater impact.

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By Michael Gordon & Daniela Papi-Thornton Nov. 30, 2016

On both sides of the pond, we have seen business plan competitions for social ventures send contestants out to sea without a compass.

While many of today’s university students crave lives of meaning and social impact , most will never start a business—social or otherwise. Social business plan competitions typically honor the first trend while overlooking the second. There is an opportunity to rethink these contests and use them to help students identify a range of ways to create social value, beyond just starting a business. Most importantly, these contests need to foster genuine understanding of problems before asking students to design solutions.

Many university social business plan competitions invite students to address a specific, pressing concern, typically in a short period, and almost always out of context. They typically require that entrants work toward a business model solution without requiring or rewarding a thorough understanding of the problem, including the landscape of current and past attempts at solutions.

What are the results?

• Students try to solve problems they don’t understood by proposing solutions that aren’t grounded in reality.
• Innovation is rewarded, even if neither contestants nor judges know what solutions have already been tried. Competition winners often feel validated even if their ideas are weakly developed or repeat the mistakes many others have already made.
• Winners are rewarded for their business plans—which tend to lock them into flawed solutions and lead to confirmation bias—rather than for thoroughly understanding a problem and receiving incentives for being flexible in seeking paths to solve it.
• A culture develops of “Best PowerPoint Wins,” ,reinforcing the common illusion that launching and running a successful social venture is much easier that it really is.
• Students who enter these contests often think they have produced grand solutions for social problems, leaving humbler, less entrepreneurial—but still quite socially minded—students without any funding and with few learning opportunities to find their own paths to impact.

We have both seen these mistakes play out. At the Center for Social Impact at the University of Michigan, we once asked students to look into improving the skills and professional outlook of young, low-income inner-city adults. One thing we got right was to create a tie-in between our competition and the actual activities of a well-run nonprofit. What we didn’t get right was expecting students to examine and tweak the nonprofit’s programming, financing, culture, and values, and then double its impact—all within a year. The competition was two weeks long, and the nonprofit was out of state. The students were, in effect, asked to pretend to be “experts” in a field they knew little about, had few hands-on resources to learn from, and were expected to do a year’s worth of work in a fortnight.

At Oxford, we’ve made similar mistakes. When students studying for Saïd Business School ’s one-year MBA competed for the Skoll Centre ’s social business funding, their intense schedule of study, in effect, guaranteed that many would apply with very rudimentary ideas and would not be ready for start-up funding even if they received it.

On many campuses, students are asked to form plans for new start-ups that address issues of noble concern about health, education, human rights—you name it. They are asked to address problems in faraway places, or involving communities with whom they have no familiarity. Organizers’ unrealistic expectations about what students can achieve translate into “exotic” societal challenges that students find attractive—but that have worrying traces of colonialist attitudes.

We believe there is another way.

Competitions can produce positive outcomes in different ways, and organizers should take the opportunity to carefully consider their goals in designing them. To help more students understand and take action to solve social and environmental problems, contests need to promote a full understanding of a problem and its context to ensure that students understand what is working, what isn’t, where gaps in impact lie, and how they might plug into existing efforts to solve these problems. This approach would help students acknowledge a range of possible interventions beyond starting a social business, such as expanding impact through government adoption or franchising a current solution. Opening up these contests so that contestants can consider extending or replicating an existing solution to a complex problem would invite students to step into a range of roles, not just the idealized start-up founder or heropreneur .

For a fewer number of students, competitions may be a step toward actually launching a venture. But even so, they must have a deep contextual understanding of the problem they want to solve before they are on solid footing to launch. Hence, contests that incentivize and reward an understanding of a problem will benefit all stakeholders, including both job seekers and future social venture founders.

Both of our institutions are shifting programs away from traditionally run competitions. We believe that our role is first to provide students with opportunities to understand social problems and deeply engage with them, and help them identify a variety of ways that they might add value. If they then decide that the problem requires a new venture to fill a gap in the landscape of current solutions, our next opportunity is to connect them to the tools and resources they need to test out their ideas.

To create this shift in approach, the Skoll Centre launched a competition called The Global Challenge , based on the Impact Gaps Canvas , which rewards students for understanding a problem. Students map the landscape of current solutions and then identify gaps where further social value can be added. The Global Challenge is now in its second year and is open to partner universities around the world, with more than 20 partner universities signed up for the 2017 competition. Over the last four years, Saïd Business School has also incorporated a required core course into the MBA and EMBA curriculum, Global Opportunities and Threats Oxford (GOTO) , designed to help students understand global challenges and bring the idea of “problem understanding” before “solution finding” to all students.

The University of Michigan, meanwhile, has incorporated the Impact Gaps Canvas and additional ecosystem mapping tools into several impact competitions. They have become mandatory first steps in two social impact competitions hosted by the Center for Social Impact at the Ross School of Business and third hosted by the School of Public Health.

Other universities are also making the shift. The University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP), for example, includes impact gaps mapping as part of its Impact Entrepreneurship Program, Compass , and social entrepreneurship courses at Brigham Young University (BYU) offer opportunities for students to “apprentice with a problem” rather than asking them to jump in and “solve it."

Inspired by the approach at BYU, the Skoll Centre launched its own Apprenticing with a Problem Funding competition, which gives students access to funds to go out into the world for three or more months and learn about a problem they care about, through research or an internship. By learning about and apprenticing with organizations already working to solve challenges, students can identify a range of ways they might add value. This opportunity also attracts a much wider range of students than simple business plan competitions. Laura Taylor, a 2016 competition winner, noted, “I would not have entered the competition if it were about starting a new venture, as that was not my goal. … I wanted to learn how I could best contribute to solutions that might not be obvious at first glance.”

The University of Michigan’s Center for Social Impact has created another way of apprenticing through its Academic Year Impact Corps. A student can take a year-long, for-credit course where she spends 6-8 hours per week with a local social enterprise. That organization views her as part of the team, includes her in strategic discussions, and provides ongoing mentorship from the organization’s executive director. The student also spends the year doing a meaningful project for the organization, getting coaching from the center’s faculty director and participating in a seminar involving all other students in the course in an attempt to provide a grounded perspective on the complexity of social change work.

To better support students who actually do want to launch a business, the Skoll Centre has opened up its social business plan competition to alumni. In this way, students can identify a challenge they want to work on, “apprentice” with that problem either through the Skoll Centre’s apprenticeship funding or by working in the sector, and—perhaps years later—enter the Skoll Centre’s competition to gain financial support for a business start-up.

Other universities considering how to design or reshape their business plan competitions should think about:

• Rewarding and supporting deep learning about, not just solving, social problems
• Providing flexible funding that does not lock students into enacting untested business proposals, but rather allows them to pursue multiple paths to impact
• Identifying credible judges and mentors who have a deep understanding of global challenges themselves
• Providing thoughtful and thorough feedback to students so that they learn from the experience, even if they do not secure funding through the competition.

It’s time we social business plan competition organizers start drinking our own medicine and focus on the theory of change behind our contests. If we want to create appropriate incentives for students to go out and solve global challenges, then we should design offerings that are best designed to do that—and that means rethinking the value of traditional business plan competitions.

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Read more stories by Michael Gordon & Daniela Papi-Thornton .

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FACT SHEET: President   Biden Takes Action to Protect American Workers and Businesses from China’s Unfair Trade   Practices

President Biden’s economic plan is supporting investments and creating good jobs in key sectors that are vital for America’s economic future and national security. China’s unfair trade practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are threatening American businesses and workers. China is also flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports. In response to China’s unfair trade practices and to counteract the resulting harms, today, President Biden is directing his Trade Representative to increase tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on $18 billion of imports from China to protect American workers and businesses.   The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda has already catalyzed more than $860 billion in business investments through smart, public incentives in industries of the future like electric vehicles (EVs), clean energy, and semiconductors. With support from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, these investments are creating new American jobs in manufacturing and clean energy and helping communities that have been left behind make a comeback.   As President Biden says, American workers and businesses can outcompete anyone—as long as they have fair competition. But for too long, China’s government has used unfair, non-market practices. China’s forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft have contributed to its control of 70, 80, and even 90 percent of global production for the critical inputs necessary for our technologies, infrastructure, energy, and health care—creating unacceptable risks to America’s supply chains and economic security. Furthermore, these same non-market policies and practices contribute to China’s growing overcapacity and export surges that threaten to significantly harm American workers, businesses, and communities.   Today’s actions to counter China’s unfair trade practices are carefully targeted at strategic sectors—the same sectors where the United States is making historic investments under President Biden to create and sustain good-paying jobs—unlike recent proposals by Congressional Republicans that would threaten jobs and raise costs across the board. The previous administration’s trade deal with China  failed  to increase American exports or boost American manufacturing as it had promised. Under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created and new factory construction has doubled after both fell under the previous administration, and the trade deficit with China is the lowest in a decade—lower than any year under the last administration.   We will continue to work with our partners around the world to strengthen cooperation to address shared concerns about China’s unfair practices—rather than undermining our alliances or applying indiscriminate 10 percent tariffs that raise prices on all imports from all countries, regardless whether they are engaged in unfair trade. The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes the benefits for our workers and businesses from strong alliances and a rules-based international trade system based on fair competition.   Following an in-depth review by the United States Trade Representative, President Biden is taking action to protect American workers and American companies from China’s unfair trade practices. To encourage China to eliminate its unfair trade practices regarding technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation, the President is directing increases in tariffs across strategic sectors such as steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products.   Steel and Aluminum   The tariff rate on certain steel and aluminum products under Section 301 will increase from 0–7.5% to 25% in 2024.   Steel is a vital sector for the American economy, and American companies are leading the future of clean steel. Recently, the Biden-Harris Administration announced $6 billion for 33 clean manufacturing projects including for steel and aluminum, including the first new primary aluminum smelter in four decades, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. These investments will make the United States one of the first nations in the world to convert clean hydrogen into clean steel, bolstering the U.S. steel industry’s competitiveness as the world’s cleanest major steel producer.   American workers continue to face unfair competition from China’s non-market overcapacity in steel and aluminum, which are among the world’s most carbon intensive. China’s policies and subsidies for their domestic steel and aluminum industries mean high-quality, low-emissions U.S. products are undercut by artificially low-priced Chinese alternatives produced with higher emissions. Today’s actions will shield the U.S. steel and aluminum industries from China’s unfair trade practices.   Semiconductors   The tariff rate on semiconductors will increase from 25% to 50% by 2025.   China’s policies in the legacy semiconductor sector have led to growing market share and rapid capacity expansion that risks driving out investment by market-driven firms. Over the next three to five years, China is expected to account for almost half of all new capacity coming online to manufacture certain legacy semiconductor wafers. During the pandemic, disruptions to the supply chain, including legacy chips, led to price spikes in a wide variety of products, including automobiles, consumer appliances, and medical devices, underscoring the risks of overreliance on a few markets.   Through the CHIPS and Science Act, President Biden is making a nearly $53 billion investment in American semiconductor manufacturing capacity, research, innovation, and workforce. This will help counteract decades of disinvestment and offshoring that has reduced the United States’ capacity to manufacture semiconductors domestically. The CHIPS and Science Act includes $39 billion in direct incentives to build, modernize, and expand semiconductor manufacturing fabrication facilities as well as a 25% investment tax credit for semiconductor companies. Raising the tariff rate on semiconductors is an important initial step to promote the sustainability of these investments.   Electric Vehicles (EVs)   The tariff rate on electric vehicles under Section 301 will increase from 25% to 100% in 2024.   With extensive subsidies and non-market practices leading to substantial risks of overcapacity, China’s exports of EVs grew by 70% from 2022 to 2023—jeopardizing productive investments elsewhere. A 100% tariff rate on EVs will protect American manufacturers from China’s unfair trade practices.   This action advances President Biden’s vision of ensuring the future of the auto industry will be made in America by American workers. As part of the President’s Investing in America agenda, the Administration is incentivizing the development of a robust EV market through business tax credits for manufacturing of batteries and production of critical minerals, consumer tax credits for EV adoption, smart standards, federal investments in EV charging infrastructure, and grants to supply EV and battery manufacturing. The increase in the tariff rate on electric vehicles will protect these investments and jobs from unfairly priced Chinese imports.   Batteries, Battery Components and Parts, and Critical Minerals   The tariff rate on lithium-ion EV batteries will increase from 7.5%% to 25% in 2024, while the tariff rate on lithium-ion non-EV batteries will increase from 7.5% to 25% in 2026. The tariff rate on battery parts will increase from 7.5% to 25% in 2024.   The tariff rate on natural graphite and permanent magnets will increase from zero to 25% in 2026. The tariff rate for certain other critical minerals will increase from zero to 25% in 2024.   Despite rapid and recent progress in U.S. onshoring, China currently controls over 80 percent of certain segments of the EV battery supply chain, particularly upstream nodes such as critical minerals mining, processing, and refining. Concentration of critical minerals mining and refining capacity in China leaves our supply chains vulnerable and our national security and clean energy goals at risk. In order to improve U.S. and global resiliency in these supply chains, President Biden has invested across the U.S. battery supply chain to build a sufficient domestic industrial base. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Defense Production Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris Administration has invested nearly $20 billion in grants and loans to expand domestic production capacity of advanced batteries and battery materials. The Inflation Reduction Act also contains manufacturing tax credits to incentivize investment in battery and battery material production in the United States. The President has also established the American Battery Materials Initiative, which will mobilize an all-of-government approach to secure a dependable, robust supply chain for batteries and their inputs.   Solar Cells   The tariff rate on solar cells (whether or not assembled into modules) will increase from 25% to 50% in 2024.   The tariff increase will protect against China’s policy-driven overcapacity that depresses prices and inhibits the development of solar capacity outside of China. China has used unfair practices to dominate upwards of 80 to 90% of certain parts of the global solar supply chain, and is trying to maintain that status quo. Chinese policies and nonmarket practices are flooding global markets with artificially cheap solar modules and panels, undermining investment in solar manufacturing outside of China.   The Biden-Harris Administration has made historic investments in the U.S. solar supply chain, building on early U.S. government-enabled research and development that helped create solar cell technologies. The Inflation Reduction Act provides supply-side tax incentives for solar components, including polysilicon, wafers, cells, modules, and backsheet material, as well as tax credits and grant and loan programs supporting deployment of utility-scale and residential solar energy projects. As a result of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, solar manufacturers have already announced nearly $17 billion in planned investment under his Administration—an 8-fold increase in U.S. manufacturing capacity, enough to supply panels for millions of homes each year by 2030.   Ship-to-Shore Cranes   The tariff rate on ship-to-shore cranes will increase from 0% to 25% in 2024.   The Administration continues to deliver for the American people by rebuilding the United States’ industrial capacity to produce port cranes with trusted partners. A 25% tariff rate on ship-to-shore cranes will help protect U.S. manufacturers from China’s unfair trade practices that have led to excessive concentration in the market. Port cranes are essential pieces of infrastructure that enable the continuous movement and flow of critical goods to, from, and within the United States, and the Administration is taking action to mitigate risks that could disrupt American supply chains. This action also builds off of ongoing work to invest in U.S. port infrastructure through the President’s Investing in America Agenda. This port security initiative includes bringing port crane manufacturing capabilities back to the United States to support U.S. supply chain security and encourages ports across the country and around the world to use trusted vendors when sourcing cranes or other heavy equipment.   Medical Products   The tariff rates on syringes and needles will increase from 0% to 50% in 2024. For certain personal protective equipment (PPE), including certain respirators and face masks, the tariff rates will increase from 0–7.5% to 25% in 2024. Tariffs on rubber medical and surgical gloves will increase from 7.5% to 25% in 2026.   These tariff rate increases will help support and sustain a strong domestic industrial base for medical supplies that were essential to the COVID-19 pandemic response, and continue to be used daily in every hospital across the country to deliver essential care. The federal government and the private sector have made substantial investments to build domestic manufacturing for these and other medical products to ensure American health care workers and patients have access to critical medical products when they need them. American businesses are now struggling to compete with underpriced Chinese-made supplies dumped on the market, sometimes of such poor quality that they may raise safety concerns for health care workers and patients.   Today’s announcement reflects President Biden’s commitment to always have the back of American workers. When faced with anticompetitive, unfair practices from abroad, the President will deploy any and all tools necessary to protect American workers and industry.  

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The Great Attrition is making hiring harder. Are you searching the right talent pools?

It’s the quitting trend that just won’t quit. People are switching jobs and industries, moving from traditional to nontraditional roles, retiring early, or starting their own businesses. They are taking a time-out to tend to their personal lives or embarking on sabbaticals. The Great Attrition  has become the Great Renegotiation.

Competition for talent remains fierce. For certain categories of workers, the barriers to switching employers have dropped dramatically. In the United States alone, there were 11.3 million open jobs at the end of May—up substantially from 9.3 million open jobs in April 2021. 1 “Table A. Job openings, hires, and total separations by industry, seasonally adjusted,” Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 6, 2022. Even as employers scramble to fill these positions, the voluntary quit rate is 25 percent higher than prepandemic levels. 2 US Bureau of Labor Statistics quits levels and rates data, December 2019 through May 2022. At the current and projected pace of hiring, quitting, and job creation, openings likely won’t return to normal levels for some time.

What we are seeing is a fundamental mismatch between companies’ demand for talent and the number of workers willing to supply it. Employers continue to rely on traditional levers to attract and retain people, including compensation, titles, and advancement opportunities. Those factors are important, particularly for a large reservoir of workers we call “traditionalists.” However, the COVID-19 pandemic has led more and more people to reevaluate what they want from a job—and from life—which is creating a large pool of active and potential workers who are shunning the traditionalist path.

As a result, there is now a structural gap in the labor supply because there simply aren’t enough traditional employees to fill all the openings. Even when employers successfully woo these workers from rivals, they are just reshuffling talent and contributing to wage escalation while failing to solve the underlying structural imbalance.

To close the gap, employers should try to win back nontraditional workers. But how?

Our research identified distinct pools of workers with varied workplace priorities. Their differences show that employers have to take a multifaceted approach to attract and retain talent.

About the research

To better understand who might fill all the open jobs, we examined economic and labor statistics; conducted a large global survey to learn more about what is driving people to stay, leave, or return; and applied advanced analytics to define specific segments of the workforce, both active and latent (see sidebar, “About the research”).

Our analysis of workers in six countries focuses on which job attributes are motivating them, both positively and negatively. We asked survey participants in various phases of job churn why they left or would consider leaving and what would make them want to stay or come back. It turns out that many workers want more  than the usual compensation and job advancement carrots.

To get at these priorities, we sorted respondents into smaller groups who shared the same set of primary needs that they want an employer to meet. Then we looked at whether these workers also shared demographic similarities. These groups of like-minded respondents became our “personas”—distinct pools of workers that employers can target in their search for talent. While most of these groups valued workplace flexibility highly, they differed in how they rated mental-health support, meaningful work, and career advancement.

These differences show that no single solution is going to attract enough people to fill all the job openings and retain a productive workforce. Instead, employers can take a multipronged approach to reach different talent pools. This doesn’t mean that organizations have to change their mission, values, or purpose . Rather, they can showcase different facets of their employee value proposition to a broader number of workers and get more creative in their offers to current and potential employees.

In this article, we take a closer look at five crucial employee personas that companies must understand to solve the attrition and attraction problem for the longer term.

New trends make the employment picture more complex

Despite significant changes in the economy since the onset of the Great Attrition  (or what many call the Great Resignation), the share of workers planning to leave their jobs remains unchanged from 2021, at 40 percent. That’s two out of five employees in our global sample who said that they are thinking about leaving in the next three to six months.

However, the past year has revealed nuances of the larger trend:

• Reshuffling. Employees are quitting and going to different employers in different industries (48 percent of the job leavers in our sample). Some industries are disproportionately losing talent, others are struggling to attract talent, and some are grappling with both.
• Reinventing. Many employees leaving traditional employment are either going to nontraditional work (temporary, gig, or part-time roles) or starting their own businesses. Of the employees who quit without a new job in hand , 47 percent chose to return to the workforce. However, only 29 percent returned to traditional full-time employment.
• Reassessing. Many people are quitting not for other jobs but because of the demands of life—they need to care for children, elders, or themselves. These are people who may have stepped out of the workforce entirely, dramatically shrinking the readily available talent pool.

Globally, employees are considering their options

While there is ample evidence that this workforce discontent is a global phenomenon, the situation has further deteriorated in certain markets. In India, more than 60 percent of respondents expressed a desire to leave their current posts, well above their counterparts in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Workers in Singapore showed the second-highest level of job discontent, at 49 percent (Exhibit 1).

Respondents across the six countries showed a consistently high desire for work that is better paying, more satisfying, or both, as well as a conviction that they can find better jobs elsewhere. As our research has shown, some workers are leaving their jobs and the workforce, ready for a break and confident in their ability to find another job when they want to. Indeed, almost three-quarters of employed respondents believe that it would not be difficult to find a job that pays the same or better, with the same or better benefits.

Mobility between industries is high

Vitally, companies can no longer assume that they can fill empty slots with workers similar to the ones who just left. Globally, just 35 percent of those who quit in the past two years took a new job in the same industry. In finance and insurance, for instance, 65 percent of workers changed industries or did not return to the workforce. In the public and social sector, the exodus was even greater, at 72 percent (Exhibit 2).

In some areas, these losses may reverberate for some time. In travel, healthcare, and consumer retail—industries hit hard during the pandemic—at least 18 percent of respondents who quit their jobs are choosing to forgo employment entirely rather than work in the same or any other industry again. 3 According to McKinsey’s Great Attrition, Great Attraction 2.0 global survey, 18 percent of respondents in healthcare and pharmaceuticals did not return to the workforce; 18 percent of respondents in travel, transport, and logistics did not return; and 24 percent of respondents in consumer retail did not return.

There are bright spots for workers, however. For those with sought-after skills such as data scientists and programmers, the hurdles to changing industries are lower. Companies are more focused on hiring people for their skills rather than their industry experience, and the most talented individuals with the most sought-after skills will be able to continue to explore options to find the best fit. There is less of a stigma attached to job hopping or gaps in a résumé, and joining companies in other geographies without relocating has become easier than ever, making it possible for people to jump from one employer to another.

These factors create a new playing field for hiring, since employers find themselves competing not only within their industry, as in the past, but also across industries.

Five personas: A new way to target the employee value proposition

To navigate this new playing field successfully, hiring managers can look beyond the current imbalance in labor supply and demand and consider what different segments of workers want and how best to engage them.

To do this, employers should understand the common themes that reveal what people most value, or most dislike, about a job. For instance, it cannot be overstated just how influential a bad boss can be in causing people to leave. And while in the past an attractive salary could keep people in a job despite a bad boss, that is much less true now than it was before the pandemic. Our survey shows that uncaring and uninspiring leaders are a big part of why people left their jobs, along with a lack of career development. Flexibility, on the other hand, is a top motivator and reason for staying (Exhibit 3).

1. The traditionalists: The star of the classic labor pool won’t be enough to fill all the jobs

Traditionalists are career-oriented people who care about work–life balance but are willing to make trade-offs for the sake of their jobs. They are motivated to work full-time for large companies in return for a competitive compensation package and perks, a good job title, status at the company, and career advancement.

Roughly 60 percent of the traditionally employed, full-time workforce have not quit their jobs during the Great Attrition, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. We estimate that the majority of these individuals can be classified as traditionalists. They have been more risk averse, more likely to stick with their current employer, and less likely to quit without another job lined up. If they did leave their jobs, most have likely returned, wooed by a traditional value proposition such as higher pay.

Companies like traditionalists because these career-minded folks are easier to find through common recruitment strategies. Unfortunately, they don’t exist in high enough numbers.

Employers like traditionalists because these employees are easier to find through common recruitment strategies, and what these workers want matches what companies have historically offered to hire and retain people. Unfortunately, this method of securing workers is like playing a game of Whac-A-Mole: when one company hires traditionalist employees, rivals fight back with promotions and higher pay to try to retain and attract the same scarce talent. Companies that use these levers to pursue traditionalist workers end up contributing to wage inflation but fail to solve the problem of employer and job “stickiness” (Exhibit 4).

Whereas traditionalists are a relatively monolithic bunch, the remainder of the workforce is more varied. Some are self-employed, others are doing gig or freelance work. There are students, temporary workers, on-call workers. There are those who have left their jobs but could be coaxed back under the right conditions, and those who say they won’t ever come back. Together, they make up the majority of the potential talent pool, and they deserve a much closer look.

Of those who have left full-time jobs over the past two years—a status that described 21 percent of the global workers we surveyed—many quit for similar reasons.

Early in the Great Attrition, exiting workers told us that relationships in their workplace were sources of tension and that they didn’t feel that their organizations and managers cared about them . In this latest round, respondents again cited uncaring leaders (35 percent listed it as one of their top three reasons for leaving), but they added a new range of top motivators, including inadequate compensation, a lack of career advancement, and the absence of meaningful work.

In other words, plenty of employees say that they see no room for professional or personal growth, believe that there is better money to be made elsewhere, and think that leaders don’t care enough about them —tried-and-true reasons for disgruntlement, to be sure, but ones that are now being acted upon broadly.

Fortunately, many of those who left traditional employment indicated that they could be coaxed back under the right conditions. These nontraditional workers make up the rest of our five key personas. Here we take a closer look at these groups and what they value (Exhibit 5).

2. The do-it-yourselfers: Anything for autonomy

This persona, comprising the largest share of respondents, values workplace flexibility, meaningful work, and compensation as the top motivators for potentially returning to the traditional workforce. They tend to be 25 to 45 years old and run the gamut from self-employed to full-time employed in nontraditional roles to gig and part-time workers.

This group wants flexibility above all else. During the pandemic, workload-related stress, toxic managers, a desire for autonomy, and a feeling of not being appreciated led many people to look for something different. Over 2.8 million more people in the United States submitted start-up applications in 2020 and 2021 than in 2019. Others found that part-time or gig opportunities gave them greater autonomy to set their own hours and the freedom to decide what kind of work they would do.

Attracting this cohort may be difficult, because organizations must show that what they offer is better than what these workers have created for themselves. Companies can provide the freedom that these workers crave and a sense of purpose , as well as a compensation package beyond what they have on their own.

During the pandemic, workload-related stress and toxic managers led many people to strike out on their own. To attract this group, companies can offer them freedom and a sense of purpose.

One way to achieve that is through modularized work—defining discrete meaningful tasks that can be accomplished independently. This decouples goal setting and the completion of tasks from the traditional five-day workweek with set hours in an office. Another way is to manage according to outcomes rather than to activities, ratcheting up accountability for impact but allowing workers and their teams to dictate for themselves when and how the task gets done. To make it work, employers should embrace flexibility from the outset—even by asking job candidates how many interviews they would prefer to have and whether they would rather do them remotely or in person.

Many companies are starting to explore various forms of radical flexibility. For example, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky recently announced that the company’s employees will be able to work from anywhere and abolished the idea of location-based pay. In the days after his announcement, Airbnb’s recruitment page received more than a million visitors. 4 Belinda Luscombe, “‘The office as we know it is over,’ says Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky,” Time , May 8, 2022.

3. The caregivers and others: At home but wanting more

More than two years after the start of the pandemic, this persona needs little introduction. Members of this group are motivated by compensation but have another constellation of priorities for returning to their jobs: workplace flexibility, support for employee health and well-being , and career development.

These are people who have decided to sit it out at home, with some actively looking for work and others who are passive job seekers hoping to find an opportunity that would justify reentering the paid labor force. The predominant age group is between 18 and 44, with more women than men, many who are parents or other caregivers. A lot of the people in this group needed more flexibility and support than traditional employment offered  and left to care for children, parents, or themselves .

For many in this cohort, workplaces that are inflexible and that don’t provide a pathway to advancement aren’t worth the sacrifice of going back to work while continuing their caregiving duties.

People in this profile are ready to lend their time and talents to companies that are willing to work with their schedules. For them, workplaces that are inflexible and that don’t provide a pathway to advancement aren’t worth the sacrifice of going back to work while continuing their caregiving duties. These employees are asking for dedicated support that will allow them to fulfill the responsibilities outside their jobs while being recognized for their contributions at work. They could be coaxed back with part-time options, four-day workweeks, flexible hours, or expanded benefits packages.

Many organizations recognize this growing cohort of potential workers and are responding accordingly—for example, by normalizing and widening the use of parental leave  and by offering parents more flexibility around school holidays. 5 Alina Dizik, “Parents seek more support from employers during school holidays,” Wall Street Journal , June 10, 2022. Companies such as Google, Cisco Systems, and Patagonia offer employees benefits such as on-site childcare, physical therapy, and subsidized housecleaning services.

4. The idealists: Students and younger part-timers

Those in our idealist persona tend to be younger, aged 18 to 24, and many are students or part-time workers. Mostly unencumbered by dependents, mortgages, and other responsibilities, this group emphasizes flexibility, career development and advancement potential, meaningful work, and a community of reliable and supportive people, with compensation far lower on the list.

Companies don’t need to show these employees the money—work is about far more than that. They are more interested in being part of a community of reliable and supportive people.

To woo them, companies have to offer flexibility, of course, but also demonstrate a willingness to invest in this group’s development and create a strong organizational culture that emphasizes meaning and purpose. This persona ranked belonging to an inclusive and welcoming community more highly than the other personas—squaring with our research showing that younger workers value diversity in the workplace .

An appealing value proposition for these workers would include pairing traditional tuition subsidies with flexible work schedules to accommodate classes, along with development programs that offer clear advancement trajectories. Anchoring these measures in purpose  and investing heavily in the day-to-day interactions that build a high-quality culture can help create an even more enticing recruitment package.

5. The relaxers: Career doesn’t come first anymore

In contrast to the previous personas, the people in this cohort are a mix of retirees, those not looking for work, and those who might return to traditional work under the right circumstances. We call this latter group the “Gronks,” referring to the American football player Rob Gronkowski, who retired but returned at the urging of his former teammate Tom Brady and the promise of not only pay but also a flexible contract with a great team. Gronkowski recently retired again—but who knows what the future holds?

Like many who retired early during the pandemic, Gronks have completed their traditional careers and might not need more money to live comfortably. So they will want more than the traditional value proposition to be enticed back into the workforce—including the promise of meaningful work. Comprising both early retirees and natural-age retirees who still have many productive years left, they represent the largest segment of the latent workforce.

Organizations have not pursued these seasoned workers as hard as they might. But it’s not too late: companies should consider reaching out to see if they can find the right balance to win people back.

There are interesting dynamics at play here. After a surge in retirement during the early months of the pandemic, the rate of retired workers returning to the job market has slowly been increasing. 6 Denitsa Tsekova, “Older workers are ‘unretiring’ after leaving the workforce during the pandemic,” Yahoo, November 16, 2021. Some have been enticed by higher wages or an improved pandemic outlook, while others have felt the effects of inflation and a need to return to work as their nest egg dwindles faster than anticipated. But with estimates of just one in five of these “pandemic retired” 7 “Due to inflation, 1 in 5 retirees likely to go back to work this year,” ResumeBuilder.com, May 2, 2022. looking to return to the workforce, there are plenty more out there for companies to attract.

Organizations have not pursued these seasoned workers as hard as they might. Employers who had positive relationships with employees they lost should consider reaching out to them to see if they can find the right balance to win those people back.

Organizations have to focus on the right employee pools

The pressure that companies face in attracting and retaining workers stems in large part from the fundamental shift over the past two years in how people have come to view their jobs and their employers. But it is also the result of the unprecedented demands of a hot job market leading to record numbers of job openings.

The US employment picture is a good example. As we noted earlier, there were more than 11 million job openings across the United States at the end of May. While inflation is forcing some people back into the traditional workforce, those numbers are insufficient to fill the open jobs sustainably. And even if the economic picture worsens, many companies are likely to find that job openings will persist in crucial positions, a problem they can’t fix by simply reshuffling their current workforces.

Automation and increased immigration can help with some of the jobs shortfall. But companies need to hire from the existing employee pool, not the one they wish for. That may mean lowering or changing job requirements for some roles—by not requiring a college degree, for example, or by reaching out to workers with a criminal record, part of a recent uptick in “fair chance” hiring. 8 Emily Peck, “Workers with criminal records are getting a chance,” Axios, June 14, 2022. While taking these steps, companies can make sure they maintain the right value proposition to meaningfully expand the pool of workers.

Employers should continue to value their traditionalists, but as the personas reveal, they also need to look beyond them to the workers who want flexible, supportive work arrangements. These people are out there, in greater numbers than before, and they can be courted with the right strategies.

To address this attrition–attraction problem for the long term, companies can take four actions.

First, they can sharpen their traditional employee value proposition, which, as we’ve discussed, involves focusing on title, career paths, compensation, benefits, having a good boss, and the overall prestige of the company.

Second, they can build their nontraditional value proposition, which revolves around flexibility, mental- and behavioral-health benefits, a strong company culture, and different forms of career progression. The value proposition itself and the way that companies pursue these prospective employees should be more creative— and more personalized . The sheer volume of churn in the labor market and at organizations means that a massive portion of the workforce is and will remain new. For companies, this means that the culture passed on through traditions and behavioral norms will mean much less unless organizations make the relevance of that culture clear to new joiners from the start.

Third, companies can broaden their talent-sourcing approach, especially since some nontraditionalists are not actively looking but would come back for the right offer. A better understanding of these five personas can help companies tailor their sourcing strategies toward different types of workers.

Finally, organizations can make jobs “sticky” by investing in more meaning , more belonging, and stronger team and other relational ties . Building these organizational attributes will also make it harder for traditionalists to go elsewhere for a bit more pay.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been brutal in so many ways. It has also spurred feelings of liberation for millions of workers who can now envision what they want their jobs to be, not what they have been. Companies don’t have to reinvent their employee value proposition to meet this moment. In fact, they should double down on what that proposition is—a core representation of their culture, purpose, and values—while also expanding their reach into multiple talent pools. This outreach must be creative and authentic. Workers know the difference, and they are voting with their feet .

The authors wish to thank Marino Mugayar-Baldocchi, Laura Pineault, Pawel Poplawski, and Jane Qu for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Barbara Tierney, a senior editor in the New York office.

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

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A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
• There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

• Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
• Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
• Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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• Data center hardware and strategy

The worlds of IT and OT are converging. Advances in technologies, such as the internet of things and big data analytics, are systematically enabling the digital information world to see, understand and influence the physical operational world. When implemented properly, IT/OT convergence can merge business processes, insights and controls into a single uniform environment. Use this guide to learn more about IT/OT convergence, its benefits and challenges, plus industry examples, use cases and more.

Information technology (it).

• Kinza Yasar, Technical Writer

What is information technology?

Information technology (IT) is the use of computers, storage, networking and other physical devices, infrastructure and processes to create, process, store, secure and exchange all forms of electronic data. Typically, IT is used in the context of business operations, as opposed to the technology used for personal or entertainment purposes. The commercial use of IT encompasses both computer technology and telecommunications .

Harvard Business Review coined the term information technology in 1958 to distinguish between purpose-built machines designed to perform a limited scope of functions and general-purpose computing machines that could be programmed for various tasks. As the IT industry evolved from the mid-20th century, computing capability increased, while device cost and energy consumption decreased, a cycle that continues today when new technologies emerge.

Types of information technology

Information technology encompasses a wide range of technologies and systems that are used to store, retrieve, process and transmit data for specific use cases.

Common information technology types include the following:

• Internet and web technologies. This includes the tools and protocols used to access, navigate and interact with information on the internet. Examples include web browsers, websites, web servers, Hypertext Markup Language , cascading style sheets , JavaScript , HTTP and other internet-related technologies.
• Cloud computing. This involves the delivery of computing resources and services over the internet on a pay-per-use basis. This can include infrastructure as a service , platform as a service, software as a service and cloud storage options.
• Databases. This includes IT systems and software used to store, organize and retrieve data. Examples include MySQL , NoSQL , relational database management systems and MongoDB .
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning. AI and ML-based IT technologies use algorithms and statistical models to enable computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Examples include speech recognition, image recognition and natural language processing .
• Cybersecurity. This type of IT includes technologies and best practices designed to protect IT systems , networks and data from unauthorized access, cyber attacks and other security threats. Cybersecurity can be enforced through firewalls, antivirus software, encryption , intrusion detection systems and security policies.
• Internet of things. This includes the network of interconnected devices and sensors that collect, exchange and analyze data. IoT technologies enable the integration of physical objects into computer systems, providing automation, monitoring and control in various domains.
• IT governance. This involves making policies and rules for the organization to ensure effective operation.
• Data analytics and business intelligence. BI focuses on tools and techniques for extracting insights from large data sets to support decision-making and business operations. This can include data mining , statistical analysis, data visualization and predictive modeling .

What does information technology encompass?

The IT department ensures that the organization's systems, networks, applications, data and information all connect and function properly. The IT team handles the following three major areas:

This article is part of

What is IT/OT convergence? Everything you need to know

• Which also includes:
• Benefits and challenges of IT/OT convergence
• Understand the best IT/OT convergence strategies
• 5 ways to facilitate the convergence of IT and OT in IoT
• Deploying and maintaining business applications, services and infrastructure -- including servers, networks and storage.
• Monitoring, optimizing and troubleshooting the performance of applications , services and infrastructure.
• Overseeing the security and governance of applications, services and infrastructure.

Most IT staff have different responsibilities within the team that can be broken into the following key areas:

• Administration. Administrators handle the day-to-day deployment, operation and monitoring of an IT environment, including systems, networks and applications. Admins often perform a range of other duties such as software upgrades, user training, software license management, procurement, security, data management and observing adherence to business process and compliance requirements. Effective delegation is also part of IT administration and is crucial for a team's productivity.
• Support. Help desk staff specialize in answering questions, gathering information and directing troubleshooting efforts for hardware and software. IT support often includes IT asset and change management, helping admins with procurement, handling backup and recovery of data and applications, monitoring and analyzing logs and other performance monitoring tools and following established support workflows and processes.
• Applications. Businesses rely on software to perform work. Some applications, such as email server applications, are procured and deployed by third parties. But many organizations retain a staff of skilled developers that create the applications and interfaces -- such as application programming interfaces -- needed to deliver critical business capabilities and services. Applications might be coded in a wide array of popular programming languages and integrated with other applications to create smooth and seamless interactions between different applications. Developers might also be tasked with creating interactive business websites and building mobile applications. The trend toward agile or continuous development paradigms requires developers to be increasingly involved with IT operations, such as deploying and monitoring applications.
• Compliance. Businesses are obligated to observe varied government and industry-driven regulatory requirements. IT staff play a major role in securing and monitoring access to business data and applications to ensure that such resources are used according to established business governance policy that meets regulatory requirements. Such staff are deeply involved with security tasks and routinely interact with legal and business teams to prevent, detect, investigate and report possible breaches.

Why is information technology important?

It's been said that data is what powers industries worldwide. That might be hyperbole, but few businesses -- large or small -- can remain competitive without the ability to collect data and turn it into useful information. IT provides the means to develop, process, analyze, exchange, store and secure information.

Data processing plays a significant role in the following core business practices:

• Product development and design.
• Marketing and market research.
• Sales and invoicing.
• Data analysis and decision-making.
• Customer development and retention.
• Accounting and taxes.
• Human resources and payroll.
• Regulatory compliance.

Information technology plays a vital role for businesses in the following ways:

• Facilitates communication and collaboration. IT enables seamless communication and collaboration across different locations and time zones. For example, global corporations that are spread across continents can use video conferencing, instant messaging and content collaboration tools to bridge geographical distances and communicate effectively.
• Advances pervasive computing. Computing has penetrated practically every part of business and much of our personal lives. The ubiquity of computing -- also referred to as pervasive computing -- is another reason why IT is critical. Computing devices have evolved well beyond PCs and servers. Today, all businesses and most people have and use multiple computing devices, including phones, tablets, laptops, game consoles and even doorbells, thermostats, vacuums and many kitchen appliances.
• Enhances efficiency and productivity. IT systems and tools streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks and provide access to real-time data, thereby improving the overall efficiency and productivity of businesses. For example, a retail company with an integrated IT system can use an automated inventory management tool to track stock levels in real time and replenish them through automatic reordering.
• Enables access to information. IT provides access to vast amounts of information and knowledge in databases and online libraries, empowering individuals and organizations to make informed decisions and stay updated with the latest developments.
• Supports innovation and creativity. IT fosters innovation by providing platforms for creative expression, experimentation and problem-solving. For example, consider a software development company utilizing IT platforms for innovation. Its developers can collaborate in virtual environments, experiment with new coding techniques and technologies and create groundbreaking software through iterative testing, feedback loops and problem-solving.
• Supports critical business operations. IT is essential for the smooth functioning of modern businesses, from managing operations and finances to marketing and customer service. For example, most customer service teams use IT systems for efficient communication, issue resolution and feedback collection to ensure a positive user experience.
• Helps with education and research. IT plays a vital role in education, providing access to educational resources, facilitating distance learning and supporting research endeavors. Remote learning technologies enable access to education from anywhere, bridging geographical barriers and providing opportunities for lifelong learning.
• Provides cost savings. IT reduces costs associated with paper-based processes, manual labor and physical infrastructure, leading to significant savings for both businesses and individuals.
• Provides connectivity to the internet. Virtually all IT devices, many of which are part of the IoT, tap into the internet, which interconnects billions of devices worldwide.

Examples of information technology

So how is IT involved in day-to-day business? Consider the following six common examples of IT and teams at work:

• Server upgrade. One or more data center servers are near the end of their operational and maintenance lifecycle. IT staff will perform the following:
• Select and procure replacement servers.
• Configure and deploy the new servers.
• Back up applications and data on existing servers.
• Transfer that data and applications to the new servers.
• Validate that the new servers are working properly.
• Repurpose or decommission and dispose of the old servers.
• Security monitoring. Businesses routinely use tools to monitor and log activity in applications, networks and systems. IT staff receive alerts of potential threats or noncompliant behavior, such as a user attempting to access a restricted file; check logs and other reporting tools to investigate and determine the root cause of the alert; take prompt action to address and remediate the threat, often driving changes and improvements to security posture that can prevent similar events in the future.
• New software. The business determines a need for a new mobile application that can enable customers to log in and access account information or conduct other transactions from smartphones and tablets. Developers work to create and refine a suitable application according to a planned roadmap. Operations staff post each iteration of the new mobile application for download and deploy the back-end components of the app to the organization's infrastructure.
• Business improvement. A business requires more availability from a critical application to help with revenue or business continuance strategies. The IT staff might be called upon to architect a high-availability cluster to provide greater performance and resilience for the application to ensure that it can continue to function in the face of single outages. This can be paired with enhancements to data storage protection and recovery.
• User support. Developers are building a major upgrade for a vital business application. Developers and admins collaborate to create new documentation for the upgrade. IT staff might deploy the upgrade for limited beta testing -- enabling a select group of users to try the new version -- while also developing and delivering comprehensive training that prepares all users for the new version's eventual release.
• Digital workplace organization. Employees in a bustling office are wasting too much time trying to locate paper documents, files and office supplies that are scattered throughout the workspace. The office has decided to incorporate a digital filing and inventory management system. Each document in the office is scanned and stored electronically and tagged with relevant keywords. Additionally, office supplies are also tracked in a digital inventory database. Now, whenever an employee needs to access a document or find a tool, they promptly open the digital inventory system. With just a quick search, they pinpoint the precise file or item along with its current physical location in the workspace. This enhances the efficiency and productivity of the employees.

Software vs. hardware

When it comes to IT systems, both software and hardware are integral and interdependent components of computer systems. The following are some main differences between the two:

Software refers to a set of instructions that enable the hardware to perform specific tasks. It includes system software, application software and other programs that run on the computer.

There are two categories of software: system software and applications. System software encompasses the computer programs that manage the basic computing functions. They include the following:

• Operating systems (OSes).
• Boot programs.
• Assemblers.
• Device drivers.

Examples of business applications include the following:

• Databases, such as Microsoft SQL Server.
• Transactional systems, such as real-time order entry.
• Email servers, such as Microsoft Exchange.
• Web servers, such as Apache and Microsoft's Internet Information Services.
• Customer relationship management, such as Oracle NetSuite and HubSpot.
• Enterprise resource planning systems, including SAP S/4HANA.

These applications use programmed instructions to manipulate, consolidate, disperse and otherwise work with data for a business purpose.

Mobile applications that run on smartphones, tablets and other portable devices typically connect with cloud or data center applications over the internet. These applications have expanded the scope of computing and created a new category of software and telecommunications that requires special expertise to maintain.

Hardware refers to the physical components of a computer that come in many different forms, including the monitor, servers, central processing unit, keyboard and mouse. Computer servers run business applications. Servers interact with client devices in the client-server model. They also communicate with other servers across computer networks, which typically link to the internet.

Storage is another type of hardware. It's any technology that holds information as data. Storage can be local on a specific server or shared among many servers, and it could be installed on-premises or accessed via a cloud service. Information that is stored can take many forms, including file, multimedia, telephony, and web and sensor data. Storage hardware includes volatile RAM (random-access memory) as well as non-volatile tape, hard disk drives and solid-state drives.

Telecom equipment -- comprising network interface cards , cabling, wireless communications and switching devices -- connects the hardware elements together and to external networks.

Abstracting hardware and software

Abstraction simplifies resource provisioning, management and scalability. By hiding the complexities of hardware, abstraction streamlines resource allocation, ensuring optimal utilization of available resources.

IT architectures have evolved to include virtualization and cloud computing, where physical resources are abstracted and pooled in different configurations to meet application requirements. Clouds can be distributed across locations and shared with other IT users, or they can be contained within a corporate data center or some combination of both deployments.

Volatility is a characteristic of virtualized resources, enabling them to expand and contract as needed. Subscription-based cloud or locally installed resources, such as storage or composable architectures, can spin up resources, such as servers, OSes and application software, as needed and then release them when processing is complete. Top of Form

Information technology vs. computer science

When researching careers in IT, one is likely to come across the term computer science . While there's an overlap between IT and computer science, the two disciplines are distinct and require different courses of study to prepare for careers.

IT is generally associated with the application of technology to deal with business issues. As such, the IT workforce is oriented toward developed technologies such as hardware systems, OSes and application software. Proficiency in IT is required to identify the hardware and software components that should be used to enhance a specific business process. IT pros work with a variety of technologies, such as server OSes, communications devices and software and applications. Career examples typically include roles such as database administrator , cybersecurity specialist and network administrator.

Preparation for an IT career requires basic courses in hardware and software systems. A bachelor's degree in IT and other programs might include the following subjects:

• Business analysis.
• Project management.
• Telecommunications.
• Network administration.
• Database design.
• Database management.

Computer science focuses on the logic and design of the underpinnings of the components that IT experts use to assemble business systems. A strong mathematics background is required to pursue a computer science career. Much of the work in computer science involves developing the algorithms and logic and writing low-level code that enables computer systems to address business problems.

Computer scientists might participate in the hardware and software engineering work required to develop products. They're also likely to delve into more abstract technologies, such as AI and ML. Roles in computer science include software developer, computer systems analyst, computer programmer and computer information research scientist.

A course of study in computer science requires a foundation in computer concepts and advanced mathematics. It could be complemented with the following subjects:

• Neural networks.
• Security systems.
• Data analytics.
• User experience.

Careers in information technology

A team of administrators and other technical staffers deploy and manage a company's IT infrastructure and assets. IT teams depend on a range of specialized information and technology skills and knowledge to support equipment, applications and activities. Third-party contractors and IT vendor support personnel augment the IT team.

The information technology profession is extremely diverse. IT workers can specialize in fields, including software development; application management; hardware components; server, storage or network administration and network architecture. Many businesses seek IT professionals with mixed or overlapping skill sets.

There's a wide array of IT careers, each with varying technological and managerial requisites. Among the most common IT job titles are the following:

• Chief information officer. A CIO is responsible for IT and computer systems that support the goals of the business.
• Chief technology officer. A CTO sets the technology goals and policies within an organization.
• IT director. An IT director is responsible for the functioning of the business's technology tools and processes. This role might also be called IT manager or IT leader.
• System administrator. A sys admin configures, manages, supports and troubleshoots a multiuser computing environment. Within a business, this role can be divided up by technology, requiring an administrator or team dedicated to server, desktop, network administration, virtualization or other components and technologies.
• Application manager. An application manager's role centers on the provisioning and management of a high-demand business application, such as Microsoft Exchange.
• Developer or software engineer. A software engineer or team writes, updates and tests code for computer programs to meet internal or customer-facing business objectives.
• Chief IT architect or IT architect. An IT architect examines and changes IT functions to best support the business.
• Information security analyst. An information security analyst protects organizations from threats and data breaches.
• Cloud engineer. A cloud engineer is responsible for managing and designing cloud-based systems for organizations.

IT skills and certifications

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 15% growth in employment within the computer and information technology sector between now and 2032. A successful IT career will involve developing several technical skills. For the current IT job market, the following 10 skills are among those most in demand:

• Cybersecurity.
• Cloud computing.
• Edge computing and IoT.
• IT automation.
• Software development.
• Big data management and data analytics.
• Mobile application development.

In the pursuit of these fundamental IT disciplines, it's advantageous to earn certifications to demonstrate proficiency in specific technologies and areas of expertise. Some of the most highly regarded certifications offered by various technology vendors include the following:

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect -- Professional.
• CompTIA A+.
• Certified Ethical Hacker.
• Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control.
• Certified Information Security Manager.
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional.
• Cisco Certified Network Associate.
• Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect.
• Microsoft role-based certifications.
• Project Management Professional.
• VMware Certified Professional.

As reliance on cloud computing continues to grow, there's a significant demand for skilled cloud professionals. Delve into the top 10 cloud computing career paths and discover how to get started in this thriving field of information technology.

Continue Reading About information technology (IT)

• AI engineers: What they do and how to become one
• Best free DevOps certifications and training courses
• Cybersecurity market trends, from AI to post-quantum crypto
• How to conduct a cloud security assessment
• The best cloud security certifications for IT pros

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