Business-plan

More than a guide to developing a business plan I found this book provided practical input to planning a business in general. Unlike many texts dealing with this subject, this book has the practical tone of someone who had done it before. McLaughlin asks good questions and makes many suggestions with regard to addressing business strategy and tactical issues. He gets right into the detail of planning with an extensive chapter on writing department plans. Another chapter discusses partnering as a potential new business strategy. The book includes case studies, and discusses some particular examples of both business success and failure.

McLaughlin is an engineer who was involved in the early days of the disk drive industry, and is one of the founders of the disk drive industry's trade association. He later became an industry analyst and published a weekly newsletter on the industry. The book evolved out of work done in writing his doctoral thesis.

Though many of the sources are now dated, the book includes a bibliography useful to business planning including sources on market research, writing business plans, and reading financial statements.

I would recommend this book to anyone planning a new business or overhauling an existing business or division. Too bad the book is no longer in print, however I found that my local public library had copies.