Type of Business Plan

Before you put "pen to paper", decide the type of business plan you need:

 Basic plans are short (often under 10 pages plus appendices etc.); relatively quick to prepare (under one or two months); use limited external assistance; need few drafts; and require much more researching than writing. They are frequently used to assess the viability of a business or for internal/personal use and they are rated as important/useful for the business. .

 Comprehensive plans are longer than basic plans; require some months to prepare; make slightly greater use of external help; and require somewhat more time researching than writing. They are more difficult to prepare than anticipated, especially the financial projections and market analysis parts. They are often used to help raise venture capital/equity or bank loans, and they are viewed as being critically important/useful to the business
Based on a survey of over 400 business plan writers, the following table characterizes "typical" plans written for different purposes:

SWOT Analysis

Ansoff's magnus opus 'Corporate Planning' emphasized the need to break down the strategy formulation process into a series of steps, distinguishing the following in particular:

 External analysis - understand market opportunities and threats
 Internal analysis - understand strengths and weaknesses
 Choice and or alternative
 Implementation

This model is by far (maybe with some refinements) is still used by MANY strategy consulting firms.
Whilst it is unclear what the precise origins of SWOT analysis were, it is very clear that Ansoff's popularization of these techniques not only made it the most commonly used strategic analysis technique but also an essential marketing analysis technique