No Business Plan? New Study Reports Success May Depend On It!

EUGENE, OR, September 23, 2010 (Press-News.org) In an era in which the Small Business Administration estimates more than a half-million businesses fail annually, a new study finds that companies completing business plans were twice as likely to successfully grow their business, get investment capital or land a loan. The study, conducted by researchers affiliated with the University of Oregon Department of Economics, examined data on nearly 3,000 users of business plan software.
 
"The bottom line is that completing a plan correlated with increased success in every one of the business objectives that came up in the study," said Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software and author of the business planning software Business Plan Pro.
 
This news comes at a time when fewer and fewer small businesses are getting loans. According to the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL), there was a more than 36 percent drop in the amount of 7(a) loans given from the 2008 fiscal year to the 2009 fiscal year. There was also a more than 26 percent decrease in the amount of those loans.
 
Although lending has still not caught up to pre-recession levels, there are loans available for small business owners — many of them at record low interest rates. But with less capital available, more companies are fighting for a smaller piece of the pie, and smart businesses are finding that it pays to be prepared with a plan. With talk of a double dip recession, small business legislation pending in Congress and other uncertainty clouding the air, business planning has become less a one-time event and more an ongoing process, business experts say.
 
"It is important to remember that business plans are living documents," Berry said. "Those who take the time to complete a plan, follow it and update it often are most likely to be successful."
 
Patricia Schaefer of BusinessKnowHow.com cites lack of planning as one of her top seven reasons why small businesses fail. And in a challenging business environment, completing a plan properly is just as important as having a plan in the first place.
 
"(A plan) must be realistic and based on accurate, current information and educated projections for the future," she writes. "Many small businesses fail because of fundamental shortcomings in their business planning."
 
The Oregon study looked specifically at planning completed using business plan software. Researchers Eason Ding and Tim Hursey — who prepared and presented the paper as part of the requirements for their honors degrees, under the supervision of professor Joe Stone —  looked at a questionnaire answered by 2,877 respondents. Of those people, 995 had completed a plan and:
 
·      297 of them (36 percent) secured a loan
·      280 of them (36 percent) secured investment capital
·      499 of them (64 percent) had grown their business.
 
The study found that, among firms of varying ages, the amount of business planning was related to success. Ding and Hursey also found that Web-based firms had "a significant correlation of success with business planning." The study did not examine differing rates of success between individual firms. Across the board businesses completing plans scored higher, suggesting that, with the right planning, craft beer brewers or tattoo parlor owners could achieve success as readily as lawyers or medical professionals.
 
Results suggest that business planning "is highly correlated with subsequent successes for a variety of firms," the paper states.
 
About Palo Alto Software
Palo Alto Software Inc. helps people succeed in business. It develops, publishes and markets software products for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Its suite of products includes Business Plan Pro, the best-selling business-planning software in the U.S.; Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing; Email Center Pro; and their newest product, Start, Run & Grow Your Business. Email Center Pro is Palo Alto Software's first SaaS product, an online email management tool for small businesses.
 
Palo Alto Software also runs a website network, which includes www.bplans.com, one of the highest trafficked business planning content sites in the world. Its website network receives approximately 1 million unique visitors per month and offers users unique, valuable content and free business planning tools.
 
Tim Berry, the founder of Palo Alto Software and a co-founder of Borland International, is a recognized expert in business planning. His popular Planning, Startups, Stories blog is featured on AllTop Small Business. He also writes the Up and Running blog for Entrepreneur.com and contributes regularly to Business in General, the Huffington Post, and other publications.
 
For more information, visit www.paloalto.com or call (800) 229-7526.

Contacts: Chelle Parmele, Palo Alto Software, (541) 683-6162 or (800) 229-7526, chelleparmele@paloalto.com;Pat Walsh, The Ulum Group, (541) 434-7021, pwalsh@ulum.com