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Business Research

Creating a Business Plan

A business plan is a document that lays out an entire company's goals and plans for reaching those goals. (Note that a marketing plan is a specific element of a business plan. For more information about marketing plans, see Creating a Marketing Plan.)

Business plan information can be found using the following:

Using UMGC Library Databases to Find Information About Business Plans

You can use business databases such as the ABI/INFORM Collection and Business Source Ultimate to find information about business plans. Search terms that may be useful for your research include:

  • business plan
  • business planning
  • business strategy
  • strategic plan
  • strategic planning

For your research, you may want to combine these terms and/or search for variations of the terms.

For example, searching for "business plan*" OR "business strateg*" OR "strategic plan*" will find documents that contain any or all of the phrases listed above.

Finding Business Plan Information in Ebooks

You can find information about creating a business plan by using the Library's ebook databases to search for:

"business plan*"

Business Plan Resources on the Free Web

There are many resources on the free Web that can be used to find information about how to create a business plan.

  • Bplans
    This site provides access to hundreds of free sample business plans in a variety of categories.
  • Entrepreneur
    This site, affiliated with the print Entrepreneur magazine, provides links to a variety of business plan-related information, including sample business plans and forms.
  • FindLaw
    This site, affiliated with Thomson Reuters, provides links to numerous resources related to creating a business plan.
  • U.S. Small Business Administration
    This site provides numerous links related to creating a business plan.