The business plan

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MasterCard case study competition

What is a business plan?

Business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. A business plan has to be simple, specific, realistic and complete or otherwise it would just be hard to implement it.

To find out more about business plans, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan

What is a typical structure of a business plan and what must the winning presentation have?

Your business plan should have the following parts:

• Cover page and table of contents

• MasterCard Student Card description

Here are some of the questions that might help you draft this part:

1.

What would the core features of the card be (e.g. security, paying in installments, discounts, spending limit)?

2.

Where will it be accepted? Where could students use it in addition to the places that already have POS terminals?

3.

When it comes to the spending limit, what options would you give to the cardholders?

4.

What type of identification would there be on a card (e.g. a photo, a signature, a

PIN)?

5.

And when it comes to insurance, what would you insure it against (e.g. theft, loss)?

6.

What would be your main selling point and a feature that would be particularly attractive for students? Maybe an interesting design or a range of different discounts

(e.g. in cinemas/restaurants/cafes, for buying sport event tickets, for buying clothes/books)? Try to be as specific as possible.

MasterCard Student Card SWOT Analysis:

SWOT Analysis is one of the key features of all business plans. It is a method used to evaluate the

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats for one product, concept or a brand.

We expect you to outline the following:

Strengths: attributes of the product that are helpful to achieving the plan.

Weaknesses: attributes of the product that are harmful to achieving the plan.

Opportunities: external conditions on the market that are helpful to achieving the plan.

Threats: external conditions on the market which could do damage to the business's performance .

If you would like to find out more about SWOT analysis, please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swot_analysis . Here are some questions that might help you:

1.

What are the particular elements of the new student card that would make it successful? Why would students feel they need it?

2.

What are the features of the Serbian payment market that you think are favorable for the promotion of the student card?

3.

And what are the competitors doing?

4.

Is there anything that you think would be an obstacle to either promote or sell this card?

Publicity plan

1.

Which media would you use to inform students about this card?

2.

What would be the key messages of your campaign?

3.

In which way would you use the Internet and the social media?

4.

What kind of events would you organize?

5.

Who would be your spokesperson? Would it perhaps be a celebrity or a businessman?

Marketing plan

1.

Where would you advertise the student card?

2.

How would you create a guerilla campaign to increase usage?

3.

What would be the scenario for your TV ad?

4.

What slogan would you use to promote this card across different media?

5.

In which way would you use the possibilities offered by the Internet, such as

YouTube, My Space or Facebook?

6.

What type of promotion would work at places where students would use this card award campaigns, competitions, discounts)? (e.g.

Conclusion

The conclusion is there to sum up everything you have said in your presentation. And, it is another opportunity to convince us your business plan is the best!

And some final tips to help you write a good business plan and win the scholarship.

Read through everything we poster to help you get a clear picture of what we expect from your business plan

Do additional research on the Internet if you want to learn more

Brainstorm first and organize your ideas later

Wish you a lot of luck and we are looking forward to seeing you 24 th

October at the Faculty of

Economics!

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