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Rhys Lewis
Megan Keaton
ENC 1102-01
23 July 2014
Inquiry Research Draft 1
There are many aspects to the business world that most people are not aware about that
are used all the time. When it comes to genres of writing that are in the business world that are
quite a few that are important for any business to function properly. These genres include
business plans which is a layout of what the company expects to accomplish, executive
summaries which are shorter, summed up versions of a longer report that are made specifically
for an executive officer and business memos which are letters that are specific are meant to get
the message across. All of these are essential for a company to be successful because it lays out a
lot of the things that a company wants done or to be accomplished.
Business plans are a very important aspects to a business as it can layout five years
worth of goals, tasks to complete and the entire direction of the company. The business plan is
the most important part in starting up and continuing a business plan. As Rhonda Abrams states
in her book The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies, a business plan is an
entrepreneurs most crucial business document. No company can expect to articulate its goals or
to secure financing without a well-conceived and well-presented business plan. Without a
convincing business plan, no one will seriously consider your business plan (Abrams XXIII).
This fully implements the fact that a well-constructed business plan is the only way that a
company can really be strong and run properly. There is certain content that a proper business
plan should include according to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, and the contents
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of a proper business plan should include an overview of what the company does and plans on
doing, how the company has developed and what direction they want go in. along with that, a
vital part is that the company includes strategies that will increase existing sales and plans for the
desired growth of the company. Within the strategies that it covers it should include marketing
aims and objectives like how big you see the intended market size to be, operational
information like who is supplying the company or whom the company is supplying, financial
information like how much you expect to profit or lose in the quarter as well as an exit strategy
in case there is an emergency (Board of Trade of Montreal). The exit strategy seems to be
important for a family run business because there may be an issue like a family members passing
and because that person was so important to the company he is practically irreplaceable so you
have to have a plan to sell and get out.
If a company has separate divisions it would be wise to create specified business plans to
each division so that the division knows their primary goals and what is expected out of them. It
is a great way to allocate the work through the divisions and making so the work gets done. It is
also important when making specified business plans that the individual departments feel
important and part of the overall goal when devising their plan. This is important for the
company because happy workers work hard and that is what a company wants to see. When a
company creates the business plan it is set up to cover a long period of time. When you are half a
year deep and still following it you hope that everything is working the manor that you
represented it on the plan. When resources are allocated from the beginning they have to make
sure that they are there when the time comes. A good way to make sure that the resources needed
are there is to look at next month a month in advance and make sure that the resources are there
or will be there once there is revenue generated. There are a few types of business plans that
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business use for different aspects. There is an internal business plan which describes the overall
state of the business at that point as well as smaller details like the current operational costs and
profits. Another business plan that is more common and used in all businesses is a growth plan.
This plan covers the way the want to expand as well as company details that will try to satisfy
potential investors to help the company with the expansion. As I recently talked to John
Stepanek, owner of Stepaneks Auto Sales, we discussed his plan when he used a growth plan
with the purpose of opening up a second store. John stated, We had to first gather all the info
from costs to profits over the last five years to see how much we are generating. When I showed
my brother the numbers he was surprised that we were making the kind of profits that we were. I
told him that with another store we would increase the amount of cars that we carry which
creates a wider range of options for customers which in turn we will have the car that they are
looking for (Stepanek). He had to lay down all the numbers and show that with only one store
as compared to two they were losing close to $100,000 at least in profit and that this number was
too high not to act upon. Sure he went to his family for investment but without the proper layout
you cant get anyone to just invest, but by having a well-planned growth plan he was able to
convince and end up being successful with the expansion.
Executive summaries are a form of writing that mostly higher level management will deal
with and write up but are essential to summarizing a larger report that is being followed. An
executive summary is usually around ten percent the original length of a report and depending on
how large the report was depends on the length of the executive summary. They are usually
given to higher level or executive officers so that they dont have to go through the entire
report but have the main details and important context of it. Donna LeCourt explains that their
some usual content that most summaries have. Some of the contents of an executive summary
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according to LeCourt includes making recommendations on decision to be made so that the
audience has less to think about, accuracy is key because decision will be made based of the
summary that you create because the reader will not be reading the original, and the summaries
generally include and summarize more than one document to condense the information and make
it short and to the point (LeCourt 1). Successful businesses use these so that they can make the
reading of important documents minimal for the upper level management so that they can focus
on the actual goals in front of them. When a respectable employee writes this up, the reader takes
in to count the opinion of the writer and it is very important, for both sides, that the information
is accurate and will lead them to the right decision or decisions. If done incorrectly, and the
summary is not accurate, then the company can run into some major problems such as being
under resourced and not having the means to gain the resources which sequentially makes the
company move backward instead of forward which is always the goal. When finishing an
executive summary the writer should include some sort of reasoning for the recommendation. It
can be some kind of analysis but it needs to give a full-fledged reason for why the company
should take on the particular action. In essence, if the information is not portrayed correctly or is
inaccurate, then the company will run into problems, but if done right then the company will run
smoothly and the writer will be given more credit for the hard work that they put into the report
and summary.
To run efficiently and effectively, businesses create memos so that they can specify the
tasks that need to be done daily or by a specific time and are very detailed on that topic. The
purpose for the memos are so that the people that need to know whats going on do and dont
have to worry about going to meetings to figure it all out. They also take care of any disputes that
have been made by explain why that route or decision was chosen and so that company can keep
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moving on. As stated by Peter Connor, a professor at Colorado State University, preprinted
memo sheets provide specialized information fields that accommodate specific procedures for
expediting in-house communication (Connor 1). In the business world there are generally two
types of memos: informational memos and instructional memos. An informational memo
typically includes any new information or information thats needs to be refreshed about the
subject line on hand. So if a clothing company is about to land a deal with Macys to sell their
product, the memo would include the details of the deal and what actions are going to be made.
These memos are tailored towards a large audience but are mostly the people that you are
working with. When writing informational memos the writer should include the most important
objectives at the top so that the reader doesnt have to waste their time. They are meant for quick
reference to the task on hand. Instructional memos are typically written for a small group of
people. As stated by Connor, the objective is to convey one or more directives that relate
specifically to the topic found in the subject line (5). They are calling for an action to be acted
upon quickly. The memo should portray a clear directive so that the reader can make a move on
it. It should be written in a manner so that it builds to the overall directive. Making a list of what
to do before writing will be beneficial when you start to draft the memo so that you have an
outline of what you are going to write about. This is important to stay organized while writing it
so that the writer will be efficient because efficiency is of the utmost importance. Like an
informational memo, instructional memos are written in the same fashion and they should
answer the major questions and the W questions like who, what, when, where and why so that
the reader doesnt have to ask these questions (7). It should be known so that the reader can
move on. When the writer goes about the writing of the memo, he/she should have an outline
prepared so that they can write the memo as quickly as possible for maximum efficiency. Both
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memos should have some sort of a conclusion that gives a recommendation on what action to
take. This will help the reader not have to go back and look at all the options. Although there are
a few formats in the sense of how the header is placed and the style of the body paragraphs, but
all business memos have three components: the title, the heading and the body. All formal
business memos are title Memo or Memorandum (9). There are four fields that need to be
covered in the header: to whom, from whom, the date and the subject. The bodys components
contain an opening covering the w questions, a summary of the important subject fields, a
discussion that talks about the plan of action and a closing with the writer recommendation (10-
1). This is the formal format for a business memo and all of these aspects have to be covered so
that everyone can know what is going on and how to go about their business.
All of these writing are quintessential for any business to be conducted properly. They
layout most of the information that a company operates on, and they have to be done correctly
for there to be success. A company has to plan out the future so that they can have a guideline to
follow and if they are not they can easily determine where they are going wrong. The memos
keep everyone working up to date on what the expectations at that time are and what is expected.
If a company doesnt express their expectations, they cannot expect people to meet them.
Executive summaries condense a report so that management can see what the plan of action can
be and will make an executive decision based off the summary; the company can take a wrong
turn if the summary is not accurate and can ruin a business. Without these writings, businesses
wont run efficiently and wont be successful which the ultimate goal of a company is.



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Works Cited
Abrams, Rhonda, and Rhonda M. Abrams. The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies.
The Planning Shop, 2003. Print.
Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. Prepare a Business Plan for Growth. 19 Jul. 2014.
http://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/prepare-a-business-plan-for-growth/
Connor, Peter. Business Memos. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University. (1994 - 2012). 21
Jul. 2014. http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=73.
LeCourt, Donna. Executive Summaries. Writing@CSU. Colorado State
University. (1994 - 2012). 21 Jul. 2014.
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=76.
Stepanek, John. Personal Interview. 20 Jul. 2014