The nature of the entrepreneur: you can write background, motivations, traits of the entrepreneur and you can link to trait theory
o The start-up process : you can write business plan, source of finance, objectives, people, location, initial customer
o The business concept and competitive advantage: you could include what business does, who it serves and a view on its competitive advantages. You need to use Porter differentiate strategy etc.
o The current level of demand the competitive environment: You can use Pestel/Porter five forces. You could include Macro view on industry, dynamics and mention at least 2-3 key competitors and their position
o The growth and development of the business to date: you can write revenues over years, profits, customer numbers, employees, assets, illustration, illustration of growth through action for instance: internationalisation etc.
o The challenges of managing and running the SME: you can write recruitment, cash flow, funding, leadership, retaining/gaining
customers, competition, COVID19 etc and you need to link to the theory: Grenier- growth crisis etc.
o Your assessment of current growth and development strategy: you can use Ansoff Matrix model to analyse the strategy and or based upon their actions if not stated by business.
o Appropriate government support schemes that may be available to the business: you can write about what gov support existed when the business was founded, did they take support, why not, what could they take now? – and a general understanding of why governments support SMEs showing research of the topic, etc
o The extent to which, if any, the business has considered social or sustainability goals and whether there is opportunity here for the business
o You need to find out whether your business has any social or sustainability goals and to find out whether business has opportunity to grow using social or sustainability concepts
