Feasibility
Study questionnaire
Established Businesses
To
look for the proper financing requires us first to assemble a feasibility
study for the business. To do this, we will need to have information on
the following:
Financial
1.
Information on the sales history of the company for the past three years.
This will mean total sales set out by month as well as information on
the source of these sales. (Who were the customers who bought the company's
products? Why did they buy the products?)
2. The expenses of the company from month to month. This would include
wages and salaries for workers and management; any payments on leased
equipment; any rent needing to be paid for company offices, warehouse
or factories; shipping charges; advertising expenses; any taxes paid for
the business from month to month including the date due; and any other
expenses needing to be paid monthly.
Both of these will be needed to put together an income statement for the
company.
Assets
1. What are the assets of the company? What is the value
of these assets?
a. Land
b. Buildings
c. Equipment
d. Cash
Management
1. Who are the other principle managers of the business?
a. What is their background and yours?
b. What do they bring to the company that will help it succeed?
c. What are their management responsibilities going to be?
2.
A resume of these parties would be a good thing to include.
Marketing
1.
Who are the principle customers the company has now?
2. Who are the customers the company is looking to sell to in the future?
3. How is the company going to price its products for sale?
4. What method is the company going to use to market to these customers?
a. How will these potential customers be identified by the company?
b. How will they be informed of the company's products?
c. Why are they going to buy the product from you rather than buying it
from someone else or importing it in from outside the Ukraine?
d. What methods will be used to sell these potential customers the company's
products?
i. A sales staff?
1. How many salesmen?
2. How much support staff will be needed to support the sales staff?
ii. Advertising?
1. Where will the company advertise and how much will it cost per month?
2. Why is the company going to be using this particular type of advertising?
How will it better help customers to know about your product than other
ways might?
Competition
1.
Who are the principle competitors of the company?
a. How much market share do they have?
b. Why do you think you can capture some of that market share from your
competitors?
c. Why do you think customers will buy your product rather than buying
the product of your competitors?
2.
Does your product rely on any type of formula or process?
a. Is that formula or process protected by law? (Patent or trade secret.)
b. Do you have the right to use that formula or process?
c. What makes you think that the competition will not simply copy your
formula or process and market it in competition with you? Why?
3.
If the product is not protected by law, what will prevent competitors
from manufacturing the same product and competing with you?
a. Any product is subject to a life cycle. Once a product is produced
and sold, others will step in and try to compete. They will do that with
things like a more effective advertising campaign, a lower price based
on lower manufacturing costs, or better customer service for the product.
If your company cannot meet these efforts, your ability to compete will
be affected. At that point, the life cycle of the product has ended.
i. Will this sort of life cycle apply to your product? If not why not?
ii. Will the company be looking to improve the product in the future to
meet any competition that might arise?
iii. What other methods will the company use to increase the life cycle
of the product in the face of increased competition?
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