The influence of business plan on small and medium size enterprises : a study in Bamenda II municipality in Cameroon

Abstract

Given the fact that today’s business world has been designed for the survival of most businesses due to advancement in technology every business needs a functional business plan to meet up the new trends. A business plan is a document, which small and medium sized enterprises are supposed to have in today’s changing world. Unfortunately, it has been observe that one of the problems faced by most business managers in the Bamenda II Municipality is the failure of the formulation and imple-mentation of a business plan. The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of a business plan in small and medium size enterprises and to look at the demographic and environmental factors that are indispensable in a business plan.

The data were collected using research questionnaires. The total sampled frame was 45 business own-ers, managers and entrepreneurs. Data analysis was carried out with the help of Microsoft Excel statistics, charts and graphs. The results of findings carried out revealed that business plans have influence on small and medium size enterprises. In the discussion of analysis, the researcher typically faded out the statistical significance of how the business plan document influences small and medium size enterprises in the Bamenda II Municipality judging by the responses of the respondents. This study at the end made some recommendations to the commissioner such as the fact that SMEs in Bamenda II municipality should make use of business plans as orientation document before starting up a business operation.