AD212 American Business and Management

Brown, "The Do's and Don'ts of Writing a Winning Business Plan"

Smith, "Burning Questions" at http://www.entrepreneur.com/franzone/article/0,5847,295703,00.html While you are there, have a look around Entrepreneur Magazine's web site.

Sections "Getting Started" and "Finding the Money You Need" in the Small Business Administration's "Small Business Startup Kit" http://www.sba.gov/starting/indexstartup.html

What percentage of American businesses are small ones (using 500 employees as the dividing line between small and large)? What roles do they play in the American economy (as opposed to General Motors, Microsoft, Disney, AT&T, Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, etc.)?

How will you know whether you want to (or should) run a small business? How can you best prepare yourself to become an entrepreneur?

If you were starting a small business, what steps would you take at the outset to guard against failure within the first five years? What steps might you need to take as those five years go by? (There's no set of correct answers for this latter question; be imaginative--what might go wrong?--and creative.)

Would you rather start or purchase your own business independently or would you prefer to become a franchisee? Why? (Related question: What are the most important advantages and disadvantages of owning and operating a franchise?)

Why are franchises becoming an ever-larger part of the American (and world-wide) economy?