Listening to a government task force rail this week against the business plan that General Motors presented to Uncle Sam earlier this year, you probably didn’t think much about your own business plan in light of their criticism. You should. Even if you’re not in charge of a major corporation or aren’t a part of the auto industry, there’s very real advice for every entrepreneur crafting a business plan in the government task force’s recent review of GM’s business plan. Reports the WSJ:
“A five-page summary reviewing GM’s financial health is largely an evisceration of the plan GM presented to the task force earlier this year. It challenges the auto maker’s rosy projections on almost every front, from how quickly the company expects to lose more U.S. market share to its ability to price competitively to its ability to introduce and sell new, fuel efficient cars.
In one section, the task force examined GM’s optimistic view of its sliding market share by recounting its 30-year decline. In 1980s, GM’s market share was 45%; last year, it was 22%. But the company only forecasted a rate of decline through 2014 at half the rate it has lost a year for the last three decades—0.3% a year versus 0.7% annually.”
Take home lesson? You can’t fudge the facts. Neither the government—nor bankers or investors—are so gullible that they’ll believe whatever tall tales you feed them. But for some reason scores of smart entrepreneurs, and even major corporations (ahem, GM), believe the contrary. Just don’t—or else you’ll end up looking like the majority of GM’s directors, who were replaced this week: at best, out of touch with reality, at worst, dishonest.
