Situation analysis

The situation analysis is where you make your case to the decision maker that the strategy is going to succeed.

Assume they understand their market and keep this section terse for internal presentations.

For a business plan presented to an outside investor, provide detail under each of the these topics.

The models described in the Research Chapter help you prepare this document.

Macro trends

What is expected to happen in your community, your strategic space.

Customer profile

The demographics of your cluster of customers and what is their expectation in the buying decision.

Competitive and complementary forces

Using Porter's and Brandenburger/Nalebuff's models, what are the competitive forces, likely competitor responses and complementary forces.

Assumptions

Some part of your logic is based on an "educated guest" because no data is available. If that assessment is critical to the case you are making, then make an assumption that can be tested later as the data becomes available. I am often wary when a business case has too many assumptions.