6.8 THE FINANCIAL PLAN

This consists of the prediction for the next few years of:

      costs;
      prices;
      profits;
      inward and outward cash flows;
      investments, both investment capital and working capital;
      returns on investment;
      predictions of financial variations due to product, market, company
      and economic changes.

Possible changes in technology and consumer expectations also have to be taken into account in developing the production and market plans (see Case Study 6).

Case Study 6 Consumer Expectations of the Food Industry The food industry's primary mission is to convert raw materials into safe, high quality, consumable food products. As we do that we add value - reflected in price, and hopefully always in meeting consumer needs in increasingly better ways. In our early history; added value meant preservation to allow food to be stored between growing seasons; later preservation techniques allowed food to be distributed and consumed away from the growing region; more recently added value has focussed on food safety, convenience, better taste and nutrition. Each of these increased added value over prior inventions. But today's consumer? Firstly there is a growing, but changing concern about health. The negative aspects are concerns about additives, excess calories and food safety; however, a newer interest in diet as a source of improved health and well-being is emerging. Secondly there is a yearning for what is called 'essence’. That is a longing to strip away the unnecessary, the superficial; to refocus on the genuine and authentic, the simple and basic. Is this a start of a move from the added value of processed food back towards the original agricultural raw material? There are two other consumer aspects. Firstly food is consumed away from home, which has implications for food safety. Secondly are the changes in where food is being purchased for home consumption, which has resulted in growth of alternative channels, such as home sales and delivery, mail order, and interactive media and computer linkages. So what does this mean for the future? (Source: Ruff, J. (1995) 'Consumer expectations of the food industry - a vision for the 21st century', Food Science and Technology Today, 9(4), 195-205.)