The Industry Analysis
Conclusion
While the market analysis explores the company’s prospec-
It’s not enough for a business plan to simply assert that
tive customers or clients and market trends, industry data
a project or company will create the requisite jobs. Job
provides more insight into the trends and performance of
creation must be backed by credible financial projections.
similar businesses as well as insight into their operations.
What makes projections credible is relevant research and
Industry data typically reveals the total amount of revenue
credible third-party data that illustrates market and indus-
generated by a particular industry, the number of oper-
try conditions that are conducive to the project’s success.
ators in that industry, average revenue per operator, and
key factors related to the industry’s growth or decline.
Industry research can also provide insight into operating
conditions, cost benchmarks, and revenue benchmarks
based on the actual performance of other operators in the
industry as a whole. This data can be helpful in comparing
a company’s projected costs against industry averages to
justify the credibility of the expenses. Ultimately, industry
data can provide cost benchmarks for personnel costs as a
percentage of overall revenue, which can be used to justify
job creation in direct EB-5 plans that typically are not accompanied by an economic report. While the market analysis provides data that lends credibility to the need and
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demand for the business, the industry analysis provides
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justification for the claims made about the company’s op-
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erating costs and performance relative to other operators.
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Together, this data provides the backbone of what makes
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a plan credible in the eyes of USCIS.
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Sources of Data
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Finding data to support a new project or enterprise is of-
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ten easier said than done, and more often than not, this
data comes at a price. Credible sources of market data
can include market studies or feasibility studies commissioned by developers or other operators for the project.
-Subscription-based demographic data providers, such
as Esri, aggregate demographic and business data from
the U.S. Census Bureau and American Community Survey
Marisa Marconi is the founder of
to provide details about the population in a given area,
Pinnacle Plan Writing. She has
including distribution of household income, projected
been working in the business
population growth, and consumer spending patterns. -In-
planning industry since 2007,
dustry specific databases—such as Smith Travel Research
and has specialized in EB-5 and
(STR) and CoStar—provide information for specific mar-
non-immigrant (L-1 and E-2) visa
kets that is relevant for certain industries. For example,
business plans since 2012. Marconi
STR reports provide trending ADR and occupancy rates
has managed and developed
for hotels within a target area and CoStar reports on com-
more than 250 EB-5 business
mercial real estate vacancy rates, demand, and rates per
plans, including projects for direct
square foot. -Sources of industry data include research
investment, regional center project
companies, such as IBIS World or Biz Miner, as well as the
plans, and new regional center
Census Bureau.
operations plans.
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