How to conduct a feasibility study for your new project

If you are thinking about starting a new project, the first step you must take is to prepare a feasibility study that will help you evaluate the project idea, its feasibility and profitability. The feasibility study is a document that contains a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the project, from the technical, marketing, financial, legal and environmental aspects. Preparing a good feasibility study can save you a lot of time, money and effort, and increase the chances of your project’s success.

But how do you do a feasibility study correctly? What steps should be followed? What contents should the feasibility study include? In this article, we will try to answer these questions in a simple and practical way, and we will provide you with a feasibility study model that you can use as a reference for your project.

Steps for conducting a feasibility study

Conducting a feasibility study requires you to conduct in-depth research and careful analysis of your project idea, by following the following steps:

1. Defining the project idea

This is the first and basic step in making a feasibility study, as you must define the project idea that you want to implement, and define its scope, goals, and vision. The project idea must be clear and specific, and be based on an urgent need in the market, an untapped opportunity, or a distinctive innovation. It must also take into account the potential of the project idea to develop and expand in the future.

2. Information Gathering

This is the step that requires you to conduct comprehensive research on all aspects related to your project idea, in terms of:

  • < span style="font-size:16px">Market: You must survey the target market for your project, and determine its size, characteristics, and trends. You must also identify the customer groups that you will target with your products or services, and determine their needs, expectations, and purchasing behavior. In addition, you must analyze competitors in the market, and determine their strengths, weaknesses and strategies.
  • < span style="font-size:16px">Product or service: You must describe the product or service that you will provide to the market, and identify its advantages, disadvantages, and distinction. You must also determine the sources of raw materials, suppliers, and partners with whom you will deal in producing the product or providing the service. In addition, you must determine the marketing, promotion, distribution, and sales methods you will use to reach customers.
  • < span style="font-size:16px">Financial aspect: You must calculate the financial costs related to establishing and operating your project, in terms of necessary capital, expected revenues, fixed and variable expenses, taxes and fees. You must also prepare a detailed budget for the project, and conduct a break-even point and profitability analysis.
  • < span style="font-size:16px">The legal aspect: You must study the regulations and laws applicable to your project activity, in terms of licenses, permits, conditions and controls. You must also determine the legal form of the project, whether it is an individual or a company, and determine the rights and duties of each partner in the case of companies.
  • < span style="font-size:16px">Environmental aspect: You must evaluate the environmental impacts of your project, whether positive or negative, on the surrounding environment. It must also take the necessary measures to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.

3. Information analysis

This is the step that requires you to use the information you collected in the previous step to conduct a careful analysis of your project idea, in terms of:

  • < span style="font-size:16px">Opportunities and Threats: You must identify opportunities that will help your project succeed, such as a booming market, increased demand, or lack of competition. You must also identify threats that may expose your project to risk, such as a decline in the market, competitive pressure, or changing legislation.
  • < span style="font-size:16px">Strong and weak points: You must identify the strong points that distinguish your project from competitors, such as the quality of the product or service, its reasonable price, or excellent customer service. You must also identify weak points that may negatively affect your project, such as lack of experience or resources, or inefficiency or organization.
  • < span style="font-size:16px">Financial indicators: You must calculate financial indicators that reflect the feasibility and profitability of your project, such as the rate of return on investment (ROI), the internal rate of return (IRR), and the payback period Capital gain (PBP), and net present value (NPV).

4. Formulating recommendations

This is the final step in making a feasibility study, where you must formulate final recommendations regarding your project, based on the results of the analysis you conducted in the previous step. You must determine whether your project is worthy of implementation or not, and what conditions and requirements must be met to ensure its success. You must also determine what are the next steps that must be taken to launch your project in the market.

Feasibility study model

Here is a sample feasibility study that you can use as a reference to prepare a feasibility study for your project:

< span style="font-size:16px">Content

< span style="font-size:16px">Details

Cover

It contains the name of the project, the name of the project owner, and the date of preparing the feasibility study

Index

Contains a list of sections, chapters, and pages in the feasibility study

Executive Summary

It contains a summary of the most important points of the feasibility study, such as the project idea, its objectives, the most prominent analysis results, and recommendations

Chapter One: Project Idea

Contains a detailed project idea, scope, objectives and vision

Chapter Two: Market Study

It contains an analysis of the size, characteristics, and trends of the target market, identifying customer categories, their needs, and purchasing behavior, and analyzing competitors and their strategies

Chapter Three: Study of the Product or Service

It contains a description of the product or service, its advantages, disadvantages, and distinction, identifying sources of raw materials, suppliers, and partners, and identifying methods Marketing and promotion, distribution and sale

Chapter Four: Study of Finance

It contains the calculation of the financial costs for establishing and operating the project, preparing a detailed budget for the project, conducting an analysis of the break-even point and profitability, and calculating financial indicators

Chapter Five: Legal Study

It contains a study of the regulations and laws applied to the project activity, determining the legal form of the project, and determining the rights and duties of each partner

Chapter Six: Environmental Study

It contains an assessment of the environmental impacts of the project, and taking the necessary measures to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources

Chapter Seven: Recommendations

It contains the formulation of final recommendations regarding your project, determining whether it is worthy of implementation or not, what conditions and requirements must be met to ensure its success, and what are the next steps that must be taken to launch your project in the market

 

Conclusion

Conducting a feasibility study is a very important step before starting any new project, as it helps you evaluate your project idea comprehensively and scientifically, and provides you with information and numbers that help you make informed decisions. Conducting a feasibility study requires you to follow specific steps, from defining the project idea, to collecting information, to analyzing the information, to Formulating recommendations. The feasibility study must also include content rich in detail, covering all aspects of the project from the market, product or service, financial, legal and environmental aspects. We hope that this article has been helpful to you on how to conduct a feasibility study for your project.