Despite their differences, these two lists share two common
themes: poor operations management and a lack of
financial knowledge. One more reason for failure could be
the absence a written business plan, which might well
address the operations and finance issues (Kwansa and
Parsa 1990). In a study examining data from Dun &
Bradstreet (2012), Perry (2001) found that having a business
plan helped in the success rate of the business. The
findings indicated that overall, “. . . non-failed firms did
more planning than similar failed firms did prior to failure”
(Perry 2001, 201).