SWOT Analysis and Growth Plans

for Entrepreneurs

Part 1 of 2

An instructional design package for teaching SWOT analysis to new entrepreneurs

By Breana YaklinSouthwestern College Professional Studies

2012

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Learning Needs Assessment

Chapter 2: Learner Analysis

Chapter 3: Learning Tasks

Chapter 4: Learning Objectives

Chapter 5: Assessments

Chapter 6: Instructional Strategies and

Learning Experiences

Chapter 7: Instructional Design Package

Summary

References

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Introduction

The following instructional design package outlines the instruction of a SWOT

analysis in the introductory course of the Entrepreneurship program at Baker College,

MI. This package begins on a very broad level to address the entire Entrepreneurship

program as a whole, and focuses in on the SWOT analysis and growth plans that

students will conduct in this program. It is necessary to begin on such a broad level in

order to get a sense of the learning environment and the students in the

Entrepreneurship program; this is important because the SWOT analysis and growth

plans will influence the entire learning experience that students will have throughout this

program. This instructional design package is the first of a two part series for the

Entrepreneurship program, and will focus in specifically on the instruction of the SWOT

analysis. In the second part, the instruction will pertain specifically to the growth plans.

The following chapters begin with a broad overview of the learning needs and the

students in the Entrepreneurship program. The focus then narrows in on the learning

tasks, learning objectives, assessments, and instructional strategies and learning

experiences of the SWOT analysis. Throughout this instructional design package, we

will refer to the SWOT analysis and growth plan in conjunction, but further details on the

instructional strategies of the growth plan are available in part 2.

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Chapter 1

Learning Needs Assessment

The focus of this learning needs assessment will be on the recently revised

Entrepreneurship program at Baker College. This is a program that I have been

involved with over the past 18 months, and it is nearly complete. We examined a

program that was already in existence, Small Business Management, and updated the

material to become the new Entrepreneurship program. The following learning needs

assessment reflects on the initial work that was conducted to establish what needed to

change in the original program, with a focus on the skills directly related to a SWOT

analysis and growth plan. In terms of determining when to conduct this needs analysis,

I would say that the faculty, deans, and system directors (all content experts) in charge

of this program likely felt that there was not a major problem with the curriculum, but

that the curriculum needed to be updated and improved. This program is not tied to any

state or national standards that changed, and there were not any major problems with

students failing or dropping out; the content experts simply felt that the curriculum was

not the best that it could be and that it should focus on some different learning goals.

Students were not failing and dropping out in high numbers, but they also weren’t

excelling and there were not high numbers of students with very successful businesses

after graduation either. The purpose of this needs analysis was to determine how to

improve our curriculum to meet our new goals.

Goal Statement

The learners are our Baker College students in the Entrepreneurship program.

The age range is 18+, and some students enter the program with the intent of starting a

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new business while some already have a business or will inherit a business and have

some prior experience. I will expand on the learner characteristics in the next chapter,

Learner Analysis. As you will see in the goals directly below, we want students to

complete many tasks, in addition to recognizing their own strengths and weaknesses

related to business. In the capstone course, students will write their own business plan,

and then present it to the class, instructors, and a panel of judges. The idea is to create

a “shark tank” setting in order to give students the real experience of presenting their

business plan to investors. Students will also be expected to analyze themselves and

their business in depth, and then develop and implement a growth plan to improve their

situation. There are few physical tools that students will require in order to reach our

learning goals, but they will need and have plenty of support from their peers in the

program and from their instructors. Instructors are required to work very closely on an

individual level with the students in this program so as to better improve each individual

business plan and growth plan. Instructors should also divide students into small

groups in some courses for the purposes of peer editing and mutual support. If

possible, instructors should also try to establish and coordinate mentors for student

groups; these mentors should be outside of the college and successful business owners

or investors.

Needs Analysis

I personally was not involved in the original decision-making process to update

the Small Business Management program, so much of the following Needs Analysis is

my own speculation. I have listed the goals for the new Entrepreneurship program as

they currently stand, and then I have reflected back on how these goals have changed

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from the original focus of the Small Business Management program. While I cannot

conduct an actual gap analysis with the current material, I have examined the change in

the program goals and focus, and am able to speculate where the gap existed in the

original material.

Goals of the Instructional System

The goals for our Entrepreneurship program are listed below (2012). These are

the learning outcomes that students should have achieved by the end of the program,

and they should demonstrate their ability to know or do all of these.

1. Demonstrate effective business communication skills in entrepreneurial situations.

2. Examine the importance of creativity, innovation, and risk taking in a small business.

3. Demonstrate the ability to locate appropriate business resources.4. Apply strategic business metrics to entrepreneurial situations.5. Examine the interrelatedness of the core business areas.6. Process financial information.7. Analyze the benefits of networking and business relationship management.8. Contrast leadership and management as they relate to entrepreneurial situations.9. Investigate legal and regulatory issues that have an impact on a small business.10. Apply professional and ethical behaviors in entrepreneurial situations.11. Participate in a professional organization or club.

How well Goals are Being Achieved

The goals above are the new goals that the content experts decided upon for the

new program. The content experts thought that these were the learning goals that

students should be meeting in our program, and it was immediately decided that the old

program was not meeting these goals. The content experts wanted students to be more

active and engaged in their program, so the new goals above focused more on having

the students become more hands-on with their business plans. They also wanted to

focus on the importance of creativity, innovation, problem solving, and self-analysis in

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entrepreneurship and that is reflected in the goals above, particularly with goals 1, 2, 4,

7, and 8. It was clear to the content experts that these goals and focus points were not

being met by the old program, Small Business Management, which is why they decided

to update all of the material. Students were obviously not meeting these new goals very

well because the old curriculum did not focus on these goals. I was not involved in the

evaluation process to decide how well students were meeting the above goals using the

old program material, but I know that the students were evaluated mainly through

faculty observation in the classrooms. Faculty and content experts were also made

aware that many of the students in our old Small Business Management program were

not successful with implementing change in their businesses relative to creative and

innovative thinking, and students did not appear to be following through on a growth

plan in order to improve their business.

Gap Analysis

As stated above, many students were not meeting the new learning goals for the

program. Ultimately, they should have a comprehensive understanding of the skills and

resources necessary to run a successful business, and they should be making an effort

to achieve those skills and resources. As I discussed above, I was not involved with the

initial process to decide how well students were meeting these goals; however, for the

purposes of this needs analysis, I speculate that possibly 80% of students in the old

program were not familiar with the concept of a SWOT analysis. I also speculate that

as much as 50% of all students in the old program were going through the steps of a

business plan, but they did not take action to improve the success rate of their business.

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Prioritizing Gaps

According to Smith and Ragan (2005), there are a few important criteria that help

to prioritize the gaps in learner achievement. Based on their criteria and my speculative

gap analysis above, it is clear that the first gap discussed has top priority. There were a

larger number of students (80%) in the old program that were not familiar with the

concept of a SWOT analysis. This gap has very serious consequences for students

because all small businesses owners need to have an acute understanding of their

skills and weaknesses, and an understanding of the opportunities and threats in the

environment. The second gap, in regards to creative thinking, problem solving, and a

growth plan, has equal prioritization as the first gap because it is the next step in the

process of improving one’s business situation. Even though more students were

impacted in the first gap, the SWOT analysis and growth plans are actually two steps of

the same growth process and students will develop better growth plans if they all

understand the concept of a SWOT analysis first; therefore the prioritization on these

gaps is equal and they will be addressed concurrently.

Instructional Needs

These gaps certainly represent an instructional need to focus on self-analysis,

environmental analysis, and creative problem solving. As I stated above, our old Small

Business Management program did not focus on instructing students on these topics,

which is why a gap in student learning existed in the first place. If our faculty and our

program do not instruct students on these topics, then we cannot expect students to

know them or be proficient in them. When these new learning goals were discussed

and created it was clear that the instruction and design of the program would need to

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change in order to better meet these goals. There was not an apparent gap between

the old program goals and student learning, but the apparent gap between the new

program goals and student learning led to the conclusion that the instructional design

for this program needed to be changed in order to meet the new goals.

Techniques for Gathering Data

The needs analysis was not very formal or prescriptive: the initial problem was

not related to low test scores or a change in the accreditation standards. Rather, the

needs analysis was driven forward by a desire to improve the curriculum overall for the

betterment of the students. As I stated above, the gap analysis was not conducted

formally, but was conducted primarily through observation. As I am not a teacher, I

could not participate in the observations. However, faculty and instructors teaching the

old curriculum observed some weaknesses in our students’ abilities; it was primarily

these observations that pushed the needs analysis forward. Faculty observed students’

growth over the course of the program, and found it to be more sporadic than

organized. They also observed that students were not reflecting internally about how to

solve problems for their businesses. From their observations they reported that

students were not improving and growing at the high level that they would like to see.

There was also some analysis of the subject matter. As I stated above, the

curriculum does not follow any accreditation standards, but it does seek to align to the

goals and focus of the U.S. Small Business Administration (2012). The content experts

in charge of managing this needs analysis compared the old curriculum to the material

provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration in order to gain a different

perspective on the subject matter. The old curriculum did not match up strongly with the

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goals and focus of the U.S. Small Business Administration, which further supported the

need to update the old curriculum.

Learning Environment

Characteristics

Overall, the instructors and faculty should feel comfortable with the change in the

curriculum and with the prospect of updating the materials because many of the faculty

have had input on the process. We are working with a specific set of faculty to re-

design the curriculum and have discussed options for using technology and new tools in

Blackboard to support the program. So far this set of faculty have been very

enthusiastic about using new technology and tools. I understand and predict that once

we launch this program with many different faculty teaching it that there will be some

faculty who are not as comfortable and enthusiastic with the technology. However, we

already have training programs in place to help support these faculty, and the content

experts will be available to provide guidance and support to the other faculty who will be

teaching this curriculum. I am confident that the characteristics of our faculty for this

program will help to support the curriculum and materials.

Existing Curricula

The old curricula for this program will no longer be used. The new curricula have

been designed to expand upon the goals of the old curricula. The only major materials

that this new instruction seeks to align to is the information provided online by the U.S.

Small Business Administration (2012). This website functioned as a guide as we

designed the new program, and it should serve as a guide for the students as they

compose their business plan. Overall, this program is meant to teach students how to

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create a business plan and how to make their business successful; this will vary

significantly for each individual student, but the overarching principles should be

consistent. The instruction should reflect this and teach students about the overarching

principles, and then instructors can help to personalize those principles for their

students in class.

Relevant Technology and Materials

The technology and materials that students and instructors will require can be

provided by Baker College. Students and instructors will need to use computers and

the Internet, primarily the Blackboard course shell, and the U.S. Small Business

Administration website. There are computer labs available on campus for all students

to use if necessary. Laptops and projectors are generally available to instructors to use

in the classroom, should an instructor ever desire to walk students through a website.

There are no major software or programs that students will be required to use besides

the basic Microsoft Office set up. There are several useful programs that instructors can

and should discuss in class with students, such as software for managing the business

finances or human resources, but it is not required for the students or the instruction.

Relevant Classroom Characteristics

There are ten campuses total for Baker College across the state of Michigan, and

each of these campuses varies in their classrooms and resources. However, there are

no major outstanding characteristics that this instruction requires for the classroom

beyond the basic characteristics that already exist. Campuses are advised to keep

these classes small, but if there is a large class, then the instruction includes notes and

recommendations to instructors to break a large class into groups for various

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assignments and projects. One example of this exists in the final capstone course, in

which students will be formally presenting their business plan to the class and a panel of

judges with visuals. Ideally, all students will present individually, but if there is a large

class, then instructors are advised to set up the presentation like one would for a

science fair in which all students present at the same time with their visuals and

materials at their table or desk. Students will not have as much of an opportunity to see

and critique each other’s presentations, and it will be a less formal setting, but it would

address the problem of a very large class.

Relevant System Characteristics

As I stated above, there are ten different campuses for Baker College across the

state of Michigan, and all of these campuses fall under the directive of the Baker

College System Headquarters. The decision to update this program was overseen by

the System Director from the System Headquarters, and therefore aligns to the Baker

College mission and guiding principles. The System Director has been involved with

the design aspects of this curriculum, and has provided guidance and input to the

faculty during the re-design process.

Relevant Philosophical Issues

Since there are campuses spread out all across the state of Michigan, the larger

community for Baker College is the entire state of Michigan. Baker College has its own

philosophy, but I have addressed that above in the system characteristics. There are

not any major philosophical outlooks or taboos across the state of Michigan that should

impact this instruction, and the instruction itself is not very controversial. I do not

foresee any major philosophical issues that need to be taken into consideration. The

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only thing that could possibly impact the instruction is the current economic climate of

Michigan; Michigan has been struggling financially from the downfall of the national

economy and the auto industry. The areas surrounding Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw

have been particularly bad. The new program learning goals above address the need

to take risks and think innovatively in entrepreneurship, and instructors need to be

aware that some students might struggle more with the concept of risk-taking in

business due to the economic climate. Instructors should be sensitive to this issue

when they discuss these concepts in class, but this should not significantly impact the

instruction overall.

Chapter Summary

Altogether, the needs analysis, techniques for gathering data, and the

assessment of the learning environment provide a base on which we can rely as we

move forward with the instructional design and focus more specifically on the SWOT

analysis and growth plan. This learning needs assessment provides the framework that

we can use to guide our decisions and thought process as we continue with the design

process. This framework, which examines the entire Entrepreneurship program, will

provide a beneficial point of reflection to refer back to as the focus of this instructional

design package will become much detailed and narrow in the following chapters. In

Chapter 2, Learner Analysis, the focus will still remain fairly broad as we consider all

students in the Entrepreneurship program; however, in Chapter 3, Learning Tasks, the

focus will narrow down to the specifics of the SWOT analysis and growth plan, and this

will continue for the remainder of the instructional design package.

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Chapter 2

Learner Analysis

It is something of a challenge to consider all the learner characteristics of the

students in our Entrepreneurship program at Baker College, Michigan. We cater to

such a wide variety of students that it is sometimes difficult to narrow down the specific

characteristics of a group of students. Since we have many older and non-traditional

students our students range in age from 18+, and can be located almost anywhere in

the state of Michigan. In this chapter, I will analyze the cognitive, physiological,

affective, and social characteristics of our students. Analyzing our students in this way

will help me to better understand the learner characteristics of the students in our

Entrepreneurship program.

Cognitive Characteristics

Generally, our students are functioning at a high level of cognitive development.

It is usually expected for students to be functioning at a higher cognitive level at the

college level. They have reached the highest stage of Piaget’s intellectual

development, formal operations, although some students might not be fully functioning

at this level. Many of our younger students, ages 18-22, are usually still developing in

their formal operations across different content areas. Since the subject matter of

Entrepreneurship does span several content areas (i.e.: math/finance,

reading/writing/presenting business plan, human relations), we need to be aware that

some of our students are not fully developed in formal operations. Entrepreneurship

students have fully developed reading and language skills; any lack of development in

these areas upon entering the college would be addressed by Developmental Education

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courses prior to their Entrepreneurship courses. One specific aptitude that we often see

in our Entrepreneurship students is a high level of enthusiasm and intuition in their

program. A successful entrepreneur and business owner must be knowledgeable and

intuitive of his/her given field, and while our students’ business foci range from coffee

shop to scrap metal, they are all usually very intuitive and in-tune with their business

focus.

More specifically, we need to be aware that our Entrepreneurship students all

process information in different ways and have different learning styles. We have such

a wide range of students, and age can play a huge factor in relation to the way students

process information and to their learning styles. Naturally, our older students tend to

have more general world knowledge, but they can be out of sync with the rhythm of the

school environment; whereas, our younger students have less general world knowledge

but are more comfortable in the educational setting. The learning styles vary widely

between our students, but one commonality is that Entrepreneurship students often like

to take action or apply their knowledge to their own business setting, so a hands-on or

authentic approach is always a smart choice. This personality trait supports the SWOT

analysis and growth plan instructional design package, because students will need to

take action while in the program to begin the steps of their growth plan.

Physiological Characteristics

There are not any outstanding issues in relation to students’ physiological

characteristics, sensory perception, or general health that would impact the instruction.

Since we cater to such a wide range of students, we simply address any outstanding

issues as they come about in the class. Broadly across the college we try to address

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any physiological characteristics as needed. For example, we make it a policy to only

use black text on a white screen in all of our documents and in all locations of our

website and Blackboard so as to accommodate any color blind students. We also make

it a policy to provide a transcript of any video or audio recordings if closed captioning is

not available for students with hearing disabilities.

As I have mentioned above, our students range in age from 18+. Age would be

the only physiological characteristic that might have an impact on the instruction, but

this would only be due to the fact that we have such a wide range of ages working

together in the classroom. Instructors would want to make sure that all ranges are

comfortable in the classroom and with each other. The biggest impact that age would

have on the instruction would be in relation to the prior knowledge associated with

different age groups, which I will discuss further below.

Affective Characteristics

In terms of affective characteristics, the students in our Entrepreneurship

program are usually very motivated and interested in their program. They are

intrinsically motivated to do well and to learn in the classroom because it should have a

direct impact on their business plans. These students are not in a position that they

have to earn a degree in order to obtain a specific job position; they are in this program

because they truly want to educate and improve themselves in order to make their

business more successful. These students have a positive attitude towards learning

and towards the subject matter because they can almost immediately apply everything

they learn to their own existing business or their growing business plan. Generally, the

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overall affective characteristics of the students help to support the instruction in this

program.

However, there are a few affective characteristics that we need to be aware of in

our design. First, it is important for students to be able to reflect on their strengths and

weaknesses, and assess themselves from an objective standpoint. Some students are

not yet at the cognitive level or do not yet have the life experience to be able to assess

themselves from an objective standpoint. We need to be aware of these cognitive

levels in our students, and the variation in life experiences.

A second affective characteristic to be aware of is an inflated sense of self-

confidence in some of our students. This appears primarily in the students who do not

yet own or work at their business, but plan to start their own business from scratch.

They are eager to be their own boss and see their dream come to life, but they do not

consider how much time, work, and money goes into becoming a small business owner.

Sometimes these students have very unreal expectations for their lives as business

owners, and it is important that the curriculum teaches these students about the reality

of owning a business and at the same time still inspires students. We want to give them

a reality check, but not crush their dreams. The SWOT analysis and growth plan are an

excellent way to help students get a sense of the challenges they may encounter as an

entrepreneur, and together these learning pieces will give students the appropriate

reality check that they might need.

Social Characteristics

Social characteristics are very important for us to address in this program, but

are also very challenging for us to address. Social characteristics have a strong role in

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small business because a business owner needs to have a strong place in the

community and s/he needs to be able to communicate and interact with community

members. Because there is such a wide range of students in this program it can be

difficult to reach all students on the same level. I have already briefly referenced that

the wide range in ages can have an impact on instruction, and in the same way, a

students’ position as a current versus a prospective business owner also impacts

instruction. Students’ position as business owners and their age are often closely tied

to their social characteristics. Older students and students who already own or work at

their business often have more developed and refined social skills. They have reached

a comfort level in regards to their place in society, their feelings toward authority, and

their moral development. Younger students or students with less experience are

usually not at the same developmental level of social characteristics.

Regardless of any of their current social characteristics, it is extremely important

that by the end of the program all students have highly developed social skills and

characteristics. In order to reach the social level that is essential for a successful

business, they need to have highly developed networking and communication skills,

respect for society and authorities within their society, and a strong level of moral and

ethical development. This last aspect of moral and ethical development is extremely

important to cultivate in this program because it is so important for our students to

appreciate and understand ethical business practices. Many of the students do not

appreciate how much of a challenge it can be to conduct a business completely

ethically, nor do they understand that there isn’t always a correct answer when it comes

to ethics. As I discussed above, our students can often be in very different places in

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terms of social development, but it is important that they all reach a high level of social

development in this program. In order to address the various levels of social

development, and also address peer relationships in the classroom, it would be prudent

to encourage our students to help each other with social development. The older or

more developed students can share their life experiences to help educate the younger

and less developed students, and altogether they can further develop their skills.

Students can share their own ethical experiences or discuss social dilemmas and help

each other to solve problems.

One other separate aspect of social characteristics that we need to take into

consideration with our instruction is socioeconomic status. Like many other states

across the U.S., Michigan has had a struggling economy these past few years. The

downfall of the auto industry has had a particularly significant impact on Michigan.

Some of our students are taking a huge risk in simply spending money on this degree in

the first place, let alone spending money on supplemental materials like computers,

software, programs, and textbooks. Some of our faculty and content experts are

excited about the prospect of new technology, like iPads, that can help to support a

business, but we cannot expect our students to be spending money on these types of

items. We have to design our instruction with a very narrow fiscal focus, and then

encourage instructors to have discussions within the classroom about using tools like

iPads or computer programs in order to educate students about the various tools and

support for their business.

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Learners’ Prior Knowledge

I have mentioned several times in the above paragraphs that the students in this

program vary in age and in their place as business owners. Some students have

already started their own business and want to educate themselves to improve their

management or accounting skills. Some students plan on inheriting a family business,

and have experience working in their family business but not running or owning it.

Others have no prior experience with owning or running a business, they simply have a

dream of one day running their own business. What this means is that the students in

this program have a very wide range of prior knowledge in relation to owning and

running a business. Some students have a strong foundation of all of the material and

they simply want to improve their knowledge and skill, while others have no prior

knowledge or understanding of the concepts and need to learn everything in this

program. It is one of our challenges in instructional design to accommodate all of these

students. The SWOT analysis is an excellent way for students to become aware of their

own prior knowledge, or lack of prior knowledge, and to really understand their

strengths and weaknesses in relation to the curriculum.

What we have found to be successful, and will continue to do with this program,

is to instruct students on the principles, concepts, or theories in class and then give

them a lot of opportunities to apply these to their own business. Some students can

immediately apply them to the business where they currently work, while others need to

think more hypothetically about the business they plan to own. There are pros and cons

for all students in this model, but it is the best option we have. For example, it can be

difficult for some students to think far in advance or hypothetically about all the different

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aspects of their potential business while other students have an easy time of

immediately applying the content to their current work setting. However, at the same

time, the students who do not yet own a business have more opportunities to change or

refine their business plans in their heads, whereas the current business owners can be

inhibited by current real world constraints. One instance of this is the financial plan:

students who currently own a business can pull the numbers from their business to get

accurate calculations, while the students who are planning to own a business have to

fabricate the numbers. However, if there is a problem with the numbers or if students

should adjust their spending, then it is easier for the latter students to adjust their

financial plans for their future business than it would be for the current business owners

to adjust the financial plans for the business that is currently running. The growth plan

is an excellent way for students to better define their application process and the means

by which they can apply the material.

We encourage our students to work closely together in this program so that they

can benefit from their peers’ experiences. Students tend to develop a strong cohort

group throughout this program, and we try to incorporate group work activities

throughout the instruction. In the final course where students compile their work to

compose and present their business plans, we want them to work very closely together

to help support each other and solve problems together. We want students to create a

team of peers that they can call on for help if and when they need it. This team of peers

should be able to provide constructive criticism when developing their SWOT analysis,

and they can also serve as a team to report back to on the development of their growth

plan actions.

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Design Implications

I have referenced some of these implications when I discussed the learner

characteristics above. In order to engage students on an appropriate cognitive level

and accommodate the wide range of prior knowledge, I think it would be best to follow

an overall design model of introduction and discussion of a concept in class followed by

in-class practice. The in-class discussion or practice should require the students to

work together so that students can support each other, benefit from their peers’ prior

knowledge, and further develop their social characteristics. The in-class practice should

also be at a high level of involvement that requires students to function at a higher

cognitive level and allows students to be more hands-on in their learning or apply it

directly to their businesses. This will help to engage the intuitive, enthusiastic, and

motivated personalities of the entrepreneurial student. Also, if the in-class practice is

particularly challenging or involved then it might require students to work together with

their peers even more in order to brainstorm and problem solve. This will help students

to further develop the important social characteristics and inspire the innovative spirit

that is essential to a successful entrepreneur. The discussion amongst the students

should also help to bring about the necessary reality check that some students require

in regards to their expectations as a business owner; the students with the current real-

world experience can share their own experiences as business owners.

After the in-class discussion and practice, students should then practice the new

concepts on a more individual level with their own business. This practice is something

that should be completed as homework, and serve as an assessment piece. To

compare: the in-class practice should be more informal, and should serve as an

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opportunity for all students to see the concept in action in a general business setting;

whereas, the homework practice will be a more formal, graded form of practice in which

the students have to apply the concept in their own unique business setting. This

should serve as a measure to illustrate whether a student fully understood the concept

and was able to successfully assimilate it into his/her business knowledge. This is the

process that I will follow in the following chapters for the SWOT analysis and the growth

plan, and Chapter 6, Instructional Strategies and Learning Experiences, specifically

outlines this process with the SWOT analysis.

I foresee this model working well for the various topics and subject areas of

entrepreneurship. Students will be building on their knowledge and skills throughout the

program and will be supporting each other. The final capstone course will provide an

opportunity for all students to display their knowledge in a very real-world setting by

presenting their business plan to their peers and a panel of judges. This business plan

should reference some of the elements of their SWOT analysis, and refer to the growth

plan they have begun to address those elements.

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Chapter 3

Learning Tasks

In Chapters 1 and 2, the focus of the instructional design package was very

broad in order to encompass the goals and perspective of the entire Entrepreneurship

program. It is necessary to be cognitive of this larger framework as we begin to narrow

the focus more specifically to the SWOT analysis and growth plan. The SWOT analysis

and growth plan are pieces that students will encounter in the first course of the

Entrepreneurship program, and they should shape the students’ experiences throughout

the remainder of the program. We will now narrow the focus to look specifically at the

details of the SWOT analysis and growth plan. This chapter breaks down the steps

necessary for students to learn about SWOT analysis and growth plans, and concludes

with broad learning objectives. Chapter 4, Learning Objectives, will refine these broader

learning objectives into the terminal performance objectives and enabling objectives for

this instructional unit.

Learning Goal

While there are many learning goals for this course, one of the goals is for

students to conduct a comprehensive SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,

threats) analysis of themselves as a business owner. They should support their

analysis with explanation and any available evidence. Students should then use this

SWOT analysis to outline a personal growth plan, focused on addressing their

weaknesses and threats to improve their role as a business owner.

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Type of Learning Outcome

The preliminary work of the SWOT analysis qualifies as a very basic concept; it

seems similar to declarative knowledge; however, the goal is for students to do more

than simply identify their traits and environment, and to truly investigate and analyze

their traits and environment. As students evaluate their weaknesses and threats and

develop a growth plan the work moves from intellectual skills to attitudes. The work of

creating and implementing their growth plan falls under the domain of attitude because

students will need to be evaluating and adjusting their attitudes as business owners in

order to implement their growth plan. Altogether, students will progress from working on

a very basic concept to addressing their attitudes.

Information Processing

Students will begin by conducting their SWOT analysis and identifying their

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as a business owner. Students will

use the table provided below (fig. 1) to complete their SWOT analysis. Students will

then move into the attitude information processing to develop their growth plan, and

they will need to address the following tasks in order:

1. Identify the root problem of the weaknesses and threats.

2. Determine any internal traits or external factors that could improve the state of

the weaknesses and threats.

3. Brainstorm solutions.

4. Develop plan of action to address weaknesses and threats, with consideration to

time, money, and resources.

5. Implement growth plan.

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The information processing analysis is represented below as figure 2.

Figure 1.

Strengths

What do you do well?

What unique resources do you

have?

What do you see as your strengths?

Weaknesses

What could you improve?

Where do you have fewer

resources than others?

What are others likely to see as a

weakness?

Opportunities

What opportunities are open to

you?

What trends could you take

advantage of?

Threats

What threats could harm you?

What threats do your weaknesses

expose you to?

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Figure 2

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Prerequisite Analysis

1. SWOT Analysis (Figure 3)

a. Know potential strengths:

i. Positive personal traits.

ii. Relevant skills, competencies, knowledge, education, and work

experience.

iii. A strong network.

iv. Commitment, enthusiasm, passion for your field.

b. Know potential weaknesses:

i. Negative personal traits and poor work habits.

ii. Lack of relevant experience or education.

iii. Lack of a strong network.

iv. Lack of direction or focus.

c. Know potential opportunities:

i. Favorable industry trends.

ii. Growing economy.

iii. Emerging demand for a new skill or expertise.

iv. Use of a new technology.

v. Referral to a high-powered contact.

d. Know potential threats:

i. Industry restructuring and consolidation.

ii. Changing market requirements.

iii. Changing professional standards that you don’t meet.

iv. Reduced demand for one of your skills.

v. Evolving technologies for which you are unprepared.

vi. The emergence of a strong competitor.

2. Growth Plan (Figure 4)

a. Analyze Root Problem

i. Compare and contrast traits under weaknesses and threats.

ii. Know internal and external factors and motivators.

iii. Know the reasons for weaknesses and threats.

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b. Consider Possible Solutions

i. Know all of your potential resources.

ii. Know your strengths and opportunities.

iii. Be able to brainstorm possible solutions, including using strengths

and/or opportunities.

c. Outline Growth Plan (Figure 5)

i. Know how to organize or rank brainstormed solutions.

ii. Know how to identify the most efficient or most important areas for

improvement.

iii. Know your potential future timeline.

iv. Be able to combine the brainstormed solutions with the timeline,

following the rank of the solutions.

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Figure 3

30

Figure 4

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Figure 5

Learning Objectives

1. Students will identify their internal personality traits that could impact their

business as either a strength or a weakness on their SWOT analysis.

2. Students will identify external factors that could impact their business as

either an opportunity or a threat on their SWOT analysis.

3. After completing their SWOT analysis, students will identify the reasons

for their weaknesses and threats, and evaluate these reasons for any

similarities.

4. Students will analyze potential solutions for their weaknesses and threats

in order to develop a growth plan. Students will identify resources to

support their solutions, including their strengths and opportunities.

5. Students will rank their potential solutions by efficiency and importance.

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6. Students will develop a timeline to implement their potential solutions,

organized by the solutions’ rank and their future business plans.

7. Students will explain step-by-step their growth plans for improving the

state of their weaknesses and threats that could impact their business.

Students implement the beginning steps of their growth plans by the end

of this course.

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Chapter 4

Learning Objectives

The following list of learning objectives consists of a refined set of terminal

performance objectives and enabling objectives for both the SWOT analysis and growth

plan. In the following chapters, the remainder of this instructional design package

focuses more specifically on the instruction of the SWOT analysis; the instruction of the

growth plan is expanded upon in a secondary instructional design package that will be

available separately.

1. In regards to their entrepreneurial skills and environment, students will perform

an in-depth personal SWOT analysis with at least three ideas in each quadrant.

a. Students will identify at least three internal personality traits or

personal experiences that could function as a “strength” for their

business on their SWOT analysis.

b. Students will identify at least three internal personality traits or lack

of experiences that could function as a “weakness” for their business

on their SWOT analysis.

c. Students will identify at least three external factors or contacts that

could function as an “opportunity” for their business on their SWOT

analysis.

d. Students will identify at least three external factors or competitors

that could function as a “threat” for their business on their SWOT

analysis.

2. Based on their SWOT analysis, students will develop a detailed growth plan to

improve their position as an entrepreneur, with at least one step to improve

abilities for each weakness and each threat.

a. After completing their SWOT analysis, students will successfully

identify the internal and external factors for their weaknesses and

threats.

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i. After students identify these factors, they will evaluate these

factors for any similarities.

b. After establishing the root cause for their weaknesses and threats,

students will successfully analyze at least three potential solutions

for their weaknesses and threats.

i. Given their identified weaknesses and threats, students will

correctly identify the resources, strengths, and opportunities (at

least one of each) that will help to support their solutions.

c. Given their brainstormed solutions, students will successfully rank

their solutions in order based on efficiency and importance, and will

explain the reasoning behind their rank in detail.

d. Given their current business plans and the ranking of their potential

solutions, students will develop a neat and organized timeline to

implement their potential solutions. Students will plot at least three

different points on their timeline to implement solutions.

e. Given their timeline, students will explain step-by-step their growth

plans for improving the state of their weaknesses and threats that

could impact their business.

3. After developing their growth plans, students will successfully implement and

display the beginning steps of their growth plan by the end of the course.

a. Based on their individual growth plans, students will document with

evidence the steps they take to begin their growth plan, including

the dates and names of any participants.

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Chapter 5

Assessments

The following assessments consist of the Entry Skills Assessment and the

Pre/Post Assessments for the SWOT analysis and the growth plan. As the SWOT

analysis is the lead-in for the growth plan, it is the focus of the Entry Skills Assessment

for this unit. The Pre/Post Assessments do address the growth plan; however, the

instructional strategies and learning experiences (Chapter 6) in this instructional design

package pertain specifically to the SWOT analysis, and the instructional strategies and

learning experiences for the growth plan exist in a separate instructional design plan.

This chapter concludes with the alignment of the assessments to the terminal

performance objectives and the enabling objectives.

Entry Skills Assessment:

Name: Date:

Please answer each question in detail. 20 points total.

1. What sorts of skills, experiences, or personality traits makes an entrepreneur

strong in your field? List at least three items. (3 points)

2. What lack of skills, experiences, or personality traits makes an entrepreneur

weak in your field? List at least three items. (3 points)

3. What sorts of external factors, contacts, or technologies lead to positive

opportunities in your field? List at least three items. (3 points)

4. What sorts of external factors, competitors, or challenges lead to negative threats

in your field? List at least three items. (3 points)

5. What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur in your field? What are you

already doing to be a successful entrepreneur in your field? How can you

improve? (8 points)

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Pre/Post Assessment:

In order to give students time to actually implement and grow from their growth

plan (below), these assessments will be given as a pre-assessment at the beginning of

the course to introduce the new lesson on SWOT analyses and personal growth in

entrepreneurship, and then again as a post-assessment at the end of the course to

actually assess students for growth. If students have created a strong growth plan and

begun to implement it, then they should begin to see changes and developments in their

SWOT analysis and their growth plan. This is an assessment that would be beneficial

to reflect upon and come back to in later courses in the program to continue to assess

for personal growth. This would also teach students about the continuous need to

conduct a SWOT analysis for their business.

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Pre/Post Assessment 1:

SWOT Analysis

In-class time: 15 minutes

Think about your skill sets, your experiences, your connections, and your competitors.

Assess yourself for your personal Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

in relation to your field, and fill in each quadrant with at least three items. Be as specific

as possible. (40 points possible, 10 points for each quadrant)

Strengths

What do you do well?

What unique resources do you

have?

What do you see as your strengths?

Weaknesses

What could you improve?

Where do you have fewer

resources than others?

What are others likely to see as a

weakness?

Opportunities

What opportunities are open to

you?

What trends could you take

advantage of?

Threats

What threats could harm you?

What threats do your weaknesses

expose you to?

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Pre/Post Assessment 2:

Growth Plan

In-class time: 60 minutes

Answer the following questions, reflecting on your completed personal SWOT analysis

as you do so. Try to be as specific and detailed as possible. (80 points total possible)

1. What are the factors or root causes for your weaknesses and threats? Compare

and contrast these factors/causes. (10 points)

2. Reflecting on your weaknesses, threats, and the factors that cause them, create

three potential solutions for improving your weaknesses and threats. List at least

one resource, one strength, and one opportunity that will help support your

solutions. (15 points)

3. Rank your solutions in the order in which you would implement them. Explain

your reasoning for this order (For example, is the first one the most important? Or

the easiest and most efficient to implement? Why?) (15 points)

4. Using the line below or the back of your paper, write out a timeline for your future

business plans. Plot at least three different points on your timeline of when you

will implement your solutions. Make sure to provide enough time between each

solution, and explain why you will implement your solutions at these points on

your timeline. The start of this timeline should be today in class because you

should begin to implement your solutions as soon as possible. (20 points)

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Future Business Timeline

5. Reflecting on your timeline and solutions, and write out step-by-step your growth

plans for improving the state of your weaknesses and threats. (20 points)

Pre/Post Assessment 3:

Documented Growth Plan Steps

Assessment 3 is slightly different for the pre-test and the post-test. The reason

for this is that the post-test Assessment 3 requires students to actually take action and

begin implementing their growth plan. Students cannot be assessed on this in the same

way as a pre-test; thus, the pre-test for Assessment 3 requires students to write a plan

for when they will complete various actions of their growth plan and what they will do to

gather evidence and document their actions. The post-test will require students to

actually present documented evidence of the actions they have taken. This post-test

will continue throughout the entire Entrepreneurship program, as it will take

considerable time for students to conduct the actions in their growth plan.

Pre-Test:

(Completed outside of class as an on-going assessment)

Later on in the course and throughout the program you will need to provide documented

evidence that you have begun to implement some of the steps and solutions on your

growth plan. Write out at least three steps you will take to begin implementing your

growth plan. Explain how you will document your steps to prove you have completed

them, and list out the type of evidence you plan to provide to support it (For example,

the date, names, and contact information for any new contacts; business cards;

blueprints; etc.)

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Post-Test:

(Submitted at the end of the course, and periodically throughout the program in later

courses)

List at least three steps you have taken to implement the solutions on your growth plan.

Provide data and/or evidence to support your completion of these steps outside of the

classroom.

Performance Objectives Alignment

Assessment 1:

SWOT Analysis

Assessment 2:

Growth Plan

Assessment 3:

Documented Growth Plan Steps

Terminal Objective: 1 Terminal Objective: 2 Terminal Objective: 3

Enabling Objectives: 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d

Enabling Objectives: 2a, 2ai, 2b, 2bi, 2c, 2d, 2e

Enabling Objectives: 3a

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Chapter 6

Instructional Strategies and Learning Experiences

As I have mentioned above, this instructional design package concludes with a

focus on the SWOT analysis, and a separate instructional design package exists to

address the growth plan. The beginning chapters of this secondary instructional design

package is very similar to this one, but the later chapters deviate in order to address the

specific instructional strategies of the growth plan. The growth plan is addressed

separately due to the unique nature of this assessment and learning piece. Students

should continue to be assessed on their growth plan throughout the entire program, and

they should receive continuously evolving instruction on the growth plan throughout the

program. The instructional strategies and learning experiences for the growth plan vary

significantly from the SWOT analysis because they continue throughout the entire

Entrepreneurship program, and are not limited solely to the first Entrepreneurship class

like the SWOT analysis is. Therefore, this chapter only addresses the instructional

strategies and learning experiences that relate specifically to the SWOT analysis.

Learning Task

The instruction should introduce the components of a SWOT analysis and teach

students how to use a SWOT analysis. The next step after this lesson would be to

teach students about growth plans and how to use the information from a SWOT

analysis to develop a growth plan; however, before we can move onto that, these

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students need to have a very thorough understanding of their own strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Students need to understand that these

components can and will change over time and will change as they grow with their

business. Students also need to develop the skill of analyzing themselves and their

business situation from an objective standpoint in order to generalize and discriminate

between their different traits and environmental factors.

The plan for this lesson should be to begin more broadly to discuss the general

strengths and weaknesses of a very successful business and a failing business. It is a

more generative approach to the lesson and should spark students to think more

creatively at the start of the lesson. The goal is that this will introduce the basic

concepts to students and emphasize the importance of conducting a SWOT analysis in

order to be successful. The next steps of the lesson will ease them into the steps of

completing their own SWOT analysis. The goal is that breaking this down into smaller

pieces will help to make the overall concept less overwhelming and easier to

understand. A SWOT analysis is actually a more abstract concept, but the graphic

organizer associated with it helps to make it more concrete. Moving at a slower pace

should encourage the students to take their time in analyzing themselves and their

business for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. During this instruction

and practice time, students will be pairing up to work together to help each other build

their SWOT analyses.

The final assessment for this lesson, a completed SWOT analysis, will allow the

students an opportunity to formalize their ideas and will allow the students and the

instructor to check for their comprehension of these concepts before moving onto the

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next steps. The amount of time required for this lesson is about half of a standard two-

hour class period, approximately 45-60 minutes.

Introduction: Deploy Attention/Establish Purpose/Arouse Interest and Motivation

The lesson will begin by introducing two company profiles: one for a successful

business and one for a failing business. The instructor should provide enough data in

both profiles that students should be able to pick out some strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats. The instructor should then ask the class why they think one

failed and one succeeded. The instructor should write their suggested list of reasons for

success and a list of reasons for failure on the board in front of them. This section of

the lesson should finish with the question: “Why do you think we need to do this? Why

should we make these comparisons?” This activity will deploy attention and arouse

interest because it is more generative, and forces the students to compose their own

ideas on what led to success or failure. This also establishes a crucial and inherent

purpose to the lesson: understanding these concepts can lead to the success or failure

of their own business.

Preview the Lesson: “You will now do this for yourself for your own business.”

By the end of this lesson students will learn:

To identify their strengths

To identify their weaknesses

To identify threats to their business

To identify opportunities for their business

The value of a SWOT analysis for their business

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Body:

Review Prior Knowledge/Process Information:

At the end of the lesson prior to this lesson (at least one day prior) the instructor

should distribute the Entry Skills Assessment (Chapter 5) and check that students can

identify basic strengths and weaknesses. This current lesson assumes that all students

are fairly successful with this Entry Skills assessment. To begin this lesson, the

instructor should distribute the completed and graded Entry Skills assessment quizzes

back to the students and review the common response. The instructor should tell them

to look back over their answers, and then set aside this quiz because they will be

coming back to them later.

Process Information and Examples/Focus Attention:

Instructors should provide a printout of a completed SWOT analysis of the

company that was successful, and point out to students how the attributes listed on the

board at the beginning of the lesson fall into the completed SWOT diagram. This will

provide a correct example so students can see how the various attributes fall into the

quadrants of the diagram, and will help students to understand how the SWOT diagram

functions.

Practice:

Students will be provided a blank SWOT analysis diagram and be asked to

partner up and fill in the quadrants with the attributes of the failing business. They have

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to discuss it with their partner to decide the best fit, and to also add any additional

attributes so that all the quadrants have several attributes.

Evaluation:

The pairs will take turns reporting out to the rest of the class where they placed

each attribute, and they have to explain why. If any pair added additional attributes to

the SWOT analysis they must share those as well. The class will be asked if they agree

with the placement of the attribute so that the pairs will be evaluated informally in class.

Review Prior Knowledge/Practice:

After completing a SWOT analysis with the example business, students should

take their responses from their Entry Skills assessment and add them to a new SWOT

analysis diagram. This is the initial step for conducting their SWOT analyses. Every

attribute listed on their Entry Skills assessment should be added to their SWOT

analysis, unless they think it is no longer relevant. If a student has changed his/her

mind about an attribute, then s/he should provide an explanation as to why it is different;

likewise, if the student thinks of any additional attributes, then these should be added

with an explanation as well.

Feedback/Evaluation:

Students should swap their SWOT analyses and their Entry Skills assessment

quizzes with their partner, and review their partner’s SWOT analysis diagram. Partners

should provide feedback to each other and discuss the placement of the attributes.

Students should also share any more attributes that they can think of for their partner

when looking over their partner’s SWOT analysis diagram. Instructors should be

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floating around the room to listen in and stop to provide additional guidance where

necessary.

Conclusion: Summarize

At the end of the lesson, the class should review the two company profiles again

and discuss how a SWOT analysis relates to these profiles. Together, the class should

review the process of picking out the attributes of the two company profiles and then

organizing these into the SWOT analysis diagram. Students should also discuss how

conducting a SWOT analysis might have helped the failing business to survive.

Transfer Knowledge/Remotivate and Close

To remotivate the students and help them transfer this information to their own

settings, instructors should have them write out a quick one-minute reflection of the

lesson and what they learned. Instructors should have them reflect on the concept of a

SWOT analysis and explain how it will benefit their business plans. They should explain

how they plan to use this information in the future, and how they can see it applying to

different settings. If the lesson has helped them to identify any new and surprising

attributes, then students should share these as well.

Assessment and Feedback

The formal assessment for this lesson comes in the form of the Posttest (Chapter

5) at the end of the entire SWOT analysis/growth plan lesson (at the end of the week).

Students will be required to complete a well-organized and detailed SWOT analysis in

class for the purposes of developing a growth plan. This SWOT analysis should be an

improvement on the version they created in class during the lesson. Students will

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submit this formal SWOT analysis and growth plan for grading, and instructors will

provide a grade and feedback on these formal assessments.

Chapter 7

Instructional Design Package Summary

This instructional design package begins with a broad examination of the

Entrepreneurship program and the Entrepreneurship students at Baker College, and

evolves into a focused instructional lesson on SWOT analysis for the entrepreneur. The

follow-up instructional design package that pertains specifically to growth plans is

available separately. Any questions, comments, or concerns on this instructional design

package should be directed to the author:

Breana Yaklin

Instructional Design Specialist, Instructional Design

Baker College, System Headquarters

Flint, MI

breana.yaklin@baker.edu

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References

Baker College Instructional Design Team. (2011). Entrepreneurship Program. Flint, MI:

Baker College.

Smith, Patricia L. and Ragan, Tillman J. (2005). Instructional Design. Hoboken,NJ.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

U.S. Small Business Administration. (2012). www.sba.gov

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