Week 1 — Inside or Outside? A First SWOT for a Pet-Grooming Van

Assignment 1 of the term — sort a business's situation into what it controls and what it does not, and explain it to someone new to business.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a clear, evidence-based sort. You remain the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Business Case Workshop practise the same ideas from other angles; this assignment is where you put the SWOT, the PESTEL scan, and the stakeholder map together on one small case.

The task

The case is illustrative, built for this course and not a real business. A mobile pet-grooming van, with an owner who goes unnamed here, washes, trims, and dries dogs and cats in a van parked at each customer's home. Like the coffee cart this course follows, it is a business: it aims to take in more money than it spends. The owner has listed ten facts about the business and the world around it and wants to know where the business stands.

The ten facts:

• The owner has many years of grooming experience.
• The van brings grooming to customers' driveways, so pets skip a car ride.
• A waiting list of repeat clients books ahead.
• There is only one van, so only one pet can be groomed at a time.
• There is no online booking, so every appointment is set by phone.
• A large apartment complex that welcomes pets is opening nearby.
• A local animal shelter is looking for groomers to partner with on adoption days.
• Fuel prices are rising across the economy.
• A chain pet-supply store with its own grooming salon is opening in town.
• The city is considering a rule that limits where business vans may park on residential streets.

Work these two problems, showing how you sorted every fact:

1. How many of the ten facts sit inside the business, counting strengths and weaknesses together?
2. How many of the ten facts sit outside the business, counting opportunities and threats together?

Beside each answer, add a brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: name each inside fact as a strength or a weakness and give one reason it is inside the business. Then name the one outside fact that is most tempting to file as a strength, and explain in a sentence why it is not one.
• Problem 2: name each outside fact as an opportunity or a threat. Tag each with the PESTEL force it fits best (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, or legal), or say that it is a competitor, which a scan considers alongside the six forces. Then pick the city's parking rule and map at least four stakeholder groups it would touch (from owners, employees, customers, suppliers, lenders, the community, and government), saying in a few words how each could be helped or hurt.

Explain it to a non-expert

The owner's cousin, who may help with the van on weekends, asks you, "So is this business in trouble?" Write a 3–5 sentence message that explains the difference between what is inside the business and what is outside it, names the outside change you would watch most closely, and names one limit, including that a SWOT is a snapshot of one moment and that this case is illustrative. Explain any technical term in everyday words. More than one good answer is possible, and the message gives no legal or financial advice.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a flower stand at a train station. Model answer: "The stand's fresh flowers and friendly owner are things it controls, so they count as strengths. A new florist opening inside the station is outside its control, so it is a threat to watch, not a weakness. The biggest change to watch is the competitor, because commuters could buy flowers there instead. A list like this is only a snapshot; it can change as soon as the station or the owner does."

Use that pattern for the pet-grooming van, with your own wording and evidence.

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft both answers, both interpretations, and your message to the cousin before opening a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Show how you sorted each fact when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one count or explanation, even if your first attempt was correct.
4. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write the work for you.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful learning coach for an introduction-to-business course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about sorting a business's situation into what sits inside it and what sits outside it. Do not write my assignment for me, do not invent work I did not show, never invent a statistic, a study, a quotation, or a fact about a real company, and never give me legal, tax, or investment advice.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these two problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The case: an illustrative mobile pet-grooming van, built for my course and not a real business. In this course, strengths and weaknesses sit inside the business; opportunities and threats sit outside it.
PROBLEM P1: In the illustrative pet-grooming van case, ten facts are listed: the owner has many years of grooming experience; the van brings grooming to customers' driveways, so pets skip a car ride; a waiting list of repeat clients books ahead; there is only one van, so only one pet can be groomed at a time; there is no online booking, so every appointment is set by phone; a large apartment complex that welcomes pets is opening nearby; a local animal shelter is looking for groomers to partner with on adoption days; fuel prices are rising across the economy; a chain pet-supply store with its own grooming salon is opening in town; the city is considering a rule that limits where business vans may park on residential streets. How many of the ten facts sit inside the business, counting strengths and weaknesses together?
PROBLEM P2: In the illustrative pet-grooming van case, ten facts are listed: the owner has many years of grooming experience; the van brings grooming to customers' driveways, so pets skip a car ride; a waiting list of repeat clients books ahead; there is only one van, so only one pet can be groomed at a time; there is no online booking, so every appointment is set by phone; a large apartment complex that welcomes pets is opening nearby; a local animal shelter is looking for groomers to partner with on adoption days; fuel prices are rising across the economy; a chain pet-supply store with its own grooming salon is opening in town; the city is considering a rule that limits where business vans may park on residential streets. How many of the ten facts sit outside the business, counting opportunities and threats together?
After the two answers, I must interpret each one: for P1, name each inside fact as a strength or a weakness with one reason it is inside, then name the outside fact most tempting to file as a strength and explain why it is not one; for P2, name each outside fact as an opportunity or a threat, tag each with a PESTEL force or as a competitor, and map at least four stakeholder groups the city's parking rule would touch. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to the owner's cousin explaining inside versus outside, naming the outside change I would watch most closely, and naming one limit, including that a SWOT is a snapshot and that the case is illustrative. I must explain technical terms in everyday words.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply: correct tallies (20 points), business reasoning (48 points), clarity for a non-expert reader (20 points), and showing the sort so it can be checked (12 points). For each of P1 and P2, give 2, 1, or 0 evidence units per criterion; one unit is worth 5 tally points, 12 reasoning points, 5 clarity points, or 3 showing-the-sort points. Sum both problems within each criterion. Count my final message only with P2, not again with P1.
TALLY UNITS: A correct count = 2; a count that is off because of an addition slip or exactly one misfiled fact, with the sort shown = 1; a missing count or a count with no sort behind it = 0.
REASONING UNITS: For P1, BOTH every inside fact labelled with a reason it is inside AND the tempting outside fact named with why it is not a strength = 2; exactly one of those parts = 1; neither = 0. For P2, BOTH every outside fact labelled as an opportunity or threat with a PESTEL force or competitor tag AND a parking-rule map naming at least four stakeholder groups, plus a cousin message with the change to watch and a limit = 2. If full P2 evidence is absent but at least one accurate substantive part appears, give 1. No accurate reasoning = 0; naming a term alone does not earn a unit, and filing an outside fact as a strength is not accurate. An addition slip alone is not a reasoning error.
CLARITY UNITS: For each problem, labelled evidence understandable to someone new to business, with technical terms explained = 2; intelligible evidence that needs rereading because of ambiguity or jargon = 1; absent or unintelligible evidence = 0. Include the final message with P2 if submitted. Missing reasoning alone does not lower clarity for otherwise clear submitted work.
SHOWING-THE-SORT UNITS: For each problem, every fact placed in a box so the count can be rebuilt = 2; some facts placed but the count cannot be fully rebuilt = 1; a count alone or no sort = 0. A visible sort stays checkable despite an addition slip.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. Probe an unsupported claim and ask me to examine its evidence. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied both answers and their interpretations AND written my message to the cousin AND revised at least one count or explanation AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score and do not round it. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my sort, counts, and reasoning]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work with both answers, their interpretations, and your message to the cousin — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or as a labelled sketch of the SWOT grid with a short note; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 1 skills — sorting a business's situation into strengths and weaknesses inside it and opportunities and threats outside it, scanning the outside with PESTEL, and mapping the stakeholders a decision touches — for comparable time and effort, about 60 to 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete the same two problems, both interpretations, and the message to the cousin. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion, and write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one count or explanation you changed, the evidence that prompted the change, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The sort, the counts, the reasoning, the revision, and the final report must be your own. Do not ask the chatbot to create the assignment or add evidence you did not produce, and do not let it invent facts about the pet-grooming van or any real company. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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