- Published: September 21, 2022
- Updated: September 21, 2022
- University / College: University of Massachusetts Boston
- Level: Secondary School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 8
Conducting a SWOT Analysis: AmeriCares Association
Americares Association
Americares is a nonprofit organization that focuses on disaster relief and charitable support, and it offers abrupt response to medical requirements during a crisis (AmeriCares, 2013). AmeriCares offers long-term support program in different places of the world, irrespective of the faith, race or political affiliation. Moreover, the organization offers assistance in moments of epic disaster, conflicts and struggles. It also focuses on restoring health and saving lives through a contribution of donated medicines, medical supplies and humanitarian support to different people around the world.
Strengths
The organization has strength associated with ability to assemble product donations from private sector, thereby determining the urgent needs and requesting financial support for sending aid through airlift or ocean cargo. The organization has health and welfare professionals who are deployed in impecunious areas faced by a need for medical support. Moreover, Americares applies a model, which is tested, cost effective and driven by experience (AmeriCares, 2013). On the other hand, they have high accessibility to donated medicines and medical supplies offered by corporate partners, though an established and trusted network. In this case, they use locally based hospitals and healthcare providers in different places of the world. Contributions made by supporters of the organization around the world have a led to a positive influence on their operations in different parts of the world.
Weakness
The only weakness identified in the organization relates to the inability to access people suffering in some counties due to lack of information, high level of insecurity or lack of necessary capacity (AmeriCares, 2013). Most of the time, the organization is not able to access to some these location due to lack of the necessary information that can assist in accessing these areas.
Opportunities
Opportunities of Americare can be associated with long standing commitment of fiscal responsibility that is always attributed to high rankings from the Charity Navigatior for their success (AmeriCares, 2013). This provides a platform that facilitates recognition by different parties from different places of the world with the same interest of assisting people in needs. Therefore, the organization is able to acquire trust in terms of management of funds donated by corporate partners. In fact, the organization has used the donations as an opportunity to reflect their commitment towards support programs, whereby ninety eight of their expenses are directly channeled to relief for people in need, while two percent is consumed through administrative costs.
Threats
There are challenges faced by the organization especially in areas where medicines and medical supplies are not accessible through a conventional channel, thereby creating a critical need. Therefore, the organization is bound to sue their funds to make direct purchases of the medical supplies and medicines, and this turns out to be very expensive for them (AmeriCares, 2013). The organization experiences problems in areas faced by political conflicts, whereby they end up exposing their personnel to high level of insecurity in these regions of the world.
Influence of the Analysis to Strategic Planning Process
The SWOT analysis, which focuses on the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of the organization, facilitates an evaluation to determine its position (Berryman, 2009). Therefore, the information gathered from this analysis can be applied in the process of decision-making (Management Study Guide, 2012). It also enables the organization to identify the resources of the organization that can contribute to implementation of strategies set for achieving the organizational goals (Magicman, 2011).
References
AmeriCares. (2013). What We Do: AmeriCares Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief Efforts. Retrieved on Jan 18 2012 from < http://www. americares. org/whatwedo/> AmeriCares. (2013). Our Model. Retrieved on Jan 18 2012 from < http://www. americares. org/whatwedo/model. html> AmeriCares. (2013). AmeriCares Mission: Disaster Relief & Humanitarian Aid. Retrieved on Jan 18 2012 from < http://www. americares. org/aboutus/> Berryman, S. (2009). What is a SWOT Analysis, and Why is it Important? EzineArticles. com. Retrieved on Jan 18 2012 from < http://ezinearticles. com/? What-is-a-SWOT-Analysis,-and-Why-is-it-Important?&id= 2420795> Magicman, J. (2011). Importance of SWOT Analysis. Expertscolumn. com. Retrieved on Jan 16 2012 from < http://expertscolumn. com/content/importance-swot-analysis> Management Study Guide. (2012). SWOT Analysis. Retrieved on Jan 18 2012 from