Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis

This week's Learning Resources examine how organizations conduct internal and external assessments for strategic planning. Although these resources use differing terminology, the overarching focus of this week is on how an organization assesses its own strengths and weaknesses as well as on the opportunities and threats in the environment in which it operates. For this Application Assignment, you will conduct a short analysis of a particular health care organization. You will not have access to as much information as you would if you were fully engaged in this process for an organization, but this assignment will give you an opportunity to apply key principles and generate questions for further exploration.

Prepare for this Application Assignment as follows:

• Identify a health care organization with which you are familiar and/or for which a significant amount of information is available online.
• With this organization in mind, review the information presented in this week's media segment and the chapters of the course texts.
• Then, research and analyze the organization as follows:
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  • What are the mission, vision, and values of this organization? What have you learned about the importance and function of an organization's mission, vision, and values?
  • Gather data on these three aspects of the organization:
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    • Historical financial performance
    • Major resources and competencies
    • Internal value chain of the organization
  • Based on this abbreviated internal assessment (as indicated above), what do you think are this organization's most significant strengths and weaknesses?
  • Examine information about the community in which this organization operates, and the various external factors identified in the Learning Resources. These include economics, demographics, competitors, and other factors.
  • Based on this abbreviated external assessment (as indicated above), what do you think are the most significant opportunities and threats for this organization?
• After you have concluded your research and analysis, consider what additional information you would need in order to conduct more complete internal and external assessments.

Then write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:

• Analyze the mission, vision, and values of the organization you have selected.
• Describe significant strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the organization. Be sure to provide your rationale.