Application: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (swot)

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:
• 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:

• 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–pages 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.

Your written assignments must follow APA guidelines. 

Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources as appropriate. 

Refer to the Essential Guide to APA Style for Ashford Students to ensure your in-text citations and reference list are correct.