SWOT Analysis | Case Study Report

Running head: SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT ANALYSIS
Student’s Name
University Name
Author note

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Executive summary
The purpose of this report is to have a better understanding of the internal and external factors
affecting the operations of the non-profit organization Red Cross. The reports aim to analyze and
identify the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats faced by the organization. It utilizes
websites, research, government policies and other organizational information for conducting the
SWOT analysis. It identifies the advantages of the organization which enables the organization
to perform better than other competing organizations. It analyzes the areas in which the
organization needs to improve. It analyzes the trends and opportunities that the organization can
take advantage of. Further, it identifies the threats faced by the organization and concludes the
report.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
SWOT ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................................3
Strengths......................................................................................................................................3
Weakness.....................................................................................................................................4
Opportunities...............................................................................................................................6
Threats.........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Introduction
The Red Cross is a non profit organization which is run for the purpose of relivveing
people from human suffereing and prevents them from it. The organization assists the people by
providing relief to the victims of man-made disasters and natural disasters. The Red Cross
organization helps the people to prepare, prevent and respond to any forms of crisis or
emergencies. The organization is led with many successes; however, it faces various challenges
as well. The purpose of this report is to have a better understanding of the organization by
examining it through SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis will be conducted with the help of
various research, newspaper articles and interviews. It analyzes the strengths, weakness,
opportunities and threats faced by the organization. Further, it considers the geopolitical factors
that might affect the non-profit organization.
Discussion
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
Brand equity
The Red Cross organization is known for its strong brand equity and slogan. The name of
the brand is strong enough such that when there is any situation which demands for humanitarian
assistance, people trust this institution. According to Al-Araki (2013), the organization enjoys
strong brand equity among the other organizations. The organization, since many years has won
the trust of the people as well as spread the awareness of emergency response corporation by
branding itself through its slogan which goes, “Together we can save life” (Carnochan et al.

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2014). The strong brand equity of the organization has enabled it to gain private and public
donations towards the organization.
Strong mission and vision
The organization has a clear mission with a sense of purpose as well as the guiding
philosophy. Having a strong and clear mission of the business helps the employees of the
organization to work together towards achieving the goals of the organization (Chapleo 2015).
The success of the organization is highly dependent on the network of volunteers as well as the
special infrastructure of the professionals. This helps the organization to connect effectively
through various innovative ways. The organization is highly driven with a sense of purpose as
well as connectedness with the volunteers and other employees who enable them to carry out
their operations in smooth way (Forsythe 2015).
High level of accountability and trust
According to Frisch and Gerrard (2011), the non-profit sector requires high level of trust
and accountability. The Red Cross organization is highly accountable to its stakeholders such as
the donors, federal agencies and funders. The volunteers and the employees of the organization
have sense of responsibility. High level of public confidence on the organization has
strengthened to company towards achieving its objectives. The organization is always available
to answer the questions of any individuals and other organizations (Forsythe 2015). The
organization has been able to gain the trust and confidence of various charitable organizations for
donations and gain the trust and confidence of the public individuals as well.
Weakness

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The Red Cross organization has various limitations and weakness which negatively influence the
operations of the business and pulls down the reputation of the organization.
Poor labor relations
The organization has faced many allegations towards their way of treating the workers
and employees of the organization (Gupta and Mishra 2016). This indicates that the organization
have poor relations with the labors, hence it suffers from laying of staffs. This leads to budgetary
deficit. According to Hanafi and Fatma (2015), there are situations of conflict in the
organization among the volunteers and employees.
Limited funds and ineffective use of funds
As per NA and Berry (2016), it has been identified that the organization faced many
allegations regarding mismanagement of funds. This has pulled down the reputation of the
organization and it has faced with budgetary deficits. There has been inappropriate use of funds
in the organization which disrupts the operations of the organizations. Therefore, limited funds in
the organization hinder the smooth functioning and operation of the organization.
Lack of innovation
The organization lacks any form of innovation. It does not have any department for
product or service innovation. Further, it lacks proper brand protection. Therefore, it might face
the risk of losing funds to other fraudsters who might use the name of the brand and collect
money from the people (Gürel and Tat 2017).
Lack of online presence
As mentioned by Forsythe (2015), presence in various social media enables is essential
for the nonprofit organizations as it helps to gain recognition among the people. Social
interactions are necessary to determine the emergency situations and support the people on time.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
The Red Cross organization lacks proper online presence. It implies that the organization is not
easily accessible to the entire emergency situation and donates to various causes and emergency
situations (Frisch and Gerrard 2011).
Opportunities
There are various opportunities in the external environment of the organization which Red Cross
needs to take advantage of.
Alliance with other organizations
There are various other non-profit organizations in the external environment; Red Cross
can form strategic alliance with the other nonprofit organization which do not have any
affiliations with the political or religious matters (NA and Berry 2016). By forming strategic
alliance with the organization the organization can expand its services to the local individuals
and beyond.
The competitor organizations do not have blood donation campaigns
The organization conducts campaigns for blood donations which most of the other
competing nonprofit organizations do not provide. This can be taken as an advantage by the
organization to promote its brand (NA and Berry 2016).
Advancement of technology
Various advancement of technology such as robots and drones can help the organization
to locate emergency situations and transmit information. It can also help the organization to drop
humanitarian aid. Various social media platforms and mobile phone devices can help the

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SWOT ANALYSIS
organization to communicate between the disaster affected people and other aid agencies (Hanafi
and Fatma 2015). However, the organization needs to improve its online presence. This can
enable the company to gain more donations as well as recruit other employees and volunteers.
Innovation
The organization can consider including an innovation department. The company has
gained various donating organizations and institutions through its strong brand reputation (Gürel
and Tat 2017). Therefore, this opportunity can be used by the organization to bring innovation in
its products and services such as prescription of drugs and providing medical supplies. This will
enable the organization to gain competitiveness in the nonprofit sector.
Expansion of service offerings and products
With proper utilization of funds in the organization, it can consider expanding its service
offerings and other products such as food supplies to the victims, other medical supplies. It can
consider producing its own food for the people in need (Gürel and Tat 2017).
Threats
Competition
The organization faces stiff competition from other nonprofit organizations. The
competition organizations can reduce the cash flow and funding in the organization. There are
new startup organizations which tend to affect the development and the ability of the Red Cross
organization to adapt and sustain them (Al-Araki 2013).
Taxation issues and policies of the government

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SWOT ANALYSIS
There are continuous governmental interruptions which disrupt the flow of its operations.
There is increasing number of issues regarding the taxation policies of the non-profit
organizations. There are tax exemption policies by the government, however, the organization
need to assess its charitable status or eligibility for the tax exemption status (Icnl.org. 2019). The
tax emption status has become important for the regulatory development.
Theft and fraud
Various third party organizations and unscrupulous parties might use the name and logo
of the Red Cross organization to host fundraising events while keeping the profits by themselves.
These can be a serious threat to the nonprofit organization as it might risk losing the trust of the
donors and be liable for the losses incurred by the donors (Hanafi and Fatma 2015). Therefore,
the organization needs to protect their brand name and logo. Further, the organization needs to
continuously monitor any fraudulent activities or misuse to deter future instances of the fraud.
Liability of directors and officers
It is the responsibility of the directors and the officers to maintain the vision and long
term strategy of the nonprofit organization (Hanafi and Fatma 2015). They might be held liable
personally for misallocation of funds, any form of discrimination, harassment and wrongful
termination.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above analysis, it can be concluded that Red Cross Company has a
strong brand equity which enables the organization to gain the trust and confidence of the
corporations. It has a strong mission and vision statement along with a guiding philosophy. The

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SWOT ANALYSIS
volunteers of the organization work together to attain the goals and objectives preset by the
organization. Red Cross has various limitations and weakness such as poor labor retentions and
increasing level of conflicts among the volunteers. This reduces the efficiency of the
organization. It has limited funds and instances of misallocation of funds. Therefore, it needs to
work upon proper allocation of funds. Lack of innovation and lack of sufficient online presence
are some of the weakness identified. It has a strong brand equity which enables the organization
to gain the trust and confidence of the corporations. It has a strong mission and vision statement
along with a guiding philosophy. The volunteers of the organization need to work together to
achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. Red Cross has various limitations and
weakness such as poor labor retentions and increasing level of conflicts among the volunteers.
This reduces the efficiency of the organization. It has limited funds and instances of
misallocation of funds. Therefore, it needs to work upon proper allocation of funds. Lack of
innovation and lack of sufficient online presence are some of the weakness identified. On
analyzing the external environment of the organization, it has been identified that there are
various opportunities and threats faced by the organization. It conducts campaigns and other
variety offerings which are not provided by the competitor organizations. Advanced technologies
can help the organization to bring innovation and increase its efficiency. The identified threats
such as increased competition, government interferences and fraudsters can negatively impact
the functioning of the organization.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
References
Al-Araki, M., 2013. SWOT analysis revisited through PEAK-framework. Journal of Intelligent
& Fuzzy Systems, 25(3), pp.615-625.
Carnochan, S., Samples, M., Myers, M. and Austin, M.J., 2014. Performance measurement
challenges in nonprofit human service organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Quarterly, 43(6), pp.1014-1032.
Chapleo, C., 2015. Brand ‘infrastructure’in nonprofit organizations: Challenges to successful
brand building?. Journal of Marketing Communications, 21(3), pp.199-209.
Crisis/Incident Management Platforms Market SWOT Analysis Growth and Forecast from 2019-
2025 | Storm Eye, D. 2019. Crisis/Incident Management Platforms Market SWOT Analysis by
Growth and Forecast from 2019-2025 | Storm Eye, Real Time Warning, Disaster Alert – Pledge
Times. [online] Pledgetimes.com. Available at: https://pledgetimes.com/2019/08/21/crisis-
incident-management-platforms-market-swot-analysis-by-growth-and-forecast-from-2019-2025-
storm-eye-real-time-warning-disaster-alert/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].
Forsythe, D.P., 2015. The Humanitarians: The International Committee of the Red Cross.
Cambridge University Press.
Frisch, M.B. and Gerrard, M., 2011. Natural helping systems: A survey of Red Cross
volunteers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9(5), pp.567-579.
Gupta, G. and Mishra, R.P., 2016. A SWOT analysis of reliability centered maintenance
framework. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, 22(2), pp.130-145.
Gürel, E. and Tat, M., 2017. SWOT analysis: A theoretical review. Journal of International
Social Research, 10(51).

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Hanafi, E. and Fatma, Z., 2015. THE EFFECT OF THE INTEGRATION BETWEEN LEVERS
OF CONTROL AND SWOT ANALYSIS ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE:
BALANCED SCORECARD APPROACH. International Journal of Academic Research, 7.
Icnl.org. 2019. Taxation of Non-Profit Organizations: International Fiscal Association Congress
1999 - IJNL Vol.1 Iss.4. [online] Available at:
http://www.icnl.org/research/journal/vol1iss4/art_5.htm [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].
NA, N. and Berry, N.O., 2016. War and the Red Cross: The unspoken mission. Springer.
Reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk. (2019). [online] Available at:
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2017-11/The%20impact%20of
%20charity%20and%20tax%20law%20regulation%20on%20not%20for%20profit%20news
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