MGT610: Case Study Analysis of Oxfam International Strategies

This case study provides an in-depth analysis of Oxfam International, a prominent non-profit organization dedicated to poverty eradication, humanitarian aid, and human rights advocacy. The report examines Oxfam's strategies, including its global diversification through affiliate organizations, its focus on key areas such as women's rights and disaster management, and its use of benchmarking to assess performance. The analysis highlights Oxfam's key areas of operation and the strategies employed to achieve its goals. The study also evaluates the effectiveness of Oxfam's strategies using various benchmarks, such as internal output data reports and stakeholder consultations. Furthermore, the report identifies a strategic weakness within the organization, specifically its limited presence in Africa relative to Europe. The case study concludes by summarizing Oxfam's contributions to global challenges, its strategic adaptations, and the importance of its benchmarking practices for continued improvement and impact.

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: OXFAM INTERNATIONAL 1
Case Study Analysis: Oxfam International
Name
Institution

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Executive Summary
Through its nineteen affiliates, Oxfam International functions by promoting poverty eradication,
humanitarian activities and human rights advocacies in the world. In recent years, Oxfam
International's efforts in fighting poverty and injustices in some of the communities in the world
have been fundamental in increasing the organization's popularity among the other groups.
Courtesy of Oxfam International’s efforts, the lives of more than 23 million people have been
transformed worldwide. By diversifying its branches, the organization reaches many people that
could not have been reached if the organization has retained its branches in Europe only.
Moreover, Oxfam has expanded the scope of its activities by focusing n other issues such as
injustices, women's rights, and disaster management. Oxfam's performance towards achieving its
goals and objectives can be demonstrated by the millions of people the organization has
impacted. The diversification of branches and roles has significantly increased the number of
people reached by Oxfam International. Moreover, the organization's transparency and
accountability can be lined with the perfect financial documents found in this report. The annual
reports for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 financial years prove that affiliate Oxfam organizations are
performing excellently in the industry. This report seeks to identify and analyse the strategies
employed by Oxfam International to maintain its relevance in the non-profit organizations'
industry. Various benchmark measures used by the organization are also critically analysed. The
benchmarks are purposely employed to enable the organization to streamline its strategies and
performances. Critical monitoring and evaluation of these benchmark measures would be very
effective in improving Oxfam's performance. The weakness considering Oxfam International's
strategic location is also briefly analysed.

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: OXFAM INTERNATIONAL
Introduction
Determined to fight challenges ranging from poverty, injustices, disasters, epidemics,
famines, and wars, Oxfam International is renowned for its resolute efforts. Oxfam International
poises itself in a position to help individuals and communities struck by the aforementioned
global challenges. Oxfam International is among many other popular humanitarians, advocacy
and non-profit organizations such as UNHCR, Red Cross, UNICEF, World Vision, and World
Food Programme. Although all the humanitarian and advocacy groups have the sole objective of
improving the living conditions of the people they serve, each of the organizations is needed to
improve on its efficiency to realizing its goals. The primary objective of each of these
organizations is to raise as many funds as possible so as they reach as many impoverished
people. There is a need therefore for each of these organizations to devise benchmark measures
to enable them to compete effectively with the other organizations in the industry. Since 1942,
by the called Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, Oxfam International has been run through
the inherent benevolence of people and the humane motivation to help the poor. As a strategy to
reach more people, Oxfam has identified various other global challenges that need to be
mitigated to fight global challenges. The organization aims to curb the global challenges of
famine, epidemics, and disasters as well us injustices that violate conventional human rights.
Through the 19 Oxfam affiliates such as Oxfam America, Oxfam Great Britain, Oxfam
Australia, Oxfam Denmark, Oxfam Quebec, Oxfam Germany, Oxfam Hong Kong, Oxfam India,
Oxfam South Africa, and Oxfam Mexico; the organization can rich more than 90 countries that
are affected by global perils. Oxfam seeks to target impoverished communities around the globe.
Most of these countries are faced with the risks of famine, disasters, war, as well as human rights

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: OXFAM INTERNATIONAL 4
violations. This case study mainly focuses on analysing the strategies that Oxfam International
uses to curb global challenges. The study further measures the effectiveness of Oxfam’s
strategies using benchmarks. Lastly, the limitations of not-for-profit organizations are
highlighted. A brief conclusion serves to summarize this report.
Oxfam’s Key Areas and Strategies
As aforementioned, Oxfam primarily targets to improve the living conditions of poor
communities around the globe. Essentially, Oxfam International seeks to eradicate poverty and
restore justice around the globe (Green, 2015). The organization’s primary objective is to tackle
poverty incidences around the globe. In its strategies to increase the number of people it reaches
around the globe, the organization has diversified its offices. Hitherto, the organization has
already established 19 affiliated Oxfam groups around the globe (Oxfam.org, 2019). These
affiliates are located in different continents. Oxfam America and Canada, for instance, function
by focusing on improving the living standards of impoverished Americans and Canadians
respectively. Oxfam Germany and Oxfam France focus on tackling European poverty. The
organization aims at reducing poverty levels in Africa using Oxfam South Africa. In Asia,
Oxfam International has affiliate organizations in South Korea and Hong Kong. The organization
also has a branch in South Africa. These affiliate groups are not limited to their geographical
locations. Oxfam South Africa, for instance, serves to accomplish Oxfam International objectives
in the entire African continent.
In the organization’s 2017/2018 Annual Report (2019), the organization records that it
had reached an estimate of 22.3 million people in 2016. The report further confirms that the high
number of people was reached courtesy of the company’s effective affiliates as well as over

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: OXFAM INTERNATIONAL 5
7,300 organizational allies and partners. Oxfam Great Britain, for instance, spent more than
303.5 million Euros in its poverty reduction, humanitarian and advocacy objectives
(Oxfamannualreview.org). The Annual Report further identifies the strategies that the company
uses to reach more people through promoting numerous social needs including food and water
provision, saving lives in disasters as well as fighting injustices and inequality.
Nonetheless, the Oxfam International organization has put more focus on feminism and
gender equality. According to Brown, Ekoue & Goodban (2019), Oxfam International endorsed
the efforts of Tunisian feminists in fighting for Tunisian women's rights. The organization has
played primary roles in establishing equality and justice for women around the globe. This is a
strategy to increase the organization's target groups. The increasing affirmative action aiming at
promoting women's rights made it necessary for Oxfam to put a more refined focus on women.
Oxfam advocates against gender inequality, gender-related violence and cultural practices that
subject women to health problems. For instance, in India, Oxfam International started a 16-day
activism project against gender-based violence (Gilbertson, 2018). According to Alvarez &
Alexis (2014), Oxfam joined Yemen feminists and activists to advocate against female genital
mutilation (FGM), sex harassment and trafficking. The scholars argued that women's injustices
should be taken as criminal activities and rather not like cultural practices.
Oxfam International not only focuses on poverty eradication but also to restore the
affected people to their statuses. For instance, in disaster-stricken countries, Oxfam International
has initiated projects that see at restoring the living standards of the victims. Bradshow (2015)
posits that Oxfam strategically uses development projects to restore the living standards of
disaster victims. These projects majorly aim to reinstate victims' economic power. By this, the
impact of disasters is effectively mitigated. In cases where the organization targets to fight for

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women's rights, advocacy is engendered by women's development projects (Bishop & Bowman,
2014). Oxfam intends to reduce women's injustices by initiating projects that would serve to
improve their living standards.
Oxfam International Benchmarking
According to Oxfam Strategic Plan 2013 – 2019, the company will use four benchmarks
to monitor and evaluate the organization's performance. The organization recognizes the need to
evaluate the effectiveness of its strategies towards the realization of its objectives. The document
provides that these benchmarks would serve the organization by exposing the areas and
strategies that may require modifications. Moreover, when advocating for change, Oxfam uses
reformist and revolutionary benchmarking strategies to evaluate the direction of their
benchmarking campaigns (Seabrooke & Wigan, 2017). Therefore, benchmarking is an important
skill for any profit or not-for-profit organization.
Firstly, the organization will evaluate the information in its output data reports from each
affiliate member of Oxfam International. This benchmarking is very necessary as it lays light on
the performance of each affiliate member. For instance, Oxfam Great Britain is Oxfam’s biggest
affiliate due to the affiliate’s positive returns. For many years, Oxfam Great Britain usually raises
more revenues and funds than their expenditure. Oxfam America is also famous for realizing
budget surpluses. Oxfam International recognizes and appreciates affiliates that end up with
positive budgets.
Oxfam International also completes and analyses review studies to identify the
organization’s achievements as well as weaknesses and issues. For instance, the aftermath of the
2011 Haitian earthquake transpired the upsetting news that a few staff from Oxfam Great Britain

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had sexually harassed a victim (Khan, 2018). The scholar attests that after the organization
confirmed the staff’s transgression, appropriate legal actions were taken. This benchmark
measure is to ensure that Oxfam employees and staff members observe ethical and professional
considerations within their practices.
Strategic evaluations that seek to assess the functionality of Oxfam’s strategies on social
change. According to Hutchings (2014), evaluating the effectiveness of strategies y Oxfam
enables it to improve its performance as well as improving the organization’s accountability. For
instance, it is prudent for Oxfam to measure whether its attempts to advocate for women's
equality rights especially in Arabic countries yield to any positive outcomes. This would help the
organization to identify areas where they should focus on improving. Some projects are known
to end up fruitless.
Lastly, Oxfam re-evaluates its strategies by consulting relevant stakeholders to gather
their insights about Oxfam’s overall performance. Relevant stakeholders are likely to notice
issues that surround an organization than the organization itself (Eccles, Ioannou & Serafeim,
2014). For instance, Oxfam may engage human rights activists and inquire about their
independent views and insights about Oxfam. The relevant stakeholders may also relay the
limitations of Oxfam as well as provide necessary recommendations.
Weaknesses
Despite the significant efforts played by Oxfam International, the organization has not yet
achieved its organizational goals. In Africa, for instance, Oxfam International has only one
affiliate, Oxfam South Africa. In Europe, the organization has many affiliates. This is ironical
considering the organization's major goal is to fight poverty. It is therefore expected that Oxfam

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should have many affiliates in Africa as compared to Europe According to Gras & Mendoza-
Abarca (2014), seldom do non-profit organizations meet their objectives. Gras and his colleague
argue that the main reason why non-profit organizations fail is their difficulty in managing their
commercial activities. In their report, Oxfam confirmed that the gap between the wealthy and the
poor in Australia is widening (Sanders & Price, 2018). This is despite the organization's actions
in the country to fight inequality in Australia.
Conclusion
To conclude, Oxfam has played a commendable role in its plot to fight and eliminate
world poverty and injustices among communities. Through the organization's effective
strategies, the company joined other humanitarian and advocacy groups in fighting injustices as
well as promoting global balances. Oxfam International has expanded its branches from Oxfam
Australia to many other Oxfam affiliates in America, Africa, Europe, and Asia continents.
Moreover, Oxfam has shifted from focusing on poverty eradication only. In recent years, Oxfam
has played key roles in endorsing human rights and fighting injustices. Moreover, the
organization has played major humanitarian roles in saving and improving the lives of the
affected victims in disasters. Furthermore, Oxfam has also partnered with feminists and women
rights’ advocates in promoting gender parities. This has ensured that the organization reaches
and transforms the lives of more people. Oxfam is also known for its developmental projects in
the affected communities. Apart from the 19 Oxfam affiliates, Oxfam International also
advantages from strong relationships with more than 7,300 organizational partners. The
organization's strategies are enabled and streamlined by the company's fundraising efficiencies.
Although Oxfam International does not aim at making profits, its efficiency is fundamental for
the organization's survival in the not-for-profits organizations' industry. To measure, monitor and

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: OXFAM INTERNATIONAL 9
evaluate the effectiveness of its strategies, the organization employs four benchmarks. Firstly,
the company evaluates the internal reports of each affiliate groups. Secondly, Oxfam analyses
reviews to identify its strengths as well as its weaknesses. Thirdly, Oxfam re-evaluates its
strategies and checks their performances. Lastly, Oxfam International seeks the opinions and
insights of its stakeholders regarding the overall performance of the organization. However,
hitherto, the organization can be said to have failed because it has not yet entirely eradicated
poverty as per its general objective. In essence, poverty and injustices are increasing throughout
the world. Although humanitarian and advocacy groups contribute considerably big amounts to
affected people, the organizations' objectives are rarely met. This study suggests that non-profit
organizations should devise methods to ensure that their contributions help targeted communities
and individuals.

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