Appreciative Inquiry for Aha

American Heart Association

This report serves as a SWOT analysis and an appreciative analysis for the same organization. The organization in question will be the American Heart Association. The SWOT analysis includes a listing of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are present for the American Heart Association. An appreciative inquiry basically serves to point out and discover what gives a given organization the most "life" and vitality as an organization. The author of this report will complete both of these tasks and they will later be compared and contrasted with similar models created by other people in the class for which this is being completed. While there will surely be at least some differences between the different models, there will surely be some similarities as well.

Analysis

When it comes to the American Heart Association, they absolutely have a number of strengths that can be pointed to and highlighted. One strength is that they have a high amount of monetary assistance that is provided. Second, they have a very high growth rate as compared to similar charities and other organizations that do what they do. Third, they have a high amount of profit as well as a high amount of revenue. Fourth, the business units that are contained with the American Heart Association are extremely experienced and they are by no means new to the scene in which they inhabit. Lastly, the American Heart Association is largely protected by the barriers of market entry that would permit (or not permit, in this case) any upstarts from competing for charitable contributions and/or a place in the spotlight that the American Heart Association now enjoys (SWOT Analysis, 2015).

As for weaknesses, there are really only two that are worthy of mentioning. The first is the tax structure in which the American Heart Association must operate. Also, the brand portfolio that the American Heart Association has is a little weak. As for its opportunities, the American Heart Association has a number of new products and services that could keep it in very good shape in the overall charity and wider marketplace. Next, they are in a marketplace that is by no means limited to the United States. Indeed, the people that they can serve as well as the people that they can glean contributions from are around the world rather than just being in one country. Next, there are very strong opportunities for growth rates and profitability. Of course, recessions and the like can create issues but that is not the norm and it is certainly not the case right now. Next, income levels for the organization itself as well as the people that contributed are typically on a constant increase and this only helps the American Heart Association over the long haul. Finally, the economy is currently growing and this only helps the American Heart Association as long as that remains the case. Of course, the economy was not growing in 2007-2009 and that had an effect on the American Heart Association (Picardo, 2015). However, it is usually growing and that is absolutely the current situation for the American Heart Association (SWOT Analysis, 2015).

Finally comes the threats to the American Heart Association. The first threat that should be mentioned is that the rates of interest on the money being handled with things like debt and such are subject to rise, especially when the economy is strong, and this would increase the costs for the American Heart Association. Second, there is also the chance that government regulations will increase or change. Beyond that, there are already a lot of government regulations in place and those have to be complied with, taken seriously and otherwise be dealt with because Americans view organizations like the American Heart Association that do not comply with those regulations in a very dim light. Next is the threat of growing competition and lower profitability. It was noted earlier that the barriers to entry make this rather unlikely in the grand scheme of things. However, it could always happen and the American Heart Association needs to keep an eye out for things like that. There is also a chance that the cost of raw materials for the American Heart Association's activities could rise. This will make the operating costs for the American Heart Association go up and this would obviously tend to impact what the organization can do, what it cannot do, what it is willing to do and what it is not willing to do. Dovetailing with the government regulations item above is the threat of tax changes. Of course, the tax code is extremely complex and it is subject to change at any time. Beyond that, it always seems to get more complex rather than less complex when it does change. Finally, there are the external business risks that the American Heart Association must face every day (SWOT Analysis, 2015).