Situational Analysis and SWOT - Vancouver Compassion Society - Research Paper Example

Situational Analysis and Swot: Vancouver Compassion Society Introduction Company overview: mission and goals The company, Vancouver Island Compassion is among the non-profit organization in the region that provides patients with cannabis-based treatment services (The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 2015). VICS ensures that their provisions are based on recommendations of the physicians and also makes sure that the patients receive the prescription in respectful environments. In this case, one of the goals of the organization is providing otherwise difficult to get cannabis-related prescriptions to patients who are conservative about losing their respect as cannabis users. Another goal of the organization to engage in community-based scientific studies or research aimed at adding knowledge and improving the community’s understanding of therapeutic importance of medicines that originate from cannabis whole-plant. Branding The organization brands itself as a non-profit organization that strives to solve medical issues in the Vancouver community. The success of this society is because of the positive brand image among its esteemed customers. By definition, brand image is the position that a product name takes in the mind of the consumers (Hassan, & Craft, 2012). Therefore, VICS has a strong brand image among its users as a supplier of cannabis-related prescriptions. On the contrary, the general society might have a negative perception of the organization’s efforts to provide cannabis medication, and this might affect the brand image. Besides, the company brands itself as an organization that adheres to ethical obligation like abiding by the recommendations of the physicians in cannabinoid prescription. In this context, the company makes it mandatory for the customers to present medical forms when applying for membership. Nonetheless, the organization brands itself as a company that offers luxury services to customers who may want to take their doses within the premises since there are facilities for such purposes. Background of VICS Mr. Lucas founded the Vancouver Island Compassion Society where the existence of the group had been incorporates under the country’s Society Act in 1999 (The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 2015). The kind of business that the organization runs is well stated in its application procedure as a NGO that has dedicated itself in treating individuals with legitimate medical marijuana needs. On the other hand, the company was established to offer homeopathic therapies. However, all organization offers the services on membership basis with an aim of providing safe, reasonably priced, and consistent marijuana supply to patients whose physicians have recommended the substance as a treatment for the specific medical condition. When conducting its operations, the company always makes its members understand and accept rules for minimizing the substance’s effects on the general community. The company also ensured that members consented not to distribute substances once at they leave the premise. Internal Analysis Organization’s image The organization has a positive image among its users and even has won the lawsuit that was challenging its legality. The implication is that VICS, by winning the constitutional challenge of its existence, has painted a good image for the organization. The customers have faith that the organization is cheap and a convenient source of cannabis-related medical treatments. The good image has enabled the company to attract many of its target markets including Cancer, Hepatitis-C, HIV/AIDS, Osteoarthritis, Epilepsy, and IBS (The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 2015). Another reason for the organization’s success is its perfect brand positioning strategy. By definition, brand positioning refers to the process targeting consumer with reasons to buy the brand and develop the preference for the organization relative to others (Hassan, & Craft, 2012). VICSs success in brand positioning is because all the brand activities target common aims that are directed, guided, and delivered by the benefits of the brand. Positioning On the other hand, the brand position in the case focuses on direct contact with the customers since there is an active website that responds to their needs with a list of products to choose from. The success of VICS is also due to its unique brand positioning statements (Hassan, & Craft, 2012). For instance, the organization boasts to provide services that the government was unable to provide; high quality and safe marijuana supply to individuals who need the plant for medical purposes. Nonetheless, the organization positions itself as the supplier of organic, affordable, medical-grade doctor-recommended cannabis to patients as well as a researcher on medical cannabis use and other cannabinoids (The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 2015). Moreover, the organization positions itself as the supplier best and quality healthcare that governments, as well as other health professionals, have been unable to provide. Assess strengths and weaknesses Strengths One of the strengths of the organization is that it has the necessary resources to carry out research on cannabis-related medications (The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 2015). The implication is that the strong research capability enables the organization to develop better strands and grades of medical marijuana. On the other hand, the organizations’ high capacity in R&D ensures that there is a constant search for knowledge on medical cannabis issues so as to help meet the needs of the patients. The organization is a non-profit organization with no clear organizational structure though there are members who recruit patients. Another strength of the organization is that it has available resources for developing a range of products like the Purple Kush, Menali Red, Rene, Candy Cane among others (The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 2015). Besides, the Society is making use of technology as strength to market and position itself among the esteemed customers. The organization has an active website with recipes for different types of medical marijuana. On the other hand, VICS uses technology to provide information and reach out to different customers. Weaknesses On the contrary, there exist some weaknesses have been thwarting efforts of the organization in providing safe and cheap medical-marijuana to the esteemed customers. For instance, the countrys constitution is not clear on the use of medical marijuana, a situation that has sometimes resulted in legal suits to challenge the society (The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 2015). In some instances, the police have harassed medical-marijuana to the extent of arresting them with the VICS vicinity. To some extent, the organization is short of legal expertise to defend its rightful existence and stop the police from harassing its customers. A serious draw back to the society’s existence is police attitude because there have been cases of the premises broken into and pounds of cannabis materials stolen. In this case, the organization still has to battle it out with the police in convincing them that the marijuana is for medical purposes. Conclusion To summarize, the organization recently witnessed a court support on the possession of medical marijuana implying that the court systems are gradually supporting the initiatives (The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 2015). In this case, the company has a legal and legitimate image among the Vancouver communities as an organization. On the other hand, the company brands itself as an organization committed in doing research to find out better medical marijuana strains to meet customer needs and expectations as well as improving the society’s understanding of therapeutic uses of cannabis whole-plant. Nonetheless, the legitimacy of the society implies that is fully committed to welfare of the clientele. Activities of the organization are opposed to other compassionate societies that unlawfully sell and distribute marijuana disguising themselves as organizations that provide medical marijuana. References Hassan, S. S., & Craft, S. (2012). Examining world market segmentation and brand positioning strategies. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(5), 344-356. The Vancouver Island Compassion Society, (2015). Retrieved from http://www.thevics.com/index.html Read More