The Smithsonian's Four Grand Challenges

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In order for companies to succeed, they must have a strategy for how they will make decisions and react to both good and bad situations. The Smithsonian is an extremely successful company and they are no different. They have written a detailed plan that contains their mission statement, their vision, their priorities, and their-long term goals. A company’s mission is their ultimate goal, what it is they hope to accomplish. The Smithsonian assumes their mission as their social responsibility. It is the reason that the Smithsonian was formed and will continue to be its focus as long as it exists. Their mission, as stated by the Smithsonian Institution is “the increase and diffusion of knowledge”. (Smithsonian Institute) This is an incredibly …show more content…

These challenges are based on the Smithsonian’s mission and vision. The first is “Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe”. (Smithsonian Institute) The Institute wants to have a complete understanding of the world around them. Second is “Understanding and Sustaining a Bio-diverse Planet”. (Smithsonian Institute) There are many species in the world that are going extinct or are at risk of going extinct and the Smithsonian sees it as their responsibility to help keep that from happening. Thirdly is “Valuing World Cultures”. (Smithsonian Institute) Lots of different types of people came together to evolve into the diverse world we see today. The Smithsonian believes in recognizing and honoring all of the different cultures that make up the modern world. The last challenge is “Understanding the American Experience”. (Smithsonian Institute) They want to know discover everything there is to know about the different cultures, belief, and ideals that went into making the United States of …show more content…

Because of this, there are also quite a few ways to approach the question of a company’s status. Where a company stands among its competitors can be determined by looking at numbers and figures. A company can examine how much they spend versus how much they make and compare that to each of their competitors. Or they could look at what customers like about the company and what the customers like about the competition. However, neither of these approached really appear to cover all the bases. It is difficult to judge by simply comparing profits because there are so many factors that go into those profits, so many reasons one company’s might be higher than the other even if it is not more successful. Studying what customers like and dislike about a company does not give any indication of the company’s health. Perhaps the simplest answer to the question is a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Typically when participating in a SWOT analysis, a small grid is drawn with each letter in its own section. Then the research begins. A company determines what each of their strengths and weaknesses are and list them in the appropriate section on the grid. Next, they evaluate each of those strengths and weakness mean. For example a company would ask itself what kinds of opportunities are available to the company because of their strengths

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