Can you provide a critical analysis of the following essay:

An internal and external environmental analysis, as well as a supply chain analysis, of U Donor reveals a substantial amount of opportunity to monetize an underserved group of blood donors. A blood donor is someone who takes time out of their busy schedule to go to the nearest blood drive and donate their blood, puts a conservative amount of time into driving, arriving and walking into the facility and expecting nothing in return, yet does it for a good cause. Donors can often benefit from knowing that their donation was used for a good cause and when it was delivered to the hospital and prepped for transfusion. The SWOT table below will illustrate the findings from a SWOT Analysis as well as a Supply Chain Analysis. This paper will conclude with a synopsis containing analyze of relevant forces and trends for Donors and the benefit of U Donor as well as the market it exists in.

SWOT Table

	Beneficial	Harmful
Internal	Strengths 1. Low Overhead 2. Technology enables easy set-up 3. Growth rate not pre-established 4. Wait time is not reserved for others 5. Pre-determined exit strategy 6. No need for interview process 7. App Service secure with donor information 8. Ability to complete interview and schedule own donation 9. Culture of profitability, help and Encouragement 10. Experienced leadership	Weaknesses 1. Lack of Major capital 2. Quick success could cause failure 3. Current lack of infrastructure 4. Time availability 5. HIPPA Regulations
External	Opportunities 1. Completely untapped market 2. Opportunity to expand state by state 3. Quick growth pattern is unnecessary 4. Networking Opportunities	Threats 1. Competition getting in to same market. 2. Economic changes 3. All Blood banks following pattern

SWOT Analysis Discussion

The SWOT Analysis table above demonstrates the large upside and minimal downside

for a U Donor business model. Below is a formal discussion of each part of the SWOT Analysis. United Blood Services is still recovering from FDA regulations that created stipulations in what prevents a donor from donating. The recovery has been much slower than most anticipated. When people prefer to donate is when a major tragic event occurs without taking into consideration that tragic events occur everyday; car accidents, homicide, or any other that requires transfusion such as pregnancy, cancer patients, operations gone wrong, and the list goes on . “Medical advances and modern surgical techniques, (such as cancer treatments, organ transplants and open heart surgery), have increased the need for blood. In addition, the advancing age of the Baby Boomer generation has caused stress on the blood supply. Our national blood supply must be ready for everyday needs as well as the unexpected, such as accidents, natural or manmade disasters. Volunteer blood donors are needed year-round (www.bloodsystems.org, 2017)”. This has caused many individuals to analyze the traditional forms of donating but hate to wait and still have unanswered questions. One of the most popular ways to secure your appointment is to find alternative methods of completing your interview and if you have questions you will be provided a brief description and answer question you may have. It has been no secret that blood donations come from normal people, but does it take a long time to do so, and why do I get when I donate? This is where an individual will understand that one donation will help save three lives, the company makes no profit the need to pay the blood collector, lab staff, testing services, recruitment efforts and transportation services all placed on the unit and is what is charged to hospital.

U Donor will provide a benefit to donors in three ways. U Donor will assist in verifying beforehand if they are able to donate based on the interview questions. U Donor will transmit the completed interview to the system database, where it will be retrieved the day of donation and reviewed prior to the donor arriving incase questions arise. Third, U Donor will guide the donor through the process, if necessary, reducing the need to sign up at the office and wait for long periods of time. Those are three major reasons why individuals who have an opportunity to access the U donor service thru a smart phone or thru a computer and actually go through with it. “Every blood donation begins with an interview and a brief medical exam. The interviewer will take down the your personal information, including medical history, current health status, medications and travel history. To speed up this process, you can download a Blood Donor Qualifications Form here, fill it out, and bring it to your donation appointment, (www.bloodsystems.org, 2017)”. The need for a qualification form would become obsolete and replaced with U Donor.

 Strengths

U Donor’s biggest strength comes from its low overhead. The entire service can be run from a laptop and/or a smart phone with the capability to complete questions. A state license might be required in order to validate the value of the program for it to being purchased accurately and that cost is about $3,000.00 a year to operate. Other than that, one only needs a laptop/ computer, or smartphone to complete interview as well as the ongoing progress of the donation. Technology is covered with simple computers or tablets and business keeping software the company already has such as eProgesa. The growth rate will vary with success of each donation. It is not pre-established since the need for additional donors will be required for unexpectedly quick growth. Innovation will depend on the demand and success of U donor. This is good and bad since a good idea may be duplicated which will be discussed below. Innovation can be good for United Blood Services since the word-Of-Mouth will benefit this company; it spends little money on advertisements. Each interview conducted will be secured by security software. This provides for a more secure donation at the end. Since U donor will start small the ability to change direction or adjust strategy quickly is a huge advantage. U Donor was started to fill a need. This need existed when this donors began expressing concern about the wait time and it is still experienced today. U Donor is built on a premise and culture of time, help and encourages more donors to set up donations. U Donor has experienced donors who know how the process should be handled and can guide the donation through the entire process and prevent costly mistakes. In any business, it is important to have an exit strategy. The goal for U Donor is to develop a working, profitable business model that can be sold off to an established Blood bank or Blood Donation facilities.

 Weaknesses

As a startup, there is $500,000 in available personal funding. In the real estate market that does not go very far in certain parts of the country. These figures will leave ample funding for infrastructure, expenses acquired thru training. The goal is slow growth, meaning one region at a time. Gaining popularity too quickly will not leave enough resources to implement throughout the region. As an established business, the main IT facility is located out of Arizona for all the blood banks operating at the same time. Laws have to be explored in detail before proceeding to ensure laws are adhered no HIPPA regulations are being broken.

 Opportunities

Extensive research over the last two months has revealed that no major blood bank provides a service like U Donor. As such, this is an underserved market and a huge business opportunity. Controlling growth is very important. The need does not exist to expand quickly due to the current testing plan. United Blood Services likes to test all services or programs for a period of time, and then they proceed with the implementation. U Donor also presents great networking opportunities, as it can grow to be able to be accessed at hospitals of donor ever needs a blood transfusion. Since this would generate quicker service to the donor, the more donors that can be seen on one blood drive would be substantial.

 Threats

Threats to any business, new or established, are competition, duplication and unexpected economic changes. Competition getting in to the same market can mean fewer donors for United Blood Services. It can also fuel healthy competition and better service. A monopoly never benefits anyone. Further bumps in the health system could delay U Donor growth, but does not end the business. U Donor has the donor process packaged nicely; still, there is nothing that keeps any other blood bank from offering the same service. In addition, one blood bank would have much more access to U Donor than United Blood Services and that would be American Red Cross who is still the number one blood bank provider in the U.S.

 Conclusion

An analysis of the chain effect from donor to processing is simple and has few processing steps. The growth trajectory is slow and controlled. Quick growth will require expansion which may require more blood banks to implement service. U Donor will focus on taking care of their existing clients, social media and word of mouth marketing.