WORLD VISION INTERNATIONALÆS AIDS INITIATIVE: CHALLENGING A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP - CASE ANALYSIS
This paper analyses the case ôWorld Vision InternationalÆs AIDS Initiative: Challenging a Global Partnershipö (Bartlett and Curran 1-23). The case analysis is presented as responses to three questions and a proposed strategy for World Vision through 2010.
What Strategies Did World Vision Follow over the Course of the World Vision AIDS Initiative Case?
In addition to identifying the strategies followed by World Vision, several sub-questions are addressed. The sub-questions are as follows:
What drove the changes in direction from one strategy to another?
Considering only evidence presented in the case, how successful has the organizational strategies been?
How has the organizationÆs non-profit status affected its strategy choices?
The identification of the strategies implemented by World Vision International and the three sub-questions stated above are discussed together in relation to each strategy. The organizationÆs strategies are identified and discussed below.
The Shift from Entrepreneurial Strategy to Corporate Strategy
The initial strategy shift at World Vision occurred toward the end of the 1960s. By this time, the organization had outgrown its entrepreneurial roots (Bartlett and Curran 2). The action-oriented entrepreneurial leadership so essential to the establishment and initial growth of World Vision threatened the future viability of an organization that needed to plan and focus on the attainment of long-term goals. Recognition of the need to secure the organizationÆs future was the primary driver of the shift to a corporate strategy.
The entrepreneurial strategy had been highly successful. The organization, however, was entering into a new stage in its life cycle, a stage that required a different strategy. The non profit status of World Vision was not particularly relevant to this stra...