Management 303 SWOT Analysis of USAA
Section I – Organizational History
Fortune 500 company, United Services Automobile Association (USAA) began as a small group of 25 U.S. Army officers in 1922. Nearly 90 years later, it is now an organization with more than 7.4 million members, offering banking, investing, retirement and insurance services worldwide. Since its inception, USAA has expanded membership eligibility to include all members of the Armed Forces and their family. What makes USAA stand out is that it is not a corporation, but an inter-insurance exchange. This allows each member to be insured by every other member concurrently, yet only liable for the premiums which they have paid in. Since there are no shareholders, profits are either retained by USAA or distributed to the members via the Subscriber’s Savings Account (SSA). The mission of USAA is to provide stable and trustworthy financial products and services to military service members and their families in order to ensure financial security (Robles, 2011, p.3).
Section II – Strengths and Weaknesses
USAAs ability to offer a variety of member benefits and financial strength are advantages for the company, while few brick and mortar locations and lack of personalized service are weaknesses. Strength #1 – Plethora of Member Perks Keep Members Happy The first organizational strength is the wide variety of member benefits available. No other financial institute in the field can offer the plethora of member perks that USAA offers. Benefits include free access to financial advisors (not paid on commission), reimbursement of ATM fees, youth banking, free checking and bill pay. Also very much worth noting is the Movers Advantage Program which matches you with a USAA approved Realtor and pays you to use them. Auto Circle program offers the lowest price guarantee at 3,000 USAA certified dealerships on new and used vehicles. USAA also has been known to offer the lowest
References: Fortune 500. (2010). CNNMoney.com. Retrieved March 15, 2011, from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/index.html Griffin, R., (2011). Management. (10th ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning. 65-75. Navy Federal Credit Union. (2011). Retrieved March 17, 2011, from https://www.navyfederal.org/ Robles, J., (2011). Moments of Truth. USAA magazine, Spring 2011, p.3. S&P Affirms USAA Ratings; Outlook Stable. (2004). ClaimsJournal.com. Retrieved March 15, 2011, from http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2004/01/07/35482.htm USAA. (2011) Corporate Overview. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/about_usaa_corporate_overview_main USAA. (2011) Shopping and Discounts. Retrieved March 17, 2011 from https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/shopping_discounts_main?wa_ref=private_subglobal_shopping_discounts_main USAA Earns Solid credit ratings from A.M. Best. (2008). San Antonio Business Journal. Retrieved March 15, 2011, from http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/12/22/daily16.html