When we talk about effectiveness, we are referring to the capacity or ability that a person, an animal, a machine, a device or any element can demonstrate to obtain a certain result from an action. Efficiency has to do with optimizing all procedures to obtain the best and most anticipated results. In general, effectiveness involves a process of organization, planning and projection that will have the objective that those established results can be achieved.
The term of effectiveness is applied mainly to areas in which actions have to have specific and controlled results, such is the case of business and commercial areas. In this sense, the effectiveness of an action will first seek to access the appropriate resources, methods and procedures that generate the best consequences for the specific activity. Examples of such situations can be to foresee changes in the mercantile stock market to achieve the expected profits and thus increase the assets of a company or institution. In these areas, achieving these results is of great importance because it is the means through which they ensure the correct development of their activity.
Efficacy can normally be confused with the idea of efficiency, but here it is important to point out that the latter assumes a certain level of efficiency while maximizing resources and investment of time or money to achieve the expected results. While something may be effective because it achieves the objectives for which such action was carried out, it may not necessarily be efficient if it does not recognize the best means or methods to make such a result the consequence of an appropriate use of resources. Effective then, it can be a company or institution in which the expected results are achieved but with an enormous expense and greater than the stipulated resources, for which the efficiency ends up not being entirely profitable.
