When the 格助詞（かくじょし） (case marking particle) と is used to highlight a 結果（けっか） ‘result’, it regularly translates to ‘as’ in English. This nuance of ‘as’ simply assumes that (A) is a plain or unchanging fact from which something (usually an opinion or evaluation) is based. Combining this nuance of と with して (the conjugation form of する), として will present (A) as the base point from which (B) can be determined.
Despite being a combination of several individual parts, として is often considered to be a 副助詞（かくじょし） (adverbial particle) by itself, meaning that it will most often be seen connected directly to nouns.

• ミキは友達（ともだち）としては最高（さいこう）だ。
  As a friend, Miki is awesome.
• このゲーム機（き）はDVDプレイヤーとしても使（つ）えます。
  You can use this game console as a DVD player.

As として works in the same way as a 副助詞（かくじょし）, it may be connected directly to a second noun to express that (B) is something functioning as (A).

• 動物（どうぶつ）を傷（きず）つける奴（やつ）は人間（にんげん）として失格（しっかく）だ。
  People who hurt animals are a failure as humans.
• これは会社（かいしゃ）としての目標（もくひょう）です。
  This is the goal as a company.