Mission statement is a concise description of what a company currently does. It defines the main purpose of an organisation and the reason for its existence. A company’s mission statement is usually found in its annual report, brochures and its home page on the internet. Unlike business objectives, the mission statement does not have a distinct time frame and tends to be qualitative rather than qualitative statements.
The mission statement should contain:
- A statement of the fundamental purpose of the organisation so as to inspire those who work for it.
- Boundaries for the organisation.
- A statement of values/philosophy to guide individual behaviour.
- They quickly inform groups outside the business what the central aim and vision is.
- They can prove motivation to employees, especially where an organisation is looked upon, perhaps as a result of its mission statement, as a caring and environmentally friendly body.
- Mission statements include moral statements or values, so they can guide or help individual employee behavior at work.
- Mission statements help to know what the business is about.
- Too vague and general so that they end up saying little which is specific about the business or its future plans.
- Based on a public relation exercise to make stakeholder groups “feel good” about the company.
- The moral/ethical position of the enterprise
- The desired public image
- The key strategic influence for the business
- A description of the target market
- A description of the products/services
- The geographic domain
- Expectations of growth and profitability