THE ROLES OF MISSION, VISION AND VALUE IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
When economies are healthy and businesses are doing well, it is easy for managers to become complacent and not pay attention to long-term direction. Healthy economic conditions can be forgiving of such inattention. When the economy changes and the business environment becomes more competitive, those companies which have established a tradition of long-term goals in conjunction with short-term planning are the companies which survive and even prosper. Companies which ignored that aspect of their business find that the increased competition for resources, customers and market share does not long tolerate poor or no planning. This research considers the strategic management process and the roles that mission, vision and values play in that process, and examines how each of these components affects branding, as well.
The mission takes on the issue of what the company is today, and what it will be in the future. Many companies put the mission statement into writing and use it as the overarching principle by which the company operates. This mission statement can be made available to employees, investors, creditors, customers and any other stakeholders associated with the organization. Ideally, all activities undertaken by individuals within the organization are in support of the mission statement. Because of this, the statement should be clearly stated, concise and broad in scope (Thompson & Strickland 4). The mission of a company does not change often and is typically used as a tool when making decisions that might otherwise cause conflict--all decisions must be in support of the mission if the company is to succeed.
The vision of the company provides the internal direction. Like the mission statement, a well-articulated vision statement should be developed for companies and widely distributed to all employees and related stakeholders. The vision statement fo...