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CHAPTER 2 • THE BUSINESS VISION AND MISSION 49

the boat. The ancient Greeks knew that the penalty of success can be severe. The
management that does not ask “What is our mission?” when the company is success-
ful is, in effect, smug, lazy, and arrogant. It will not be long before success will turn
into failure. Sooner or later, even the most successful answer to the question “What
is our business?” becomes obsolete. 11
In multidivisional organizations, strategists should ensure that divisional units
perform strategic-management tasks, including the development of a statement of vision
and mission. Each division should involve its own managers and employees in developing
a vision and mission statement that is consistent with and supportive of the corporate
mission.
An organization that fails to develop a vision statement as well as a comprehensive
and inspiring mission statement loses the opportunity to present itself favorably to existing
and potential stakeholders. All organizations need customers, employees, and managers,
and most firms need creditors, suppliers, and distributors. The vision and mission
statements are effective vehicles for communicating with important internal and external
stakeholders. The principal benefit of these statements as tools of strategic management is
derived from their specification of the ultimate aims of a firm:

They provide managers with a unity of direction that transcends individual,
parochial, and transitory needs. They promote a sense of shared expectations among
all levels and generations of employees. They consolidate values over time and
across individuals and interest groups. They project a sense of worth and intent that
can be identified and assimilated by company outsiders. Finally, they affirm the
company’s commitment to responsible action, which is symbiotic with its need to
preserve and protect the essential claims of insiders for sustained survival, growth,
and profitability of the firm. 12

Characteristics of a Mission Statement

A Declaration of Attitude
A mission statement is more than a statement of specific details; it is a declaration of
attitude and outlook. It usually is broad in scope for at least two major reasons. First, a
good mission statement allows for the generation and consideration of a range of feasi-
ble alternative objectives and strategies without unduly stifling management creativity.
Excess specificity would limit the potential of creative growth for the organization.
However, an overly general statement that does not exclude any strategy alternatives
could be dysfunctional. Apple Computer’s mission statement, for example, should not
open the possibility for diversification into pesticides—or Ford Motor Company’s into
food processing.
Second, a mission statement needs to be broad to reconcile differences effectively
among, and appeal to, an organization’s diverse stakeholders, the individuals and
groups of individuals who have a special stake or claim on the company. Thus a mission
statement should be reconcilatory. Stakeholders include employees, managers, stock-
holders, boards of directors, customers, suppliers, distributors, creditors, governments
(local, state, federal, and foreign), unions, competitors, environmental groups, and the
general public. Stakeholders affect and are affected by an organization’s strategies, yet
the claims and concerns of diverse constituencies vary and often conflict. For example,
the general public is especially interested in social responsibility, whereas stockholders
are more interested in profitability. Claims on any business literally may number in the
thousands, and they often include clean air, jobs, taxes, investment opportunities, career
opportunities, equal employment opportunities, employee benefits, salaries, wages,
clean water, and community services. All stakeholders’ claims on an organization
cannot be pursued with equal emphasis. A good mission statement indicates the
relative attention that an organization will devote to meeting the claims of various
stakeholders.