CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY ZAMBIA

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF AND FEEDBACK FORM

COHORT: MBA12
STUDENT NUMBER: _ 081202111
(DL)

Mr. Peter Kanjiji

LECTURER:

SUBJECT:
MBA 29 – Corporate Strategy
ASSIGNMENT NO.
ONE

DATE HANDED OUT: 14th May 2009.

TBA
DATE DUE IN:
ASSIGNMENT BRIEF

How does the Mission Statement influence the strategic posture of an organization?

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following areas. However, greater emphasis should be given to those items
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ASSESSABLE SKILLS Please Tick.

Good and adequate interpretation of the questions

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LECTURERS FEEDBACK
How does the Mission Statement influence the strategic posture of an organization?

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Table of Contents

Item
Page #

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF........................................................................................................ 1
Table of Contents.................................................................................................................. 3
Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 4
Main Benefits Attributed to Mission Statements in Strategy Planning..................................5
Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 8
Bibliography..........................................................................................................................9

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Introduction

This essay will discuss how a mission statement influences the strategic posture of an organization.
However before going further into the discussion, it is important to discuss what the key terms in the
essay mean. 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 is supposed to be clearly stated, concise and broad in scope. When preparing an
organization’s Mission Statement it is thus important to be clear and succinct, incorporating socially
meaningful and measurable criteria and consider approaching it from a grand scale.

Other scholars have defined “a mission statement as an organization's vision translated into written
form” (Ian, 1992, p. 18). It makes concrete the leader's view of the direction and purpose of the
organization. For many corporate leaders it is a vital element in any attempt to motivate employees and
to give them a sense of priorities.

Strategy, in general, refers to how a given objective will be achieved. Consequently, strategy in general is
concerned with the relationships between ends and means, that is, between the results we seek and the
resources at our disposal. Strategy and tactics are both concerned with formulating and then carrying
out courses of action intended to attain particular objectives. For the most part, strategy is concerned
with deploying the resources at your disposal whereas tactics is con-cerned with employing them.
Together, strategy and tactics bridge the gap between ends and means

Key elements of the Mission Statement include obligations to stakeholders, scope of the
business, sources of competitive advantage and view of the future. A mission statement plays a
key role in strategic posture of the organization as it answers questions which include the
following:

1. What is the purpose of organization?

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2. What is unique about the organization?
3. What are its principal products and markets?
4. What are its values?
5. Where is it hoping to be in five or ten years' time

Main Benefits Attributed to Mission Statements in Strategy Planning

Having thoroughly understood an organization's internal and external environment, managers
establish a mission statement to create a five-to ten-year vision of the company. A mission
statement documents the service or product the company provides to the marketplace and the
unique way in which it distinguishes itself from other companies. It also indicates the target
group of customers that the company serves. An example of this type of mission statement is
provided by Courtyard by Marriott. It reads “Courtyard by Marriott is serving economy-and
quality-minded frequent business travelers with a premier, moderate-priced lodging facility
that is consistently perceived as clean, comfortable, well maintained, attractive, and staffed
by friendly, attentive, and efficient people” (Bart, 1997, p10). This mission statement simply
put indicates the product and service provided to the target customers and the way in which it
will be done.

Mission statements serve several purposes in strategic management. First, they provide
direction for the organization. As a firm engages in its strategic planning process it compares
its objectives with the path it has set for itself. If any of the goals suggest a deviation from the
purpose of the organization, managers must decide if the goal is sufficiently important to
warrant a change in the mission statement. Otherwise, the objective might be dropped. With
this in mind managers are typically careful to write mission statements that are broad enough
to encourage growth but specific enough to give direction.

A second purpose of mission statements “is to create a shared sense of purpose and
inspiration among employees. (Silbiger, 1999, P7). In some organizations, employees are
required to memorize the mission statement so that they will understand what appropriate
behavior is and what is not. For this reason, most mission statements are relatively short so
that the purpose of the company remains clearly in the minds of its employees. Further, many

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companies seek the input of their employees in creating a mission statement so as to create a
document that is owned by all.

Thirdly, “mission statements are also external documents which communicate to the outside
world the values and goals of the organization” (Hindle, 2001, P6). Unfortunately, some
companies create mission statements as a marketing document and then fail to live up to that
vision of themselves. For a mission statement to be effective, it must be a living document that
motivates behavior

Fourthly, mission statements help companies to focus their strategy by defining some
boundaries within which to operate. A mission statement helps an organization to set up
operating boundaries.

Fifthly, “mission statements can define the dimensions along which an organization's
performance is to be measured and judged (Porras, J., 1994). For instance, when people
measure and judge the performance Disney World, they think happiness and smile. Therefore
truly Disney World is living up to its mission of simply making people happy.

When a mission is outlined, it will help the organization to strategize for success. To meet and
exceed customer satisfaction, the business team needs to follow an overall organizational
strategy. “A successful strategy adds value for the targeted customers over the long run by
consistently meeting their needs better than the competition does (Bartkus, 2000, P15)”.
Organizations only prosper by achieving strategy.

To summarize the above points, mission statements can suggest standards for individual
ethical behavior communicate the direction of the organization, help make day-to-day
operating decisions, keep the organization focused and also motivate employees.

Examples of Mission Statement Playing a Key Role in Strategy Formulation and

Execution at Boeing
For most companies that are market leaders, a company's mission is its reason for being. The
mission often is expressed in the form of a mission statement, which conveys a sense of
purpose to employees and projects a company image to customers. In the strategy formulation

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process, the mission statement sets the mood of where the company should go and thus is the
starting point of strategy formulation. The example given here is that of Boeing Company and
how it uses a mission statement it its strategy formulation ventures. The current mission
statement of Boeing is “People working together as one global company for Aerospace
leadership” (Stevens, 2001, P 1)

The Boeing Company was founded in 1916. It was a response to a growing interest in air power
by the military. The primary focus of the company was the development of military jets.
However, what made a company great fame and success was the introduction of commercial
aircraft. The company introduced the world's first successful long-range commercial plane and
continued to build on the success by making a mid-range B-727, short-range B-737, and then
with the introduction of B-747.

“Transformation of Boeing from a mostly commercial airplane company to an enterprise

that would capture all aspects aerospace business started in 1996 with acquisition of
Rockwell Aerospace. This transformation continued with successful acquisition of McDonnell
Douglas in 1997 and purchase of Hughes Space (Jeppesen, 2000, p 13).

The company’s business strategy and commitment to its mission made it the biggest and the
most balanced aerospace company of the world. Boeing is also the largest exporter of the
United States. Boeing Company together with its subsidiaries operates in three principal
segments-Commercial Airlines, Military Aircraft and Missiles, and Space and
Communications. Every day more than three million people travel on Boeing airplanes, 335
satellites put into orbit by Boeing pass overhead and 6,000 military aircrafts stand on guard
with military forces of the untied States and twenty other countries. (Bart, 2000, p 13)..

It is no doubt therefore that Boeing is truly living to its mission statement which states that-
Today Boeing stands as the world's leading aerospace company and the largest manufacturer of
commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. Additionally, Boeing designs and
manufactures rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles
and advanced information and communication systems. As a major service provider to NASA,
Boeing operates the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. The company also provides

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numerous military and commercial airline support services. Boeing has customers in more
than 90 countries around the world and is one of the largest U.S. exporters in terms of sales.
Headquartered in Chicago, Boeing employs more than 160,000 people across the United States
and in 70 countries, with major operations in the Puget Sound area of Washington State,
southern California and St. Louis. Total company revenues for 2008 were $60.9 billion.

Conclusion
According to research done by Bain & Company, mission statements are one of the most
frequently used management tools (Stokke, 1991, P41). Organizations spend thousands of
hours and dollars developing mission statements and then more resources again on public
relations to unfold them to their stakeholders. This is not surprising when you review the
often-stated benefits of mission statements: The easiest and most practical way of referring to a
mission is the journey. However, just having a mission and/or vision statement, even if they
are included in a planning document, posted on a plaque on the wall or provided to employees
on business cards certainly does not, unto itself, ensure success. Mission are management
tools that if used appropriately, have the potential to help improve your organization's
probability of success. However, it's important to keep in mind, that these are only two of the
many tools available to your organization in the development of your strategy.

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Bibliography

Notes and References

1. Bart, C.K. "Sex, Lies, and Mission Statements", Business Horizons. November-

December 1997, 9-18.http://www.charityville.com/cv/research/rstrat5.html

2. Collins, Porras, J., 1994, "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies"

3. Jeppesen Sanderson 2000, Competitive Strategy.

http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/brief.html.

4. Mark Stevens, 2001" Extreme Management",

http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1694633.html

5. Steven Silbiger, 1999, "The 10-day MBA",

http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1694633.html

6. Stokke, R.R., (1991). Visioning (and preparing for) the future. Technological forecasting

and social change, 40, 73-86.

7. Tim Hindle, 2001, "Guide to Management Ideas", psoukup@versatility-inc.com

8. Wilson, Ian (1992). Realizing the power of strategic vision. Long range planning, 25 (5),

18-28. http://www.charityville.com/cv/research/rstrat5.html