Successful mission statements have to demonstrate the following charac-
teristics:
● Credibility: The mission statement has to set realistic ambitions for the
organisation. In particular they have to be believable in the eyes of
stakeholders’, in particular the employees.
● Uniqueness: The mission has to relate to the particular organisation. It
should not be a statement that could be generically applied to a range
of other organisations. The mission has to relate to the company and
its stakeholders in a unique fashion.
● Specific capabilities: The mission should also embrace the core capabil-
ities of the organisation and emphasise their core role in the future of
the organisation.
● Aspirational: The mission needs to motivate individuals by giving them
a statement that has significance to the work they undertake. A vision
that is meaningful in terms of more than just making profits. It should
engender a vision to which individuals feel they wish to contribute.
A mission statement should also define the boundaries of the business’s
ambitions. What is the territory that the business wishes to operate
within? This is commonly referred to as the scope of the business or the
competitive domain. There are several dimensions that have to be con-
sidered when defining the organisation’s scope:
● Product Scope: This is defined in terms of the goods and services the
enterprise supplies to customers. A critical aspect of defining product
scope is deciding how to categorise the organisation’s products. Some
products may fit into a collective category easily; some more import-
ant products may be better served listed separately. The product could
be defined in terms of its technology.136 Strategic Marketing: Planning and ControlIn our business, our aim is to give customers friendly, efficient service and value for money
second to none. We believe that by giving excellent customer service we will earn their loyalty
and word of mouth recommendation to others. This is the only way to ensure our future suc-
cess and so, looking after the customer must be an absolute priority at all times, and we really
do expect our colleagues to give above average service.
We also believe that work should be fun. We believe that if people enjoy what they do, they
will do a better job. We also believe at all times in aiming to be the best. This means that we
expect and demand superior performance from our people with both quality of service, atten-
tion to detail in the presentation of our stores and in everything we do. We believe that if cus-
tomer service is the top goal, this will create loyalty, and long term revenue and profitability
will naturally follow.
Source: Drummond and Ensor, 1991.