● Market Scope: Market scope can be difficult to define but it is an import-
ant exercise. Market scope should depict the consumers and cus-
tomers who utilise the company’s products. There are a number of
criteria that are helpful in defining market scope such as:
- Type of industry sector targeted
- Channels of distribution
- Demographics
- Salient features of the consumer
● Geographical Scope: This should be defined at an appropriate level of
aggregation. This may be defined in strictly local terms, for a small
business, through to national and international regions for large
organisations
Definitions of the scope of the business based on markets are likely to be
safer than a product definition. Particular products and technologies ultim-
ately become obsolete but the consumer’s need for those products or tech-
nologies used to address may endure. There is a danger of marketing
myopia developing (Levitt, 1960) if a business’s competitive domain is
defined solely according to a product type rather than a market need.
Pharmaceutical companies are beginning to re-define their competitive
domain in terms of the customer benefits of ‘good health’ rather than
purely product terms of ‘drugs’ (Green, 1995). SmithKline Beecham now
sees the scope of its business covering four key areas of the health care
market: prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure, rather than just
research and development of drugs. Products and services that address
these primary market needs may change but the underlying market areas
are likely to remain.
Stakeholders also have to be considered when developing a mission
statement. Stakeholders are individuals or groups who rely on an organ-
isation to achieve some of their own personal objectives, at the same time
the organisation is reliant on these individuals (Johnson and Scholes,
1999). There are a number of different stakeholders that companies try to
address and accommodate in a mission statement:
● Internal: These are the people most directly involved with the organ-
isation, therefore the values and attitudes of these groups are a key
influence on the aims and objectives of the organisation. Internal
stakeholders include owners or shareholders, managers, employees
and unions.
● External: These groups do not have the same close relationship with
the organisation as internal stakeholders do, never the less they can be
a major source of influence over the direction of an enterprise. External
stakeholders can be split into two groups primary and secondary
external stakeholders:
1 Primary external stakeholders: These are external groups that have a
direct relationship with the organisation. They include crucial
groups such as customers, suppliers, financiers and competitors.
2 Secondary external stakeholder: These have a less direct relationship with
the company and includes groups such as government agencies
Strategic intent 137