Elements Of A Mission Statement

By Author: William King
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No one can deny the importance of a mission statement in motivating a business. Mission statement not only helps the business to remain on its track but also helps determining the very purpose of its existence. Finding a perfect mission statement is never possible. Mission statements are made, followed and updated continuously. Updates are made due to many reasons like change in business, change in business philosophy or any other major change that would result in substantial deviation for the organization from the earlier path it laid down in its mission statement. There are nine elements which involve in making a mission statement. Each good mission statement incorporates all of these elements in it. These elements are.

1. Customers
2. Products or Services
3. Markets
4. Technology
5. Concern for survival, growth and profitability
6. Philosophy
7. Self concept
8. Concern for public image
9. Concern for employees

Here is a glimpse of what each of these elements states about in a mission statement

1. Customers
In this element the organization mentions ...
... who are its customers or potential customers. What will it do to serve them and how will its customers find this organization different from the other organizations providing similar products or services in the market.
2. Products or Services
In mission statement a business has to mention the producer or service or both they are providing. By defining products or services the company distinguishes its offered products or services from competitive products or services of similar nature provided by other competitors in the market.
3. Markets
By defining markets, the company is declaring which types of customers it will target. Or who will be the intended audience for which it will produce products or services. For example, a luxury car maker like Rolls Royce has a potential market of only the richest of the rich in the world.

4. Technology
By defining technology, the company tells its current technology use in making of its products. It also tells about the unique ways in which its products or services are technologically more advanced then their alternates.

5. Concern for survival, growth and profitability
In this element of the mission statement business defines the means it seeks to survive in the longer run. It not merely lists them out but also defines the logic behind them and how will the company strive to achieve them.

6. Philosophy
Philosophy of a company is a much wider term to cover. By defining philosophy, the company defines its way of working, its culture, its beliefs and how it sees work to be carried out. It is also an analytical way of defining the norms on which it runs.

7. Self concept
By defining the self concept, the business is telling its heart out to the world. In this the company shows the outside world, its core strengths and the place it sees itself in the future.

8. Concern for public image
The buzz word is usually corporate social responsibility mixed with concern for public image. First of all these two terms are totally different and they can by no means be intermingled with each other. Corporate social responsibility points the ways in which the business wants to contribute towards the betterment of the society. Concern for public image is a much wider term and can include not only the corporate social responsibility but the overall impact of the actions taken by the company on its image. This may include from minor issues like installing manufacturing recycling plants by a company for pollution reduction to improve its packaging to enhance a better brand image for one of its top line brands.

9. Concern for employees
Earlier day corporations didn't care much about their employees. Thankfully the trend has started shifting from no focus to a lot of concentration on working environment. In a mission statement a company also defines the ways in which it is beneficial for potential and currently working employees to work at a certain organization. This also includes the ways in which the company will treat its employees and how will it look towards this relation in a longer period of time.

William King is the director of England Wholesale Suppliers & Distributors: http://www.wholesalepages.co.uk/ukwholesalers/county-London-18-0.html , Wholesale Trade Suppliers, Distributors & Manufacturers: http://www.dailytrader.com/ and Abu Dhabi Classified Business Directory: http://www.adcbuae.com . He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers, entrepreneurs and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.