The Business Vision And Mission

“Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world.”

Vision Statement describes the future. It tells where the company is going or where the company wants to go. While Mission Statements describes the presnet status: why the company exists today and / or what the company is doing to pursue its vision of the future. Together they provide direction for the business by focusing its attention on doing things day-to-day to accomplish its mission, while taking steps to pursue its vision of the future - its long-term business intent.

Vision and mission statements are often mentioned in front of annual reports of companies as well as when we log into websites of different companies, we will come across their vision and mission statements. They might also be displayed in the company’s premises as well as they are emphasized in the company’s information and major documents.

Vision Statement: What do we want to become?

Vision is the power of seeing or imaging future. In strategic planning, vision is also defined as looking ahead into future.

It is essential that the management in any organization agree upon the basic vision of the company that it strives to achieve in the long term. A vision statement should answer the question, “What do we want to become?” A clear vision statement lays a foundation for the preparation of a comprehensive mission statement.

A vision statement, thus, developed by the management should be short, preferably one sentence and should be developed consulting with as many managers and executives as possible.

Reasons for having a vision statement

1) Gets team focused.

2) Shows a picture of where the company is going.

3) Instills focus, discipline, and structure within the organization.

4) Ensures that team understands company direction.

Few questions that will help in forming strategic vision are:

1. What business are we in now?

2. What business do we want to be in?

3. What will our customer want in future?

4. What are the expectations of our stakeholders?

5. Who will be our future competitors? Suppliers? partners?

6. What should our competitive scope be?

7. How will technology impact our business?

8. What environmental scenarios are possible?

Mission Statement-What is our Business?

Mission statement should, however, answer the question, “What is our business?” Druker says that asking this question is synonymous with asking the question, “What is our mission?” Mission statements should be such that it emphasizes the company’s scope in terms of products, markets and which distinguishes the company from others in the same industry.