Discuss the idea that mission may not necessarily be the first step in the strategic management process and explain the role played by mission in that process

Résumé du document

The 'raison dêtre' of each company is its mission, it is written down as a mission statement. A mission is a general expression of the overall purpose of the organization. It should answer to the question, 'what business are we in?'. Managers have to set strategies in order to achieve objectives and ensure the welfare of the company. These long term view strategies are actually the main components of the corporate planning. A good and relevant strategy is one of the most important aspects in the development of a company. John Argenti tells us that, from his point of view, mission should be defined once the corporate planning process is established. According him, the mission may have a bad influence on the strategy of the company if it precedes it. Some authors do not agree with him. They claim that company have to have their own mission before making strategic plans for the future. Arguments from each point of view are credible and it is interesting to analyze them and to discuss about the relationship between the mission and the corporate strategy. In this assignment, we will first explain and clarify what a mission is, and the difference between the definition of mission, mission statement, strategy and objective. Then, the main part of the assignment will be a discussion about the place and the role of the mission in the corporate planning process. We will first present the case for John Argenti's point of view . In the final part we will analyze the arguments of its detractors.

Extraits

[...] Moreover, it does not say where management wants for the future of their company. It is then understandable that the role of mission would rather not be the basis and the first step of the corporate strategy. John Argenti considers that mission should be established once the corporate strategy has been decided. But according several academic authors mission should, at the contrary, be the basis on which any successful organization makes its decision (Balas, 2007). Indeed, how does a company go through the corporate planning process without having a clear mission? [...]

[...] Discuss the idea that mission may not necessarily be the first step in the strategic management process and explain the role played by mission in that process The “raison d'être” of each company is its mission, it is written down as a mission statement. A mission is a general expression of the overall purpose of the organisation. It should answer to the question: “What business are we (Johnson, 2006). Managers have to set strategies in order to achieve objectives and ensure the welfare of the company. [...]

[...] Management Publication. T.Morden. (1993). Business Strategy and Planning, text and cases. McGraw- Hill. Taggar, S., Bart, C., & Bontis, N. (2001). A model of the impact of mission statements on firm performance. Management Decision, vol 39 (iss.1), p 19 - 35. [...]

[...] Harvey, S. (1998). A practical approach to stating your 'mission'. Management Review pp2-3. J.Argenti. (1993). Your organization: What is it for? Challenging traditional organizational aims. McGraw-Hill. Jenkins, M. (2005, octobre). What's our business? Black enterprise p Johnson, G., Whittington, R., & Scholes, K. (2006). [...]

[...] Therefore the fact that in some companies, top management is unable to identify and agree on what the organisation is really trying to accomplish is a major cause of failure (Bart, 1997). In other words, if the mission statement of a company is not in accordance with its real purpose, then it is obvious that the strategy established will lead to a failure. Bart refers to a study made by Boston-based Bain & Company in which, on 500 firms surveyed, nine out of ten had used a mission statement some in time in the last five years (thus making it the most popular management tool deployed in recent decades). [...]