Company Mission

Chapter 2

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Learning Objectives

1. Describe a company mission and explain its value2. Explain why the mission statement should include the

company’s basic product or service, its primary markets, and its principal technology

3. Explain which goal of a company is most important: survival, profitability, or growth

4. Discuss the importance of company philosophy, public image, and company self-concept to stockholders

5. Give examples of the newest trends in mission statement components: customer emphasis, quality, and company vision

6. Describe the role of a company’s board of directors7. Explain agency theory and its value in helping a board of

directors improve corporate governance

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What is a Company Mission?

• Company Mission:A broadly framed but enduring statement of a firm’s intent. It is the unique purpose that sets a company apart from others of its type and identifies the scope of its operations in product, market, and technology terms.

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Questions Addressed in a Mission Statement

• Why is this firm in business?• What are our economic goals? • What is our operating philosophy in terms of quality,

company image, and self-concept? • What are our core competencies and competitive

advantages?• What customers do and can we serve? • How do we view our responsibilities to stockholders,

employees, communities, environment, social issues, and competitors?

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Formulating a Mission• The typical business begins with the beliefs, desires,

and aspirations of a single entrepreneur • These beliefs are usually the basis for the company’s

mission• As the business grows or is forced to alter its

product, market, or technology, redefining the company mission may be necessary

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Ex. 2.2 (adapted) Mission Statement Components

• Customer-market• Product-service• Geographic Domain• Technology• Concern for Survival• Philosophy• Self-concept• Concern for Public Image• Consumers• Quality

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Ex. 2.2 Excerpts From Actual Mission Statements

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Ex. 2.2 Excerpts From Actual Mission Statements (contd.)

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Three Indispensable Components:

• Basic Product or Service • Primary Market• Principal Technology

If a firm uses a “silver bullet” mission for outsiders to read, it will include these three components.

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Primary Company Goals• Survival – A firm that is unable to

survive will be incapable of satisfying the aims of any of its stakeholders. – This goal is often taken for granted– If neglected, firm may focus on short-

term aims

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Primary Company Goals (contd.)

• Profitability – A firm’s profitability is the mainstay goal of a business.– Clearest indication of firm’s ability to satisfy

principal claims and desires of employees and stockholders

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Primary Company Goals (contd.)

• Growth – A firm’s growth is tied inextricably to its survival and profitability. Growth in this sense must be broadly defined. – Important to define growth – i.e., in terms of

market share, etc.

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Company Philosophy• Company philosophy is often called company

creed.• Usually accompanies or appears within the

mission statement• Reflects the basic beliefs, values, aspirations,

and philosophical priorities to which strategic decision makers are committed in managing the company

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Public Image• Both present and potential customers

attribute certain qualities to particular businesses.

• Firms seldom address the question of their public image in an intermittent fashion.

• Firms should be concerned with their public image even when there is no public agitation.

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Company Self-Concept• A major determinant of a firm’s success is the

extent to which the firm can relate functionally to its external environment.

• The ability of firms to survive in a dynamic and highly competitive environment would be severely limited if they did not understand their impact on others or of others on them.

• Ordinarily, descriptions of the company self-concept per se do not appear in mission statements.

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Newest Trends in Mission Components

• Sensitivity to customer wants– “The customer is our top priority”– Importance of consumer satisfaction– Importance of customer service

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Newest Trends in Mission Components (contd.)

• Quality– “Quality is job one!”– The work of W. Edwards Deming and J.M.

Juran–Malcolm Baldridge Awards

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Deming’s 14 Points:1. Create constancy of purpose.2. Adopt the new philosophy.3. Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve

quality. 4. End the practice of awarding business on price tag

alone. Instead, minimize total cost, often accomplished by working with a single supplier.

5. Improve constantly the system of production and service.

6. Institute training on the job.7. Institute leadership.

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Deming’s 14 Points (cont’d):

8. Drive out fear. 9. Break down barriers between departments.10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and numerical targets.11. Eliminate work standards (quotas) and management by

objective.12. Remove barriers that rob workers, engineers, and

managers of their right to pride of workmanship. 13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-

improvement. 14. Put everyone in the company to work to accomplish

the transformation.

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Newest Trends in Mission Components (contd.)

• A vision statement presents a firm’s strategic intent designed to focus the energies and resources of the company on achieving a desirable future.

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Boards of Directors

The board of directors is the group of stockholder representatives and strategic managers responsible for overseeing the creation and accomplishment of the company mission.

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Major Board Responsibilities:• Establish and update mission• Elect top officers & CEO• Establish compensation for top officers• Determine amount & timing of dividends• Set broad company policy• Set objectives and authorize managers to

implement long-term strategy• Mandate company’s legal and ethics compliance

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Agency Theory

Agency theory is a set of ideas on organizational control based on the belief that the separation of the ownership from management creates the potential for the wishes of owners to be ignored.

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Agency Costs

• The cost of agency problems plus the cost of actions taken to minimize agency problems are collectively termed agency costs.

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How Agency Problems Occur• Moral hazard problem• Executives are often free to pursue their own

interests because of the disproportionate access they have to company information. This is the moral hazard problem.

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How Agency Problems Occur(contd.)

• Adverse selection • is an agency problem caused by the limited

ability of stockholders to determine the competencies and priorities of executives at hire.

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Problems Resulting from Agency

• Executives pursue growth in company size rather than earnings

• Executives attempt to diversify their corporate risk

• Executives avoid healthy risk• Managers act to optimize their personal

payoffs• Executives protect their status

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Solutions to Agency ProblemOwners pay executives a premium for their service

to increase loyaltyExecutives receive back-loaded compensation. Creating teams of executives across different units

of a corporation can help to focus performance measures on organizational rather than personal goals.

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Aligning Executive Interests with Owner Interests

• Stock Option Plans• Bonus plans• Incentives for Long-

Term Performance

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Key Terms

• Adverse selection• Agency costs• Agency theory• Board of directors

• Company creed• Company mission• Moral hazard problem• Vision statement

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