Subject areaProcess and organisation
Also known asmission statement
The mission (the mission statement) is the declaration of the purpose for which a company exists: what it does, for whom and with what contribution.
It looks at the present and at what the company does every day, while the picture of the future it aims at belongs to another statement, and the principles that guide choices to the values.
A well-written mission works as a criterion: faced with a proposal, a customer or an investment, one asks whether it fits the declared purpose. Whoever leaves it in a drawer turns it into a slogan, and initiatives, artificial intelligence ones included, drift away from the strategy without anyone noticing.
In the articles of the site the mission appears as part of the soul of the company, told by corporate storytelling together with values and culture, and as what gives a community a reason to identify with the brand.
An example
The case that follows is constructed, because the term does not yet appear in the articles. A company that makes valves for chemical plants writes its mission in one sentence: "Guarantee safe seals for our customers' plants". It uses it as a selection criterion: a supply request for which the safety of the seal cannot be verified is declined, even when the margin is high.
Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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