Strategic management is a continuous process. It starts with defining the vision, mission, objectives, and goals of the organization.
Vision
Vision stays at the top in the major hierarchy of strategic intent. It explains what the organization ultimately wants to achieve in the long term.
John Kotter defines vision as, “It is a statement of the organization in the future.”
Alex Miller and Gregory Dess defined vision as, “the category of intentions that are broad, all-inclusive and forward thinking.”
Advantages of Vision
A few benefits accruing to an organization having a vision are as follows −
● Vision fosters the idea of experiment.
● Vision promotes long-term thinking about the organization.
● Visions is one of the major factors to foster risk taking.
● Vision makes an organizations more competitive, original and unique.
● Good vision is a factor of representation of integrity.
● Vision inspires and motivates the people working in an organization.
Mission
Mission statements are responsible for the role an organization plays in the society.
A few definitions of mission are as follows −
David Hunger and Thomas Wheelen are of the view that mission is “the purpose or reason for the organization’s existence.”
John L. Thompson states that mission is “the essential purpose of the organization, concerning particularly why it is in existence, the nature of the business it is in, and the customers it seeks to serve and satisfy.”
According to David F. Harvey “A mission provides the basis of awareness of a sense of purpose, the competitive environment, degree to which the firm’s mission fits its capabilities and the opportunities which the government offers.”
MISSION STATEMENT − EXAMPLES
Apple − “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.”
Ranbaxy Industries − “To become a research based international Pharmaceuticals Company.”
Objectives and Goals
Objectives tell us about the ultimate end results the company wants to accomplish by making a strategy for a selected duration of time. Goals include a broad category of financial and non-financial issues that a company wants to achieve in a given amount of time. Objectives are the ways that specify how the goals of the company shall be achieved. Importantly, objectives are the manifestation of goals even when it is not stated.
Differences between Goals and Objectives
● Goals are a broad category while objectives are succinct and specific.
● Goals are usually set for a relatively longer future than objectives.
● Goals are usually actions that are more influenced by the external environment.
● Goals are never quantified but objectives are always quantified.
