In Business, What Are the Benefits of Having a Highly Defined Mission Statement?

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In the business world a well written and highly defined mission statement can be the most important organisational and marketing tool a company can possess. When a business defines its values explicitly, it sets itself apart from its competition and identifies its purpose and image to the client base (Tofftoy and Chatterjee, 2004). Such document also clearly sets out what the company intends to achieve and without being task orientated allows all employees focus on this goal (Dust, 1996). This essay will discuss in detail why it is vital for a business to invest time and resources into explicitly defining its values in a well-executed mission statement. Research shows that the benefits of a highly defined mission statement are plentiful. A mission statement can be defined as a document which addresses both the employees of a company as well as its clients – outsiders (Tofftoy and Chatterjee, 2004). Therefore benefits gained by the company can be categorised as both internal and external. As the statement is written with this in mind, it must therefore not include any financial, market share or other goals specific to the business. Instead a mission statement should inspire understanding of what the company intends to achieve and how it is going to go about achieving it on both sides of the counter (Dust, 1996). Additional essential characteristic of a mission statement is its durability. It is wise for a business to invest time into writing a document that may undergo many re-writes and changes and to ensure that the final version is enduring and doesn’t change very often. Stability of the mission statement will allow employee and customer trust in the values enclosed within to thrive. Because of its purpose to provide focus and consistency a mission statement should never be verbal. A verbally reproduced message is subject to variation from person to person and

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