MISSION STATEMENTS



                                by



                          Russell Ackoff 
 
	Most corporate mission statements are worthless. They

consist largely of pious platitudes such as: "We will hold

ourselves to the highest standards of professionalism and ethical

behavior." They often formulate necessities as objectives; for

example, "to achieve sufficient profit." This is like a person

saying his mission is to breathe sufficiently. A mission

statement should not commit a firm to what it must do to survive

but to what it chooses to do in order to thrive. Nor should it be

filled with operationally meaningless superlatives such as

biggest, best, optimum, and maximum; for example, one company

says it wants to "maximize its growth potential," another "to

provide products of the highest quality." How in the world can a

company determine whether it has attained growth potential or

highest quality?

     To test for the appropriateness of an assertion in a mission

statement, determine whether it can be disagreed with reasonably.

If not, it should be excluded. Can you imagine any company

disagreeing with the objective "to provide the best value for the

money." If you can't, it's not worth saying.

     What characteristics should a mission statement have? First

it should contain a formulation of the firm's objectives that

enables progress toward them to be measured. To state objectives

that cannot be used to evaluate performance is hypocrisy. Unless

the adoption of a mission statement changes the behavior of the

firm that makes it, it has no value.

     The behavior of a Mexican firm was profoundly affected by

the following passage from its mission statement:



     To create a wholesome, varied, pluralistic, multi-class recreational 

area incorporating tourist facilities and permanent residences, and to 

produce locally as much of the goods and services required by the area 

as possible, so as to improve the standard of living and quality of life 

of its inhabitants.



     Second, a company's mission statement should differentiate

it from other companies. It should establish the individuality,

if not the uniqueness of the firm. A company that wants only what

most other companies want--for example, "to manufacture products

in an efficient manner, at costs that help yield adequate

profits"--wastes its time in formulating a mission statement.

Individuality can be attained in many ways, including that in

which a company's business is defined.

     Third, a mission statement should define the business that

the company wants to be in, not necessarily is in. However

diverse its current business, it should try to find a unifying

concept that enlarges its view of itself and brings it into

focus; for example, a company that produces beverages, snacks,

and baked good and operates a variety of dining, recreational,

and entertainment facilities identified its business as

"increasing the satisfaction people derive from use of their

discretionary time." This suggested completely new directions for

its diversification and growth. The same was true of a company

that said it was in the "sticking" business, enabling objects and

materials to stick together.

     Fourth, a mission statement should be relevant to all the

firm's stakeholders. These include its customers, suppliers, the

public, shareholders, and employees. The mission should state how

the company intends to serve each of them; for example, one

company committed itself "to providing all its employees with

adequate and fair compensation, safe working conditions, stable

employment, challenging work, opportunities for personal development, 

and a satisfying quality of work life." It also wanted "to

provide those who supply the material used in the business with

continuing, if not expanding, sources of business, and with

incentives to improve their products and services and their use

through research and development."

     Most mission statements address only shareholders and

managers. Their most serious deficiency is their failure to

motivate non-managerial employees. Without their commitment, a

company's mission has little chance of being fulfilled, whatever

its managers and shareholders do.

     Finally, and of greatest importance, a mission statement

should be exciting and inspiring. It should motivate all those

whose participation in its pursuit is sought; for example, one

Latin American company committed itself to being "an active force

for economic and social development, fostering economic

integration of Latin America and, within each country, collaboration 

between government, industry, labor and the public." A

mission should play the same role in a company that the Holy

Grail did in the Crusades. It does not have to appear to be

feasible; it only has to be desirable.



     ... man has been able to grow enthusiastic over his vision

     of ... unconvincing enterprises. He has put himself to work

     for the sake of an idea, seeking by magnificent exertions to

     arrive at the incredible. And in the end he has arrived

     there. Beyond all doubt it is one of the vital sources of

     man's power, to be thus able to kindle enthusiasm from the

     mere glimmer of something improbable, difficult, remote.



     If your firm has a mission statement, test it against these

five criteria. If it fails to meet any of them, it should be

redone.