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Select three key ideas or facts from the article which
you believe are most important for a firm competing in a global market. Why are
they the most important to the process?
1. Mission
and vision are really significant thing
I am convinced that mission
and vision are the strategic tools, not just formal phrases. According to
Ketchen and Short, “vision is what the organization hopes to become in the
future”; “mission is the reasons for an organization’s existence” (Ketchen,
Short, 2012, p. 43). If an organization perceives such a meaningful thing as
its future as a formality, what future will happen then? In my opinion, vision
and mission must be stated even before an organization started its functioning,
this process should be simultaneous with the business planning, because
someone, who does not know where he or she goes and why, who does not have a
plan, will reach nowhere. I can give you my personal example, I am the owner of
the shop of Korean cosmetics. I have a defined conception and strategy and I
follow it. I have one competitor, who is positioning herself as a Korean
cosmetics shop, but she has no strategy and her shop has nothing special
because of that. Therefore, she has not got a lot of customers. A few days ago,
I have seen her ad on Instagram, and it said that she started to sell
Belarusian cosmetics. How can you allow yourself to do that, if your own door
banner says, “Korean cosmetics”? She defined herself for customers and now she
is breaking her strategy, was it strategy then?
2. Mission
is different from vision
This is a special topic
because I am sure in any field, there are several tricky similar definitions
that always confuse everyone. I believe that the true professional must clarify
the difference between mission and vision once and for all. I think that the
difference is related to the time-bound. Vision is something that looks deep
into the future. You can define it just once and follow it. Whereas, the
mission must fit your business at any step. Therefore, the mission can be
changed or made more precise while you are acting, but the vision is something
that defines your actions, your main statement, something where you go to.
According to Craig Woodman, “A vision defines what is success to a company or
organization at any particular time. It can define what an organization is
supposed to look like and the values that the company finds important. A vision
gives a clear overview of the direction that the company is moving and how it
will get there. It provides the overall reason for people to go to work and do
what they do every day. Mission objectives are more clearly defined than a
vision. While not as specific as goals, which have a date for completion and a
specified outcome, they represent the specific paths that an organization will
take to meet its vision.” (Woodman, n.d., para 2, 3).
3. Target
audience of mission and vision is a far more widely, than the customers
According to Laura Lake, “A
target audience is the demographic of people most likely to be interested in
your product or service” (Lake, 2019, para 2). I think a lot of entrepreneurs
make the same mistakes: define the target audience too widely in customers, and
ignore other sections of the audience, such as employee, stakeholders,
investors, partners, etc. I am convinced it is the wrong way to reckon that
your customer target audience is “all women from 15 to 65”. You can always
define your customers narrower, and then you can be more responsive to that
audience, because of the bigger amount of people, the harder to satisfy all of
them. Experts from Forbes suggest 6 steps to identify the target audience:
1. Do
As Much Pre-Market Research As You Can;
2. Test
And Learn With Google And Facebook Advertising;
3. Test
New Products With Loyal Customers First;
4. Pay
Attention To SEO And Analytics;
5. Create
A Customer Avatar;
6. Look
For Trends In Client Requests (Expert panel of Forbes, 2010).
Through these steps, you can identify your customer
audience properly.
One more thing is the target audience is not just
customers. Your mission and vision must be also oriented to employee,
stakeholders, investors, partners, or everyone else, who is interested in your
company. It is really important, because, as I told above, mission and vision
define the direction of your company to everyone, who read it. Customers should
understand from your vision what are you doing, employees should see what for
they work, affiliated persons need to realize why they invested their money,
partners should comprehend how they can contribute to your company.
What role does a strong leader play in the formulation
vision and mission statements?
According to Zuzana Papulova, about 45% of visions and
missions stated by the founder (Papulova, 2014). It is almost a half. I believe
that when a person launches a business, he or she has a certain reason for it
because if you do it “just for fun” it is probably will lead you nowhere.
Therefore, I think that no one can state the mission and vision of the company
better, than the founder. Zuzana Papulova also suggests several more ways to
define mission and vision, such as teamwork, but at the end of all, the final
decision is up to founder, I guess. As per me, I would never charge my
employees to state mission and vision, because even if they love their job, I
am sure, no one strives to make my shop successful as much as me.
Analyze whether internal
(company culture, firm’s resources, etc.) or external (government regulations,
competition, etc.) are the most relevant to a global firm’s vision and mission
statements.
I think the statement that internal or external are
most relevant to a global firm’s vision and mission is erroneous in general. It
is extremely important that everyone, who reads the statements must feel your
call. It is not so important whether your company is domestic, or global, the
rule is mandatory. However, I think that if you have a global company, you
should understand that your mission and vision must be far more large-scale. It
is easier to state the mission and vision for a domestic company because you
are a part of domestic culture, you can feel what people need and how to
inspire them, but how to inspire someone, who is from cardinal other culture?
This is a different sense of humour, play on words, language, expressions,
everything of it is different. These differences create some complications.
From this point of view, some help from a representative of a foreign culture
will not be superfluous. “A mission or vision statement is nothing but a
collection of words. The choice of words and tone used is what forms the actual
communication. Communication comes from inside you” (Martin, 2018, para 2).
Just think about, how can you inspire someone (a customer, a candidate, of
future stakeholder) from the opposite side of the planet? How can you make them
feel the same as you? I think your vision and mission, first of all, must
inspire you. If it is not, it is wrong statements.
Conclusion
Vision and mission are a
significant part of the company strategy. It requires diligently work because
it will guide your business all the time. Mission and vision are different
things, you have to clarify it for yourself. Vision is future, the mission is
present. The target audience is far wider than just customers, you have to take
it into account, especially your company is global.
References
Ketchen, D & Short, J. (2012) Strategic Management:
Evaluation and Execution.
Woodman, C. (N.d.). The Differences Between Vision and Mission Objectives.
Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/differences-between-vision-mission-objectives-25448.html
Lake, L. (May 31, 2019). What Is Your 'Target Audience' in Marketing?
Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-a-target-audience-2295567
Expert
panel of Forbes. (Feb 15, 2019). Six Ways To Identify And Target The Ideal
Audience For Your New Product. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2019/02/15/six-ways-to-identify-the-ideal-audience-for-your-new-product/#1bb95343f34a
Papulova,
Z. (Feb 1, 2014). Тhe Significance of Vision and Mission Development for
Enterprises in Slovak Republic.
Martin. (July 26, 2018). 12 Truly Inspiring Company Vision and Mission
Statement Examples. Retrieved from https://www.cleverism.com/mission-statement-examples/
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