Mission Statement

A mission statement is a statement that defines the essence or purpose of a company – what it
stands for i.e. what broad products or services it intends to offer customers. The mission
statement also gives readers a window on the raison d’être of the company and was initially
designed as a means by which potential shareholders and investors could understand the
purpose of the company that they were considering investing in. You should also think of a
mission statement as a cross between a slogan and a mini executive summary.

Just as slogans and executive summaries can be used in many ways, so too can a mission
statement. An effective mission statement should be concise enough for you to describe your
company’s purpose and ideals in less than 30 seconds.

1. Nokia: “Connecting people”. The mission statement of Nokia is ‘Listening to customers,

seeing opportunities. Doing things differently’.

Analysis: Their mission of connecting people is more than just an advertising buzz
phrase. It describes what they do. It says what benefits they bring to their operator and
enterprise customers, to consumers and to society. It says who they are and what they
represent. It is their compass; they use it to drive their business forward and to deliver
value to customers.

2. Nike: "To lead in corporate citizenship through proactive programs that reflect caring for
the world family of Nike, our teammates, our consumers, and those who provide services to
Nike".

Analysis: As we have already discussed a mission statement defines the essence or

purpose of a company, here Nike’s sole motive is to lead in its corporate world with
the help of professionally created and launched programmes. And also all those
programmes must be in the sole interest of its employees, consumers etc. i.e. all of its
interested parties.

3. Amazon: "To build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they
might want to buy online"

Analysis: Amazon is an online shopping website which lets its users purchase various
categories of products online. Here the mission of Amazon is to build such a website
where its users can buy every type of product which is sold in a shop.

Vision Statement
A Vision statement defines the desired or intended future state of an organization or
enterprise in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction. Vision is a long
term view, sometimes describing how the organization would like the world in which it
operates to be. For example a charity working with the poor might have a vision statement
which read "A world without poverty". It outlines what the organization wants to be, or how
it wants the world in which it operates to be. It concentrates on the future. It is a source of
inspiration. It provides clear decision-making criteria.

1. Nokia: “A world where everyone can be connected. In 2015, 5 billion people always
connected, and 100 fold more network traffic. It’s a world of experiences, shared
experiences”.

Analysis: Today there is a vast population which uses cellphones, but thats not all.
Nokia’s vision is to create a world where every individual has a cellphone and hence
is connected to every other person. It has also benchmarked its market penetration to
be above 5 billion till the year 2015.

2. Nike: "To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete

in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete”.

Analysis: Nike’s sole image is of an athlete. Hence it has made its vision of an aid to an
athlete i.e. it helps every athlete in achieving his/her goal. It also inspires athletes through its
various motivational programmes and campaigns. And in its end statement it motivates
every individual by saying that to be an athlete you only have to have a body.

3. Amazon: "Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where
people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online."

Analysis: Amazon’s vision is to be the most customer oriented firm whose sole motive is
serving its customer in the best possible manner. Also they want themselves to reach a place
where they can provide their users with all the products which can be bought online.