Vision & business

Learning objectives

• Describe and differentiate between the concepts of vision and

mission
• Explain the three dimensions of business definition
• Describe business model and their relationship with strategy

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 Vision
• Vision articulates the position that a firm would like to attain in distant future.
• Kotter (1990) defines it as a "description of something (an organization, a
corporate culture, a business, a technology, an activity) in the future".
• El-Namaki (1992) considers it as a "mental perception of the kind of
environment an individual, or an organization, aspires to create within a
broad time horizon and the underlying conditions for the actualization of this
perception".
• Miller and Dess (1996) view it simply as the "category of intentions that are
broad, all-inclusive, and forward thinking".

• J. Kotter, A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management (London: Free Press, 1990)
• M. S. S. El-Namaki, "Creating a corporate vision" Long Range Planning, Vol. 25, No. 6, (1992), pp. 25 – 29
• A. Miller and G. G. Dess, Strategic Management (2nd. ed.) (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), p. 6.

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 Benefits of a vision
• Parikh and Neubauer (1993) point out the several benefits accruing to an
organisation having a vision.
– Good visions are inspiring and exhilarating.
– Visions represent a discontinuity, a step function and a jump ahead so that the
company knows what it is to be.
– Good visions help in the creation of a common identity and a shared sense of
purpose.
– Good visions are competitive, original and unique. They make sense in the
marketplace as they are practical.
– Good vision foster risk taking and experimentation.
– Good vision fosters long-term thinking.
– Good visions represent integrity: they are truly genuine and can be used to the
benefit of people.

J. Parikh & F. Neubauer: "Corporate Visioning" in International Review of Strategic Management, Vol. 4 edited by D. E.
Hussey), (West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, 1993): 109 - 111.

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 Process of Envisioning

• The core ideology defines the enduring character of an

organisation that remains unchangeable as it passes
through the vicissitudes of vectors such as technology,
competition or management fads.

• The envisioned future too consists of two components: a

10 - to - 30 years audacious goal and vivid description of
what it will be like to achieve that goal.

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 Mission
• Mission is what an organisation is and why it exists.
• Mission is a statement which defines the role that an organisation
plays in the society.
• Thompson (1997) defines mission as the "essential purpose of the
organization, concerning particularly why it is in existence, the
nature of the business(es) it is in, and the customers it seeks to
serve and satisfy".
• Hunger and Wheelen (1999) say that mission is the "purpose or
reason for the organization's existence".
J. L. Thompson: Strategic Management: Awareness and Change, (3rd ed.) (London: International Thomson Business Press)
1997, p.6;
J. D. Hunger & T. L. Wheelen: Strategic Management, (Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley Longman), 1999, p. 10.

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 Characteristics of Mission
Statements
• A mission statement defines the basic reason for the existence of the
organisation. Such a statement reflects the corporate philosophy, identity,
character, and image of an organisation. It may be defined explicitly or could
be deduced from the management's actions, decisions or the chief
executive's press statements: Some of the characteristics include:
– It should be feasible
– It should be precise
– It should be clear
– It should be motivating
– It should be distinctive
– It should include major components of strategy
– It should indicate how objectives are to be accomplished

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 Facebook & Google
• Vision Statement
• Facebook – “People use Facebook to stay
connected with friends and family, to discover
what’s going on in the world, and to share and
express what matters to them.”
• Google – “to provide access to the world’s
information in one click.”

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Kazmi, 2015
 Facebook & Google
• Mission statement
• Facebook – “to give people the power to share
and make the world more open and
connected.”
• Google – “to organize the world’s information
and make it universally accessible and useful.”

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Kazmi, 2015
 Business Definition and
Strategic Management
• A clear business definition is helpful for strategic
management in many ways. For instance, a business
definition can indicate the choice of objectives, helps in
exercising a choice among different strategic
alternatives, facilitate functional policy implementation,
and suggests an appropriate organisational structure.

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Kazmi, 2015
 Levels of Business
• Like strategy, business could be defined at the corporate or SBU
levels.
• A single-business firm is active in just one area so its business
definition is simple.
• A large conglomerate, operating in several businesses, would have
a separate business definition for each of its businesses.
• At the corporate level, the business definition will concern itself with
the wider meaning of customer groups, customer functions, and
alternative technologies.
• A highly diversified company organised on a divisional basis could
benefit by having a business definition covering all the three
dimensions. Each division could again have more accurate
business definition at the SBU-level.

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 Product/Service Concept

• A product / service concept is the manner in which a company

assesses the user’s perception of its product or service. Such
a perception is based on how the product or service provides
functions that satisfy customer needs.
• A product / service concept - carefully and innovatively
defined - can prove to be of significant worth to strategists in
different phases of strategic management.

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 Business Model

• Business model could be defined as “a representation of a

firm's underlying core logic and strategic choices for creating
and capturing value within a value network.”
• Business models have an intimate relationship with the
strategy of an organization. Strategies result in choices;
a business model can be used to help analyze and
communicate these strategic choices

Shafer, Scott M. & Smith, H. Jeff & Linder, Jane C., 2005. "The power of business models," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(3),
pages 199-207

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