Mission statement

Mission statement (hereinafter, the Statement) is a statement for the enterprise mission that an organization develops to share with managers, employees, and (in many cases) customers. The Statement may be broken down into one or more mission statement components.

Definitions

According to Marketing Management by Keller and Kotler (15th edition),

Mission statement. A statement that an organization develops to share with managers, employees, and (in many cases) customers.

According to Juran's Quality Handbook by Defeo (7th edition),

Mission statement. A short, memorable description of an organization’s reason for existence; definition of the company’s business, its objectives, and its approach to reach those objectives.

According to the BABOK Guide (3rd edition),

Mission statement. A formal declaration of values and goals that expresses the core purpose of the enterprise.

According to the Corporate Strategy by Lynch (4th edition),

Mission statement. Defines the business that the organization is in or should be in against the values and expectations of the stakeholders.

According to the Strategic Management by David and David (15th edition),

Mission statement. A declaration of an organization's "reason for being." It answers the pivotal question, "What is our business?" is essential for effectively establishing objectives and formulating strategies; consists of nine components.

Mission statement. An enduring statement of purpose that distinguish one business from other similar firms; several sentence statement that identifies the scope of a firm's operations in product and market terms and addresses the question "What is our business?"

According to the HRBoK Guide,

Mission statement. A description of the purpose of an organization. A short description of the main purpose of an organization, which does not change (unlike strategy and business practices, which can change frequently).

According to the ITIL Foundation 4e by Axelos,

Mission statement. A short but complete description of the overall purpose and intentions of an organization. It states what is to be achieved, but not how this should be done.

Related concepts

• Mission. Outlines the broad general directions that the organization should and will follow and briefly summarizes the reasoning and values that lie behind it. See also Objectives.