Pergamon

European Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, 2003

2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Printed in Great Britain
doi:10.1016/S0263-2373(03)00072-0
0263-2373 $30.00 + 0.00

Mission Statements:
Is it Time to Shelve Them?
JATINDER SIDHU, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
A mission statement has long been argued to lead
to better performance by aiding strategy formulation and implementation. Empirical evidence to
support this argument is however lacking in the
literature. This has led to a considerable waning of
managerial confidence in mission statements in
recent years. This article reports the results of an
empirical investigation into the dynamic multimedia domain in The Netherlands. Statement content as well as process were taken into account
when studying the impact of mission statements.
The findings are consistent with the thesis that a
mission statement can lead to superior performance. Managerial implications of the findings are
discussed.
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Mission, Vision, Business domain, Strategy planning

Introduction
Academic as well as popular literature has long contended that a mission statement provides benefits
which produce economic value. Two related sets of
benefits have featured prominently in the literature.
First, mission statements are argued to play a vital
direction-establishing role that facilitates strategy formulation. In this context, they are regarded to provide the necessary backdrop against which the merit
of alternative organisational and functional goals and
strategies can be properly evaluated (Pearce and Robinson, 1991; Piercy and Morgan, 1994). Second, they
are argued to aid strategy implementation by fostering unity of purpose and team spirit (Campbell
and Yeung, 1991; Ireland and Hitt, 1992). It is suggested in this context that a commonly accepted mission statement creates confidence that the intended
strategies will not compromise the interest of the
various stakeholder groups within the organisation.
In view of the expected benefits of a mission statement, a considerable amount of prescriptive literature has emerged in the last four decades advising
practitioners how to formulate winning mission
European Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, August 2003

statements (e.g. Collins and Porras, 1997; Graham

and Havlick, 1994).
While conceptually the relationship between mission
statements and performance appears hardly controversial, it is surprising as well as embarrassing that
empirical research to date has not been able to produce any solid evidence in support of this relationship. Whereas some studies have found no link
between mission statements and performance
(David, 1989; Pearce and David, 1987), others have
found weak support for the idea that they do exercise
a positive influence on performance (Bart, 1996; Bart,
1997). These conflicting empirical results seem to
have eroded practitioner confidence in the mission
discipline. Recent years have seen managers increasingly express doubts about the benefit of spending
resources on formulation of mission statements in the
absence of any tangible gains (see Krohe, 1995;
McSherry, 1994). More troublingly, management consultants report that companies have started abandoning mission statements en masse. This is a rather
unfortunate turn of events that threatens to lead to a
premature rejection of a key strategy concept and a
potentially valuable managerial tool that could be
used to promote the rents, growth and survival of
organisations.
We submit that previous empirical studies are likely
to have produced contradictory results due to two
significant methodological shortcomings. First, prior
studies have focused on different content elements of
mission statements (cf. Baetz and Bart, 1996; David,
1989), which makes cross-study comparisons difficult. The identification and measurement of different
content elements reflects the general lack of scholarly
agreement on the core components of a mission statement. Second, prior work has been in a static mould
in that the process aspect of mission statements was
not taken into consideration. Competition is a
dynamic phenomenon and a once valuable mission
statement may get dated and rendered ineffectual
from the viewpoint of strategy formulation and
implementation because of changes in the business
context (see Drucker, 1994). As such, empirical
inquiries must not only look into mission content but
439

MISSION STATEMENTS

must also consider whether the mission statements

are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current
realities. The present study tries to overcome these
limitations by investigating the mission statement
performance link. As a first step, an extensive literature review is conducted to establish the core components of a mission statement. The mission statement
variable is then operationalised by measuring the
completeness of mission statements in terms of
whether or not the core components identified were
included in the statements of companies participating
in our research. Further, the process of reviewing and
updating mission statements is also explicitly measured. The following basic question, which remains
unanswered in the literature, guides this study: Does
a mission statement have an influence on organisational performance?
The remainder of the article is organised as follows.
The next section summarises the review of literature
carried out to identify the core components of a mission statement. This reveals that mission statement
completeness is a function of four key content
elements: a description of the organisations vision,
business domain, competencies and values. The
methodology section then describes the sampling
population, data-collection procedures and measurement of variables. The following section reports the
analytical steps taken and the results obtained. The
final section concludes with a discussion of the studys findings, limitations and implications.

Literature Review
There is a certain degree of ambiguity in the literature with regard to the core components of a mission
statement. Different writers have emphasised different albeit related elements. Arguably, many of the
differences could be attributed simply to differences
in favoured terminology. To illustrate, in the following two quotes slightly different language alludes in
an important way to the same underlying idea of the
desired future state of an organisation; an idea captured succinctly by the expression vision:
Strategic decision-makers must determine the basic goals,
characteristics, and philosophies that will shape the strategic posture of the firm. The outcome of this task, known
as the company mission, provides the basis for a culture
that will guide future executive action. (Pearce, 1982)
A mission statement reveals the long-term vision of an
organisation in terms of what it wants to be and who it
wants to serve. (David, 1989)

In order to isolate the key distinct elements of a mission statement, the various definitions of the concept
that have appeared in management literature were
examined. A representative range of contemporary
440

definitions is summarised in Table 1. These definitions are due to authors of prominent textbooks
and frequently cited journal articles.
It becomes apparent when appraising the definitions
in Table 1 that the mission concept is regarded as
a multidimensional concept by virtually all authors.
Further, variations in conceptualisation and the specific words used notwithstanding, it is possible to
identify common elements that underlie most definitions of the concept. In particular, four distinct but
related elements that appear with a good degree of
regularity can be detected. These are the organisations vision, business domain, competencies and
values. Vision is usually defined in terms such as the
desired future state of the organisation or as a
superordinate end (Bennis and Nanus, 1985; Kouzes
and Posner, 1987). In Table 1, while some definitions
refer explicitly to vision, in other definitions the
vision element lies behind expressions such as the
fundamental purpose and central philosophy. The
business-domain element refers to the issue of what
the relevant competitive arena is (Abell, 1993; Porac
and Thomas, 1994; Wheelen and Hunger, 1998).
Drucker (1974) stated this in the form of a fundamental question: What business are we in? This element
is visible in Table 1 in expressions such as defining
the business, product-market domain and business
scope. The competencies element is about the unique
strengths of an organisation that are considered central to competitive success (cf. Learned et al., 1965;
Teece et al., 1997). It is evident in Table 1 in wording
such as core/distinctive competencies, uniqueness,
and what do we have to be good at. Lastly, the
values element is about the shared beliefs of organisation members and refers to the culture prevalent in
the organisation (Gordon and DiTomaso, 1992;
Schein, 1990). In Table 1 the values element is quite
obvious in expressions such as shared values,
behavior standards and core values.
Extant literature would thus suggest vision, business
domain, competencies and values to be four essential
elements or components of a mission statement.
Although the four are distinct, they are also connected to one another in an important fashion (cf.
Campbell and Yeung, 1991; Collins and Porras, 1997).
While the vision element articulates what is aspired
to in the future by the organisation, the business
domain element makes clear the competitive arena in
which this vision is to be achieved. Further, while the
competencies element provides sense of the unique
strengths of the organisation that are to be employed
in order to realise the vision in the specified business
domain, the values element highlights the fundamental organisational principles, ethics and behaviours
that are to guide and sustain the organisation in its
drive towards the fulfilment of the vision. Therefore,
from a content viewpoint, the inclusion of all four
elements implies a more complete mission statement.
Inasmuch as a more complete mission statement indicates that the organisation in question has carefully
European Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, August 2003

MISSION STATEMENTS

Table 1

The Mission Concept in Contemporary Management Literature

Author(s)

Definition

David (1989)

Sometimes called a creed statement, a statement of purpose, a statement of philosophy, a

statement of beliefs, a statement of business principles, or a statement defining the business, a
mission statement reveals the long-term vision of an organisation in terms of what it wants to be
and who it wants to serve.
Campbell and Yeung
The authors propose four elements that they believe lead to a strong mission when they are
(1991)
mutually reinforcing: (1) company purpose, (2) strategy (defined by authors in terms of the
business that the company is going to compete in, and the distinctive competence of the
company), (3) shared values, and (4) behavior standards.
Pearce and Robinson
Company mission is defined as the fundamental purpose that sets a firm apart from other firms of
(1991)
its type and identifies the scope of its operations in product and market terms.
Viljoen (1994)
Mission is the fundamental purpose and character of the organisation (e.g., to meet the needs of
the mass market in a particular industry).
Piercy and Morgan (1994) Based on literature review the authors identify four components of mission: (1) the central purpose
or philosophy of the organisation, (2) business definition or the product-market domain where the
organisation is to operate, (3) core values or what do we want people in this organisation to be
good at? question, (4) critical success factors or what do we have to be good at to succeed in
this market or industry? question.
Hax and Majluf (1984)
In our methodology, the mission of the business is the starting point of the formulation of business
strategy. Our definition of the mission is centered on: detecting the changes to be undertaken
in business scope and core competencies.
Davies and Glaister (1997) Mission statements offer the opportunity for any organisation to define clearly the business it is in,
state its overall purpose and indicate its uniqueness or distinctive competence.
Hill and Jones (1997)
The first component of the strategic management process is defining the mission and major goals
of the organisation. The mission sets out why the organisation exists and what it should be
doing.
Thompson and Strickland Managements vision of what the organisation seeks to do and to become is commonly termed
(1999)
the organisations mission. A mission statement establishes the organisations future course and
outlines who we are, what we do, and where were headed. In effect, it sets forth the
organisations intent to stake out a particular business position.

evaluated whether the key elements identified above

are mutually consistent and that they reinforce one
another, a complete mission statement is likely to be
more beneficial and therefore likely to have a greater
influence on organisation performance. In addition to
content, the mission statement process is also
important. Various contextual developments such as
emergence of new technologies, new patterns of customer demand, changes in governmental regulations
and so on by having a bearing on an organisations
vision, business domain, competencies and values
may turn a once helpful mission statement useless
(Drucker, 1994; Stone, 1996). It is hence imperative
for organisations to regularly revisit their mission
statements and to revise them if needed so that they
reflect a good fit between the organisation and its
environment.

Methodology
This section describes the method used to empirically
examine the question whether a mission statement
has an influence on performance.
European Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, August 2003

Sampling Population and Data Collection

Procedures
Data for this study was collected in The Netherlands
from firms (or business units of diversified firms)
located in different industries within the multi-media
domain. The industries included information technology, office equipment, printing and publishing,
and telecommunications. This sampling frame choice
was motivated by the fact that the environment in
these industries is quite dynamic, which makes mission statement formulation difficult as well as necessary for business success. Given this, a rich variation
in the mission variable was expected in these industries, which is desirable from the viewpoint of statistical analysis. A second reason for focusing on these
industries was a positive contact with VIFKA (trade
association of information technology, office equipment and telecommunication companies) and KVGO
(trade association of printing and publishing
companies), with both trade associations expressing
willingness to facilitate data collection by encouraging member companies to participate in the
research. Trade association participation is desirable,
as it tends to increase response rate and lower
response bias.
Data was collected through mailed questionnaires.
441

MISSION STATEMENTS

The data collection instrument was pre-tested with

five companies in the research population described
above. Further, the key-informant approach to data
collection was followed with managing directors
being
targeted
as
respondents.
Managing
directors/CEOs are generally viewed as the most
qualified individuals to provide valid responses to
questions pertaining to organisation-level issues. The
covering letter accompanying the questionnaire
promised confidentiality and a summary of the
research results. An additional letter from the trade
association encouraged the targeted respondents to
fill in the questionnaire and return it promptly. In
all, questionnaires were mailed to 150 firms having
twenty employees or more. This is in-keeping with
the advice of the trade associations that smaller firms
were unlikely to have articulated a mission statement
and therefore unlikely to take part in the research.
A telephonic reminder followed two weeks after the
initial mailing if no response had been received from
the targeted respondent. The above procedures led
to 38 usable responses being received. The effective
response rate of 26 per cent is somewhat higher than
the rate of around 20% usually reported for mailed
surveys to senior managers. The size of the
responding firms varied from 20-50 to more than 500
employees. The median and the modal size was 50
99 employees. Non-response bias was analysed by
comparing the size (in terms of total number of
employees) of the responding and non-responding
firms. The mean of the size variable in the two groups
was not significantly different.
Variables
Mission Statement Comprehensiveness
Respondents were first asked to indicate whether or
not a mission statement had been explicitly formulated. If yes, they were requested to either furnish a
photocopy of the statement or to write it down in the
space provided in the questionnaire. Further, respondents were asked to indicate how many times the
mission statement had been re-evaluated/
reformulated during the last three years. Following
Klemm et al. (1991) who report that firms may have
independent mission and business-domain statements, respondents were asked separately whether
or not a business-domain statement had been
explicitly formulated. If yes, respondents were
requested to either furnish a photocopy of the statement or to write it down in the space provided in
the questionnaire.
Of the 38 responding firms, 17 had formulated a mission statement and 19 a business-domain statement.
Further, four firms with a mission statement did not
have a business-domain statement and six firms having a domain statement did not possess a mission
statement. Nevertheless, there was a significant correlation of 0.52 (p 0.001) between the presence of
the two statements, which suggests that firms having
one also tended to have the other statement. This is
442

in line with the earlier work of Klemm et al. (1991).

Further, in response to a direct question, all firms
possessing mission and business-domain statements
indicated that they had formulated the statements
more than three years ago. With reference to the
regularity with which mission statements had been
re-evaluated/reformulated, the range of responses
varied from 0 to 5 times during the last three years.
The average was 1.8 times, with eight firms scoring
above average and nine firms below average.
To arrive at a measure of mission statement comprehensiveness, first a content analysis of the 17 mission
statements was conducted. The analysis focused on
identifying words, expressions and sentences that
referred to the organisations vision, competencies
and values. As business-domain statements had been
collected separately, this element was not considered
at this stage. While all mission statements were found
to contain the vision element, 12 included the competencies element and nine included the value
element. Reliability was then assessed by requesting
eight colleagues to determine whether the vision,
competencies and values elements were present or
absent in each of the mission statements. The initial
rating plus the ratings of the colleagues were used
for computing coefficient alphas as indicators of
inter-rater agreement (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994).
The reliability coefficients were 0.70 for the vision
element, 0.83 for the competencies element and 0.92
for the values element. The coefficients indicate a
high degree of agreement among the judges.
Mission statement comprehensiveness was graded
on a scale of 15. The specific procedure adopted was
as follows. First, firms were assigned a 1 if no mission
statement had been developed but given a score of 2
if a statement had been formulated. Additional scores
were then assigned on the basis of the number of
elements included in a mission statement. Since
every statement included the vision element, firms
were given a score of 1 if either the competencies or
values element was present and a score of 2 if both
were present. In addition to statement content, the
process issue was also incorporated in the comprehensiveness grading. Firms that had reviewed their
mission statements more than the average number of
times were given a further score of 1. Adding up the
scores led to the final scale ranging from 1 (no mission statement) to 5 (most comprehensive mission
statement).
Strategy Planning
This was included in the study to control for the
possibility that mission statement comprehensiveness
variable may merely operate as a surrogate for effective strategy planning. An extensive literature review
revealed that the strategy planning concept is often
measured using six variables. These include goal setting, environment scanning, strategy generation and
evaluation, degree of functional participation in planning, control and correction procedures, and planEuropean Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, August 2003

MISSION STATEMENTS

ning system flexibility (Armstrong, 1982; Boyd, 1991;

Kukalis, 1991; Veliyath and Shortell, 1993). Singleitem, five-point scales anchored at strongly disagree
and strongly agree were used to measure each variable. For example, to measure goal setting and
environment scanning variables the respondents
were asked to respond to the following items respectively: (1) written long and short term goals are an
important aspect of our planning process and (2)
environment is scanned extensively in order to
identify threats and opportunities.
Size
Following previous empirical research (e.g. Powell,
1992), organisation size was also included as a control variable. It was measured in terms of the total
number of full-time employees. The natural log of
employees was then used during data analysis.
Performance
Performance was measured in terms of sales growth.
This is a particularly suitable performance measure
as it reflects how well an organisation relates to its
environment (Hofer and Schendel, 1978). Following
Dess and Robinson (1984), respondents were asked
to indicate on a five-point scale whether the sales
growth of their firm (or business unit in the case of
a diversified firm) at the end of the last fiscal year
was higher or lower than that of close competitors.

Data Analysis and Results

Data was analysed in two steps. First, on account of
a substantial number of significant correlations
observed among the mission statement, businessdomain statement and the six strategy planning variables, a principal components analysis was conducted. The goal at this stage was data dimensionality
reduction because a smaller set of uncorrelated variables would facilitate the analysis of the substantive
mission
statement

performance
relation
(Dunteman, 1994). The principal components analysis suggested that the original set of variables could
be concisely represented by two factors: a mission
statement factor and a strategy planning factor. Factor scores for the two factors were used at the second
stage of analysis when an ordinary least squares
regression model was specified with sales growth as
the dependent variable. The independent variables
were the mission statement factor, strategy planning
factor, an interaction term obtained by taking the
cross-product of the mission and strategy factors (to
test for a potential interaction effect) and organisation size.

Principal Components Analysis (PCA)

The correlations among the independent variables of
the study are presented in Table 2. Appropriateness
European Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, August 2003

of PCA in terms of variable correlations in the data

set was established by the Bartlett test of sphericity.
This indicated that the correlations were significant
at the 0.0001 level. In addition, the Kaiser Meyer
Olkin measure of sampling adequacy had a value of
0.70, which is considered good (Hair et al., 1995).
PCA revealed two factors with eigenvalues greater
than one. A varimax rotation of the two-factor solution resulted in a theoretically appealing factor pattern. In line with the literature, whereas the goal setting, mission and business domain variables had
high positive loadings on one factor, the environment
scanning, strategy generation and evaluation, functional involvement, plan control and correction
mechanisms and system flexibility variables had high
positive loadings on a second factor. The former factor was labelled as mission statement comprehensiveness and the latter factor as strategy planning.
The rotated factor loadings are displayed in Table 3.

Regression Analysis
The substantive relationship between mission statement comprehensiveness and performance was
examined through regression analysis. While Table 4
below reports the descriptive statistics and correlations between the variables, the regression estimation results are presented in Table 5. As anticipated, the results indicate a significant positive
influence of mission statement comprehensiveness on
performance. The more comprehensive the statement
the better the performance. The regression coefficient
is significant at the p 0.05 level. Further, in line
with expectations, strategy planning also has a positive influence on performance with the regression
coefficient being significant at the p 0.05 level.
However, no significant effect was found of either
mission-strategy interaction or organisation size on
performance.

Discussion and Conclusion

Since the inception of the business-policy discipline,
scholars have emphasised the importance of
formulating a mission statement as the first fundamental step in the strategic-management process.
However, the thesis that a mission statement influences organisational performance has remained an
article of faith because of the absence of any corroborating empirical evidence. Not surprisingly then, there
has been a gradual erosion of managerial confidence
in mission statements. Indeed, management practitioners have become increasingly sceptical of
investing valuable organisational resources in
developing mission statements when the returns
from these are uncertain. This is an unfortunate state
of affairs because it threatens to lead to a premature
abandonment of a key managerial tool. It is against
443

MISSION STATEMENTS

Table 2

Correlation Matrix of Independent Variablesa

Variables

Mission statement
Business domain
Goal setting
Environment scanning
Strategy generation and evaluation
Functional participation
Control and correction
System flexibility

0.44
0.33
0.11
0.07
0.12
0.02
0.03

0.34
0.02
0.19
0.15
0.35
0.24

0.19
0.10
0.09
0.23
0.05

0.39
0.51
0.39
0.32

0.36
0.43
0.40

0.56
0.62

0.69

Coefficients 0.30 are significant at p 0.05 and coefficients 0.39 are significant at p 0.01.

Table 3

Factor Loadings (Varimax Rotation)

Variables

Factor 1

Factor 2

Strategy
planning

Mission statement
comprehensiveness

Table 5 Regression Analysis Examining Mission

Statement Performance Relationshipa
Independent variables

Mission statement
Business domain
Goal setting
Environment
scanning
Strategy generation
and evaluation
Functional
participation
Control and
correction
System flexibility
Eigenvalue
Percentage
variance explained

0.06
0.20
0.10
0.65

0.80
0.76
0.70
0.07

0.67

0.01

0.80

0.08

0.80

0.20

0.36

Mission statement
comprehensiveness
Strategy planning
Mission strategy
Organisation size

0.44
0.14
0.11

Adjusted R 2
F-statistic
N

0.23
3.87
38

Standardised regression coefficients are shown.

p = 0.05

0.82
2.90
36

0.06
1.77
60

this backdrop that the present study sought to investigate empirically the relation between mission statements and performance. The findings of the study
are quite encouraging. In line with extant theoretical
work, mission statements were indeed found to be
associated with superior performance after controlling for the effect of strategy planning and organisation size. An important managerial implication of
the finding is that it is probably too early to relegate
mission statements to the shelf.
The current study avoided two important shortcomings of previous work. First, instead of simply
Table 4

Dependent variable: sales growth

performance

measuring the presence-absence of a mission statement (cf. Bart and Baetz, 1998; David, 1989), it also
focused on the content of mission statements.
Clearly, as mission statements are likely to be more
or less valuable depending upon how complete they
are in terms of content, measuring presence absence
alone may be expected to obfuscate the true mission
statement performance relationship. With reference
to content, an exhaustive literature review was carried out to identify the core content components of
a mission statement. This revealed that a mission
statement must articulate the organisations vision,
business domain, competencies and values in order
to facilitate strategy formulation and implementation. All four components were explicitly measured
and taken into account when constructing the mission statement comprehensiveness variable. Second,

Descriptive Statistics and Correlationsa

Variables

Mean

Mission statement comprehensiveness

Strategy planning
Mission strategy
Organisation size
Sales growth

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.90
3.50

S.D.
1.00
1.00
0.92
0.78
1.13

0.00
0.06
0.44
0.30

0.09
0.12
0.44

0.09
0.06

0.00

Coefficients 0.30 are significant at p 0.05 and coefficients 0.39 are significant at p 0.01.

444

European Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, August 2003

MISSION STATEMENTS

unlike prior work, the present study also focussed on

the process dimension of mission statements. Following scholarly advice that the content-process dichotomisation is unnecessary and may possibly lead to
spurious findings (see Pearce et al., 1987; Powell,
1992), in addition to mission statement content the
regularity with which the statements were reviewed
and updated was also measured and included in the
mission statement comprehensiveness variable. By
addressing
content
and
process
issues
simultaneously this inquiry was able to find initial
empirical evidence for a positive influence of mission
statements on performance.
A note of caution would be appropriate at this point.
As the present study is based on a small sample its
findings must be regarded as tentative. Future
research that cross-validates this study using larger
samples would make a useful contribution to the
literature. Additional limitations of the present
research also offer opportunities for future scholars.
As data for this study was collected in the multimedia domain, the findings cannot be generalised to
other contexts. Further research is therefore urgently
needed to investigate whether mission statements
also influence performance in less volatile environments. Such research should pay particular attention
to the process issue. In less volatile environments
there may not be much of a premium attached to mission statement review and revision because competitive conditions remain stable. On the other hand,
revisiting the mission statement regularly may prove
beneficial by ensuring that the mission plays a real
role in strategy development and that it does not get
consigned to the background. Future work should
also examine the mission performance relation
using objective measures of performance. A subjective measure was used in the present case because of
the refusal of small privately-held firms to disclose
their actual performance figures and the non-availability of actual performance figures in the case of
business units of diversified firms. Although there is
evidence of convergent validity of subjective and
objective measures of performance (Dess and Robinson, 1984), findings that are based on actual performance data would generate greater confidence in the
mission performance relation.
In view of the small sample size, this study is best
viewed as exploratory. Importantly however, the
study does provide preliminary empirical support
for the long held view that mission statements have
an effect on bottom line performance. A key message
for management practitioners that emerges from this
study is that it would be unwise at this juncture to
abandon the mission statement discipline. Rather,
practitioners would do well to articulate mission
statements that clearly express their organisations
vision, business domain, competencies and values.
These four elements are interconnected and only
together they furnish the holistic backdrop that is
necessary for the formulation and implementation of
European Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, August 2003

mutually consistent functional and organisational

strategies. As such, practitioners need to carefully
think about the organisations vision in the sense of
what the organisation aspires to in the future. In
addition, they must delineate the business domain
within which the vision is to be achieved and they
must identify the competencies that are present
within the organisation or need to be developed in
order to attain the vision. Moreover, they should
highlight the values that are to guide the organisation. Managers, especially in dynamic fast-moving
environments, would also do well to regularly
review and if necessary revise their organisations
mission statement to guarantee that it is appropriate
under the current circumstances. As a useful statement may lose its value because of changes in the
business context, the organisations vision, business
domain, competencies and values need to be regularly re-evaluated to ensure that they still constitute
a good foundation for strategy formulation and
implementation.
Concluding, it would seem too early yet to discontinue with mission statements. While clearly much
more research is needed to establish a definitive link
between mission statements and performance, the
research reported in this article does point in the
direction of such a link. Hopefully, the findings of
the present investigation will encourage further
empirical studies that employ better research designs
than has been the case in the past. In the context of
further research, it is regrettable that theory testing
and new theory development in the mission statement field have almost come to a standstill. This does
not presage well for the development of the field.
More research would not only contribute to a better
understanding of the mission strategy performance relationship, it is also likely to enhance managerial confidence in mission statements by generating
prescriptions that are empirically grounded.

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JATINDER S. SIDHU,
Erasmus University Rotterdam, Department of
Strategy & Environment,
P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR
Rotterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: jsidhu@
fbk.eur.nl
Jatinder Sidhu is Assistant Professor of Strategic
Management at Erasmus
University. His current research centres on the concept of organisation mission, its measurement, and
its antecedents and consequences.

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European Management Journal Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 439446, August 2003