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Mission and vision statements are an integral part of strategic planning for any company that intends to achieve a clearly defined and properly articulated goal. By extension, mission and vision statements are also essential for creating and supporting an effective performance management system, since they provide overall guidance for the efforts undertaken by the company. Admittedly, the statements themselves are not enough, and they do not guarantee a positive result in terms of performance unless followed by the concrete actions aimed at implementing them in practice (Aguinis, 2014). Yet while mission, vision, and the strategic plan they result in are not sufficient for effective performance alone, they are undoubtedly necessary, which is why most companies craft them carefully. Almarai, a Saudi food and beverage company, offers an outwardly focused vision and a mission statement that identifies the company’s products as well as sends a message on their supposedly unique features. However, it leaves out many components from the targeted consumer groups to managerial philosophy, which makes it inferior to that of SADAFCO, a competing company in the same industry.
As the vast majority of the contemporary firms, Almarai presents its mission and vision alike on the company’s website. According to it, the mission Almarai sets for itself is to provide “quality and nutritious food and beverages” (2018). Moreover, the company claims that its products are meant to “enrich the consumers’ lives every day” (Almarai, 2018). The vision statement, as formulated on the website, is “to be the consumers’ preferred choice by leading in chosen markets with superior food and beverage products” (Almarai, 2018). Thus, at their most basic level, both mission and vision statements designed by Almarai set the long-term goals for the organization and, as such, are evidence of strategic planning inherent in the company’s culture. Evaluating whether this planning coincides with specific actions designed to transfer Almarai’s mission and vision into life is quite another matter that is outside the scope of this paper. However, the statements themselves deserve a thorough evaluation as well to see how much they correspond to the ideal mission and vision statements.
Almarai succeeds in implementing and demonstrating several elements necessary in the ideal mission and vision statements. The vision statement is formulated in a simple language and sets a laudable goal – thus, it is straightforward, understandable, and inspiring, as it should be (Aguinis, 2014). It is also outwardly focused, meaning it concentrates on what the company does for society rather than what it does to its product (Engel, 2018). As for the mission statement, it describes the basic products offered by the company – food and beverages – and hints at their supposedly unique features, which are both required elements (Aguinis, 2014). Thus, it corresponds to at least two criteria of an ideal mission statement.
However, it does not display many other characteristics of an idea statement, and the downsides are more numerous than merits. To begin with, Almarai’s mission statement does not identify its customers, thus leaving open the question of which population group they intend to serve. Apart from that, the vision statement does not mention the firm’s self-concept of business or managerial philosophy. Other components, from timeline verifiability to technologies used, are also assent, although they are all necessary for an exemplary vision statement (Aguinis, 2014). Thus, the mission and vision statements of Almarai demonstrate some components of a perfect composition but are missing much more, which makes them less than ideal.
This contrast becomes even more evident when one compares Almarai’s mission and vision to those of SADAFCO, a competing company in the same field. Just like Almarai, SADAFCO’s vision is to be “the customers’ brand of choice” (2020). The mission also refers to the company’s products – foods and beverages – and nutrition as their primary feature (SADAFCO, 2020). Yet apart from these, SADAFCO also offers several components that are utterly absent in Almarai’s statements. For instance, SADAFCO identifies their targeted customers as belonging to “all age groups,” which, albeit vague, is better than not outlining this category at all (SADAFCO, 2020). Additionally, it states that the company always intends to “create maximum shareholder value through teamwork” (SADAFCO, 2020). This claim makes it evident that SADAFCO endorses stakeholder theory rather than stockholder theory and, therefore, sends a clear message on the company’s managerial philosophy – yet another component of good mission/vision statements (Aguinis, 2014). These facts make SADAFCO’s mission and vision much better articulated and, as a consequence, more efficient as the means of planning for the future of the firm.
One should not underestimate the potential dangers of having a flawed mission statement. The effective functioning of any organization, including a business enterprise, is a result of synergy between the activities of multiple stakeholders. It is a common misconception that mission and vision are meant exclusively for higher leadership, but, in truth, they should guide the actions of all employees on all levels (Taiwo et al., 2016). To achieve this purpose, statements should be comprehensive enough and encompass all or at least the majority of essential components – otherwise, efficiency begins to suffer. For instance, Almarai’s vision statement does not include managerial philosophy, which leaves the employees and leaders to solve this question for themselves. It may cause some managers who adhere to stockholder theory to pursue shareholder interests at all costs, while those who accept stakeholder theory try to benefit all stakeholders involved. SADAFCO, on the other hand, will not have such problems due to a clear emphasis on stakeholder theory in its mission ad vision statements. This lack of cohesion is just one example of how insufficiently thorough mission and vision statements may affect the company’s performance adversely.
As one can see, Saudi food and beverage companies offer mission and vision statements of varied quality with different potential consequences for their performance. Almarai identifies its products and the unique features they supposedly have as well as articulates the ambition to be the customers’ favorite brand, but never even refers to who these customers are. Other elements of good mission and vision statements, from the self-concept of business to technologies used in production, are also absent. This is a sharp contrast with the mission and vision formulated by SAFADCO, another Saudi company in the same field. Unlike its competitor, SADAFCO identifies its customers and clearly point at stockholder theory as the managerial philosophy shared by the company’s personnel. These characteristics make SADAFCO’s statements more articulate while still concise and understandable, which makes them a better foundation for strategic planning than those of Almarai. One may assume that Almarai may suffer from a lack of cohesion due to the absence of openly declared managerial philosophy as well as other issues caused by insufficiently thorough mission and vision statements.
References
Aguinis, H. (2014). Performance management (3rd edition). Pearson Education.
Almarai (2018). Mission, vision, & values. Almarai. Web.
Engel, M. L. (2018). Crafting the ideal mission statement for your organization. Leader to Leader, 2018(87), 8-12.
SADAFCO (2020). Our vision, mission, and values. SADAFCO. Web.
Taiwo, A. A., Lawal, F. A., & Agwu, M. E. (2016). Vision and mission in organization: Myth or heuristic device? The International Journal of Business & Management, 4(3), 127-134.
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