Creating a Mission Statement

The first step in the strategic planning process is an assessment of the market. Businesses depend on consumers for their existence. If you are facing a rapidly growing consumer base, you probably will plan differently than if your clientele is stable or shrinking. If you are lucky enough to be in a business where brand loyalty still prevails, you may take risks that others cannot afford to take. Before you begin to assess the market, it is important that you complete a careful assessment of your own business and its goals.

The outcome of this self-assessment process is known as the mission statement. According to Glueck and Jauch, "The mission can be seen as a link between performing some social function and the more specific targets or objectives of the organization." Another definition states that the mission statement is a "term that refers to identifying an organization's current and future business. It is viewed as the primary objective of the organization".

Because these authors are writing for an audience of managers or would-be managers of larger businesses, their definitions may sound a bit lofty. If, however, you go back to the earlier example of a successful small business, you can see it started with a clear direction--what was to be achieved and, in a broad sense, how best to achieve it. While your own goal may be to survive, make a profit, be your own boss or even be rich, your business must first perform a social function, i.e., I must serve someone. Given this you must determine (1) the ultimate purpose and (2) the specific targets or objectives of your business.

The investors of Franchise A discussed above clearly had determined they wanted a business with the potential for international sales. With this objective they were able to determine the kind of franchise they wanted and the terms. They knew that some goods and services were more likely to be marketable overseas than others. Early research helped them determine which areas of the world would be the best places to start. This, in turn, helped them to further narrow their list of potential products. Also, they were able to assess the financial demands of various approaches to overseas markets. Their financial analysis enabled them to affirm that a franchise would be one of the alternatives with a high profit potential. All of these directions were derived from an initially vague desire to "go international." And, as the investors developed their ideas into a clearly defined business purpose, many issues were discovered that were critical to success.

Defining Your Business

A primary concern in defining a mission statement is addressing the question "What business are you in?" Answering this may seem fairly easy: however, it can be a complex task. Determining the nature of your business should not be strictly tied to the specific product or service you currently produce. Rather, it must be tied to the result of your output--your social function--and the competencies you have developed in producing that output.

Management theorist Peter Drucker suggests that if the railroad companies of the early 1900s or the wagonmakers of the 1800s had defined their business purpose as that of developing a firm position in the transportation business, rather than limiting themselves strictly to the rail or wagon business, they might still enjoy the market positions they once did. The obvious concern here is to ensure that you do not define your business too narrowly, leaving yourself open to economic changes or competitive challenges that make you vulnerable. The primary reason the service company mentioned earlier (Franchise B) failed was that it lacked a consumer base. These consumers were already being served by the current market. In another example, an entrepreneur developed a device to provide greater security for homes and vehicles. But, by focusing on the product rather than the service it was meant to provide, he failed to consider other services that already provided essentially the same level of protection at lower costs.

Your Firm's Philosophy

Once you have defined your mission statement, the next step is to define the firm's basic philosophy. Such a statement will help explain to your employees and associates how you would like to see the firm operate. Are you a risk taker, or would you prefer to build your business slowly from a solid base? How will you relate to customers, suppliers and competitors? What type of community involvement do you plan for your business, e.g., participation in recycling and volunteer activities? These questions, and many more, need clear answers to help your employees make operational decisions and conduct themselves in a manner consistent with your wishes. Much has been written about this concept in business literature under the term corporate culture. A clear explanation of your business's philosophy in the mission statement will provide a basis for the development of a consistent business culture.

Setting Your Firm's Goals

The next step is to set clear goals to guide and maintain the business on a path consistent with its mission. Daniel Robey provides an excellent list of the key functions of business goals. To summarize his comments, goals serve to:

Justify or legitimize the organization's activities.

Focus attention and set constraints for member behavior.

Identify the nature of the organization and elicit commitment.

Reduce uncertainty by clarifying what the organization is pursuing.

Help an organization to learn and adapt by showing discrepancies between goals and actual progress (providing feedback).

Serve as a standard of assessment for organization members.

Provide a rationale for organization design.

At one time, it was widely assumed that the owner of a company set that firm's goals. Glueck and Jauch refer to this as a "trickled-own" theory because it was assumed that others in the organization simply accepted these goals. Chester Barnard, believing that it was naive to assume such ready acceptance, suggested that organizational objectives arose from a consensus of the employees. This "trickle-up" theory, however, is also naive in assuming that an organization is simply the sum of individual perspectives, and that it can achieve direction from an unguided and usually disparate group of people. Modern theories spring from combinations of these two approaches, suggesting goal development is a complex goal-bargaining process that enjoys some advantages of both basic theories.

Since the owner of Your own company you deal with problems on an almost daily basis. Being familiar with effective Problem Solving
Techniques can dramatically alter the development of your business.

Even though you Find solutions to your problems, many people aren't really proficient in the ways of problem solving, and if
solutions fail, they mistake themselves for misjudgment. The problem is typically not misjudgment but rather a lack of skill.

This guide Educates you in a few problem solving techniques. Critical to the success of a company faced with problems is your
understanding of just what the issues are, defining themfinding solutions, and selecting the best solutions for your scenarios.

What's a problem. A dilemma is a situation that presents difficulty or perplexity. Problems come in many shapes and sizes. By Way
of Example, it may be:

Something did Not function as it should and you also do not understand how or why. Something you will need is inaccessible, and
something has to be found to take its place. Workers are undermining a brand new app. The market is not purchasing. What should
you do to survive? Clients are complaining. How do you manage their complaints?

Where do Problems come from? Problems arise from every aspect of human and mechanical functions in addition to in nature. Some
problems we cause ourselves (e.g., a hasty decision has been made and the wrong individual was selected for the job); other
problems are caused by forces beyond our control (e.g., a warehouse is struck by lightning and burns ).

Issues are a Natural, everyday occurrence of lifestyle, and so as to suffer less from the anxieties and frustrations they cause,
we need to learn to manage them in a rational, logical manner.

If we accept The simple fact that issues will appear on a regular basis, for many different reasons, and by a variety of sources,
we could: learn how to approach problems from an objective point of view; learn how to expect some of them; and stop a number of
them from becoming larger issues.

To accomplish This, you need to learn the process of problem solving. Here, we will teach you in the fundamental procedures of
difficulty. It's a step-by-step manual which you can easily follow and practice. As you follow this guide, you will come to
develop some strategies of your own that function in concert with all the difficulty process described within this guide.

Keep in mind, However, as you read this is not a thorough analysis of the artwork of problem-solving but rather a sensible,
systematic, and simplified, yet effective, way to approach problems considering the limited time and information most business
owners and managers have. Additionally, some issues are so complex that they need the further aid of experts in the field, so be
prepared to accept that a number of problems are beyond just one individual's ability, ability, and desire to succeed.

In order to Appropriately identify the issue and its causes, you have to do some study. To do this, simply list each of the
preceding queries in checklist form, and maintaining the checklist useful, go about gathering as much info as you possibly can.
Keep in mind the relative importance and urgency of the problem, as well as your own time limitations. Then interview the people
involved with the issue, asking them the questions on your own checklist.

After you've Gathered the information and reviewed it, you'll have a fairly clear comprehension of the issue and what the major
causes of the problem are. At this point, you can research the causes farther through observation and extra interviewing. At this
time you should summarize the problem as briefly as possible, list all the causes you've identified, and list all of the regions
the issue appears to be affecting.

Now, You're prepared to assess your understanding of the problem. You've already identified the issue, broken down it into all its
aspects, narrowed down it, done research on it, and you're avoiding typical roadblocks. On a large mat, write down the problem,
including each the variables, the regions it affects, and what the consequences are. To get a better visual understanding, you may
also wish to diagram the problem demonstrating cause and effect.

Study what you Have written down or diagrammed. Call on your workers and talk about your analysis with them. Based on their
feedback, you might decide to revise. As soon as you believe you completely understand the causes and consequences of the issue,
summarize the issue as succinctly and as easily as possible.

Proceed through your Long list of alternatives and cross-out those that clearly won't work. Those notions are not wasted because
they influence on those ideas that remain. To put it differently, the very best ideas you select may be revised depending on the
thoughts that wouldn't work. With the rest of the solutions, use what's called the"Force Field Analysis Technique." This is
fundamentally an analysis technique which divides down the solution into its positive results and negative outcomes. To do this,
write each solution you are contemplating on a separate piece of paper. Below the solution, draw a line vertically down the center
of the newspaper. Label one column benefits and one column disadvantages.

Now, some more Analytical thinking comes into play. Assessing each facet of the solution and its influence on the problem, listing
each of the benefits and disadvantages you may consider.

1 way to help You think of the benefits and disadvantages is to role-play each solution. Call in a few of your employees and
perform out each alternative. Ask them for their reactions. Based on what you see and on their opinions, you'll have a clearer
idea of the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative you are considering.

After you Complete this process for every solution, pick those options that have the Many advantages. Now, you should be
considering only two or three.

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