Learning Objectives

 Be able to define mission and vision.

 See how values are important for mission and vision.

Mission and vision are statements from the organization that answer questions about who we are, what we value, and
where we are going.

Importance of Vision, Mission in Strategic Direction

The development of vision and mission statements is important for a strategic direction of an organization. Without
developing a mission and vision, an organization cannot become overly successful and cannot identify, distinguish or
explain itself to its employees and customers alike.

The Mission Statement

A mission statement communicates the organization’s reason for being, and how it aims to serve its key stakeholders. A
mission statement is important for an organization because it defines the business, products or services, and customers.
In addition, a mission statement allows the organization to differentiate itself from competitors by answering three key
questions: What do we do, for whom do we do it, and what is the benefit? Mission statements build and identify the
relationships between employees and the mission, the organization itself, the customer, suppliers, and co-workers.
Equally important, the mission statement signals what your business is all about to your customers, employees, suppliers
and the community. Mission statements are often longer than vision statements.

A typical mission statement contains three components:

1. The overall purpose of your business - what are you trying to achieve
2. What your business does – products and services it provides
3. What’s important to your business – the values your business live by

Examples:

Dell Computers: “With the power of Dell’s team of talented people, we are able to provide customers with superb value;
high quality, relevant technology; customized systems; superior service and support; and products and services that are
easy to buy and use.”

 Purpose: provide customers with superb value technology

 Business: high quality, relevant technology; customized systems
 Values: superior service and support, easy to buy, easy to use

Pfizer Pharmaceutical: “We dedicate ourselves to humanity’s quest for longer, healthier, happier lives through innovation
in pharmaceutical, consumer and animal health products.”

 Purpose: quest for longer, healthier, happier lives

 Business: pharmaceutical, consumer and animal health products
 Values: innovation

Unilever: “Our mission I s to add vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with
brands that help people look good, feel good and get more out of life.”

 Purpose: add vitality to life

 Business: nutrition, hygiene and personal care
 Values: look good, feel good and get more out of life

The Vision Statement

A vision statement, in contrast, is a future-oriented declaration of the organization’s purpose and aspirations. In many
ways, you can say that the mission statement lays out the organization’s “purpose for being,” and the vision statement
then says, “based on that purpose, this is what we want to become.” A vision statement describes how the future will look
if the organization achieves its mission. A realistic, credible, and attractive vision statement attracts commitment and
energizes people, while creating meaning in workers’ lives. In addition, a well thought out vision statement bridges the
present with the future while establishing a standard for excellence.

Typically, vision statements are relatively brief, as in the case of Starbuck’s vision statement, which reads: “Establish
Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as
we grow (Starbucks, 2008).” Sometimes the vision statement is also captured in a short tag line, such as Toyota’s “moving
forward” statement that appears in most communications to customers, suppliers, and employees (Toyota, 2008).
Examples:

BDO: “BDO Foundation aims to be a leading, dynamic and responsive organization that creates opportunities and supports
initiatives to improve the country’s socio-economic development.”

Globe Telecom, Inc.: “We see a Philippines where families' dreams come true, businesses flourish, and the nation is
admired.”

Petron: “To be the leading provider of total customer solutions in the energy sector and its derivative businesses.”

Jollibee: “Jollibee Foundation envisions that every Filipino is able to access basic community services and live a life defined
by dignity, purpose and active participation in nation-building.”

Exploring Ideas and Opportunities

Goals:

 Identify sources for new business ideas.

 Recognize different business opportunities.
 Identify you own personal goals.

Opportunities - possibilities that arise from existing conditions

Look for Ideas

Ideas - thoughts or concepts that come from creative thinking.

Ideas come from a variety of sources including hobbies and interests, past experiences, discovery and invention.

Hobbies and interests – many people get business ideas from their hobbies or interests (state examples). Making a list
can help you decide what business is right for you.

Past experiences – past experiences and jobs can help you come up with ideas for business. People who excel at their
jobs have generally learned much about their profession and how to satisfy their needs.

Discovery and invention – someone may invent or discover something new. The next step would be research and find
out if the idea can be patented, who the competition is, the manufacturing process, and the target market.

Investigate Opportunities

 Research (Internet, library, other entrepreneurs) can help you determine what is missing in a particular market.
 Trade shows – special meetings where companies of the same or related industry display their products

Compare Different Opportunities

For each business opportunity, you should consider:

 Is there a market in my community for this kind of business? Will people buy my product or service?
 How much money is required to start the business? Will I be able to borrow that much money?
 How many hours per week will it take to run the business? Am I willing to commit that much time?
 What are the risks associated with this business? What is the rate of business failure?
 Do I have the right background to run this business?
 What income will this business generate?

One of the best strategies for learning about different careers is to interview people who currently have those careers.
Tell students that is not too early to start interviewing successful entrepreneurs and business people to find out what it
takes for success.

Setting Goals
For everything you do in life, you set goals. Goals help you stay on track and follow through with your plans.
SMART Goals

Specific Goals should be specific and answer “What?”, “Why?”, and “how?”
Measurable Goals should establish ways to measure your progress
Attainable Goals should not be too far out of reach
Realistic Goals should represent things to which you are willing to commit
 Timely Goals should have a timeframe for achievement

Example: I will learn more about starting my own business.

Goal I will learn more about starting my own catering business by obtaining information from th
SMART Goal the owners of three local catering business by the end of the month.

Financial Goals - include how much money you will earn and how quickly you will pay off debts.
 Realistic
 Measurable
 Easily attainable in the time allotted.

Nonfinancial goals may include:

 personal satisfaction
 serving a community need
 enjoying personal independence

Common Pitfalls in Entrepreneurship

Although learning from mistakes is a big part of developing experience, certain common pitfalls are to be always
avoided. Some threats and mistakes are big enough to topple entire enterprises. There are times when you need to
carefully assess your capital and form a long-term plan. You might need decent savings in order to carry out the more
complicated parts of product development. Conversely, being overtly stingy with your investment might be a bad idea as
it closes your doors to a multitude of choices. For example, it is always a good idea to keep some cash aside for
marketing and advertising expenditures that are vital in capturing the market.

3 of the common entrepreneurial errors that you can easily avoid:

Over or under spending.

Money is always the most vital concern in any business. Everyone knows you need to spend money in order to make
some, but taking this idea as an absolute rule might be too extreme.

Having a small margin.

Having a small profit margin might seem like a good idea in the beginning. However, if there are plans for growth and
expansion then one should set high goals. In order to expand your business, you will need an inflow of more capital. This
means that at some point in time, you will raise the cost of your products. It is better to do so in the beginning, as it can
ruin the bonds with customers when they see prices soaring randomly.

Not being aware of competitors.

Know that the market is always diversifying and developing at a rate beyond your control. To think that there are no
direct competitors can disillusion you and make you lose your market share targets.

Being aware of industry standards is part of knowing about your competition. Finding how your competitors operate
and studying their products will help you close the gap between your current performance and targets.

Causes of Failure in Entrepreneurship

 Management incompetence
 Lack of experience in the business concerned
 Poor financial and inventory control
 Misappropriation
 Failure to develop a strategic plan
 Uncontrolled growth
 Poor location of the business
 Incorrect pricing
 Inability to find effective markets

5 Common Entrepreneurial Pitfalls

 Being too strict (or too generous) with your budget
 Setting impossible goals. We are only human, and not reaching your goals gets disappointing and disheartening
over time. Setting attainable goals is key to keeping morale high and maintaining forward progress.
  Not outsourcing some of your responsibilities. Even if your company started as a one-person show, it’s
common for outsourcing to become necessary as the business grows. For example, if you hate writing content
and learning to blog for your business, but you need written material, outsource your content to a professional
content-writer. If you need a functional website, but the idea of coding makes your hands shake, find a web
designer to help you. Entrepreneurs who outsource time-consuming responsibilities will find that they have
more time, energy, and effort to focus on growing their business.
 Focusing more on sales than you do on building relationships.
 Being too afraid of the unknown to take a risk. Doing anything entrepreneurial requires you to get cozy with
risk. If you can’t do that, you need to get out of the game. While it's true that risk is an essential component of
entrepreneurship, you must calculate it carefully, and have a backup plan at every turn.

How to Avoid the Pitfalls in entrepreneurship

 Know your business in depth
 Develop a solid business plan and a realistic achievement budget for your business
 Manage financial resources by banking all the money from the sale; making payments prudently through the
bank and mostly on what is budgeted and making regular bank reconciliations.
 Understand and interpret financial statements
 Learn to manage people effectively by making them feel to be part of the business but control, direct,
coordinate, organize the activities firmly.
 Be mindful always that as an entrepreneur you are also a manager of the business who is supposed to perform
management functions as follows:
o Organizing
o Coordinating
o Controlling
o Directing the business activities almost on daily basis.

Inside the Entrepreneurial Mind: From Ideas to Reality

One of the tenets of entrepreneurship is the ability to create new and useful ideas that solve the problems and
challenges that people face every day. For example, entrepreneurs invent new products and services, develop new
technology, discover new knowledge, improve existing products or services, and find different way of providing more
valuable goods and services with fewer resources.

Creativity is the ability to develop new ideas and discover new ways of looking at problems and opportunities.

Innovation is the ability to apply creative solutions to problems and opportunities that enhance or enrich people’s lives.

Entrepreneurship is the result of a disciplined, systematic process of applying creativity and innovation to needs and
opportunities in the marketplace. Innovation must be a constant process because most ideas do not work and most
innovations fail.

A paradigm is a preconceived idea of what the world is, what it should be like, and how it should operate. These ideas
become so deeply rooted in our minds that they become blocks to creative thinking, even though they may be outdated,
obsolete, and no longer relevant. A paradigm may also be defined in the following ways:

 A shared set of assumptions—The way we perceive the world helping to explain and predict its behavior.
 An overarching model—A concept that is either so widely accepted, or applicable to so many different areas,
that it can be used as a type of template for understanding.
 A set of rules and regulations, written or unwritten—It establishes or defines boundaries and tells you how to
behave inside the boundaries.

Paradigms stifle creativity when they limit or restrict the way people think about possible solutions. Paradigms set
parameters and cause thinking to be based on past “rules and procedures” rather than open, creative thinking that can
lead to innovative solutions. Creative and innovative thought must break through the barriers that paradigms can
present.

Techniques for Improving the Creative Process

Strategic Management Process

…
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James Tallant (Author), 2009, Importance of Vision, Mission, and Values in Strategic Direction, Munich, GRIN Verlag,
https://www.grin.com/document/167258

http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmanagement/chapter/4-3-the-roles-of-mission-vision-and-values/

Bart, C. K., & Baetz, M. C. (1998). The relationship between mission statements and firm performance: An exploratory
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Bart, C. K., Bontis, N., & Taggar, S. (2001). A model of the impact of mission statements on firm performance. Management
Decision, 39(1), 19–35.

Anonymous. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_planning Accessed date: 22/09/2012

Anonymous. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_statement Accessed date: 22/09/2012

Cynthia L. Greene. 2009. Entrepreneurship: Ideas in Action

Paul von Wittgenstein. 2012. Vision and Mission . CanadAsia Management Development Ltd.

https://www.slideshare.net/selectee4/vision-and-mission-of-companies

https://www.slideshare.net/lidhiyababu/vision-mission-goals-and-objectives

Entrepreneurship: Ideas in Action © Cengage Learning/South-Western

http://www.mosineeschools.org/faculty/bschilling/bom/EIAChap%2001.pdf

https://www.omahamediagroup.com/blog/article/common-pitfalls-in-entrepreneurship

Anthony Moonga. Entrepreneurship and Innovation

DAVID MOLNAR. February 2017. 5 Common Entrepreneurial Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
https://www.business.com/articles/david-molnar-avoiding-failure/

https://www.slideshare.net/FaizanAli100/inside-the-entrepreneurial-mind-70561914

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