One of our topics in Ch. 2 is mission statements, and we give examples of three of them we think are good : Merck, Hard Rock Cafe, and Arnold Palmer Hospital. When I cover this material, I usually ask students to each find a concise one of their own to share with the class.
The Wall Street Journal’s (Nov.26,2010) front page article provides a few mission statements that might be a bit clearer. Let me share these with you:
Ingersoll-Rand: “World leader in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable and efficient environments”. Translation: the company makes locks, A/C equipment, and battery-powered golf cars. The chair of the Center for Plain Language responds, “I picture a large swath of Amazonian jungle under the gentle and effective care of Ingersoll-Rand”.
Parker Hannifin: “The global leader in motion and control technologies”. Their main products are pumps and valves. The Journal writes, “the description might equally apply to a maker of lingerie”.
TRW Automative Holdings: “The global leader in active and passive safety”. The rest of us call these brakes and seat belts.
DXP Enterprises: “A leading products and service distributor focused on adding value and total cost savings solutions to MRO and OEM customers in virtually every industry since 1908”. In plainer language, a VP says we distibute “pumps, tools, nuts, bolts and safety supplies such as hard hats”.
Finally, my favorite, Sykes Enterprises: “A global leader in providing customer contact management solutions and services in the business processing outsourcing arena”. Translation: they operate call centers and help desks.
Discussion questions:
1. Why is it so hard to write a good mission statement?
2. What do you do when you are a company like 3M, which makes about 55,000 diverse products?
3. Why is the Arnold Palmer Hospital statement (see Ch.2) so well written?