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The Mission Statement

A Corporate Reporting Tool With a Past, Present, and Future

North Georgia College and State University, lswilliams{at}ngcsu.edu

This article discusses a comprehensive study of the mission statements of Fortune 1000 higher-performing and lower-performing firms to assess the current state of the mission statement. After content analysis of these firms' mission statements, the components included for these two groups of firms were compared. The higher-performing firms included eight of the nine recommended components more often than did the lower-performing firms, and the differences were significant for three of those components. Also, using textual analysis methods, this study identified strategies employed by these firms to create a strong identity—or internal ethos—and image—or external ethos. The two groups used somewhat similar strategies for building corporate identities and images but differed in the values they emphasized and the goodwill recipients they targeted.

Key Words: corporate mission statement • corporate reporting • corporate identity • corporate image • ethos

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