Mission and Vision Statements and the Companys Strategic Direction - Research Paper Example

Mission and Vision ments and the Company’s Strategic Direction Part Mission and Vision ments Hewlett-Packard (HP) is a renowned technology company with global operations. The company, which is based in the US, is among the top 100 most valuable brands globally. According to Forbes (2014), the HP brand is ranked 36 among the most valuable brands and position 80 among the Global 2000 with a market capitalization of $62.98 billion. HP’s successful growth can largely be attributed to its corporate strategy including its mission and vision. HP has a unique company vision and mission. The company does not have clear statements of its corporate mission and vision. However, it has developed and adopted a unique system known as “The HP Way”. This is a unique ideology or philosophy that refers to the way things are done at HP (Lacy & Mullins, 2002). Therefore, although the company lacks clear mission and vision statements, the elements of these are captured in the company’s shared values and corporate objectives. These are stated below. HP’s Shared Values Achievement and contribution Meaningful innovation Trust and respect for individuals Uncompromising integrity Results through teamwork(Hewlett-Packard Development Company, 2015). HP’s Corporate Objectives Global citizenship Leadership capability Market leadership Commitment to employees Customer loyalty Profit Growth (Hewlett-Packard Development Company, 2015). Although HP lacks specific mission and vision statements, the shared values and corporate objectives have some of the key elements of effective mission and vision statements. To evaluate HP’s mission and vision statements as captured in “The HP Way”, an evaluation matrix will be important. The evaluation matrix below (Table 1) comprises of three columns. The first column contains the salient elements of the mission statement based on Zainbooks website. According to the website, mission statements should contain at least nine elements including; 1. Customers – identifies the company’s customers (Zainbooks.com, 2014). 2. Products/services – identifies the company’s main products and or services (Zainbooks.com, 2014). 3. Markets – identifies the specific geographic market for the company(Zainbooks.com, 2014). 4. Technology – identifies whether the company employs current technologies(Zainbooks.com, 2014). 5. Concern for growth, profitability, and survival – shows the company’s commitment to financial soundness and growth(Zainbooks.com, 2014). 6. Philosophy – identifies the basic values, principles, aspirations, and beliefs of the company(Zainbooks.com, 2014). 7. Self-concept –identifies the company’s competitive advantage or unique competence (Zainbooks.com, 2014). 8. Public image concern – shows that the company is responsive to social and environmental issues(Zainbooks.com, 2014). 9. Concern for employees – shows that the company values its employees(Zainbooks.com, 2014). The second column identifies which of the salient elements “The HP Way” contains. The final column provides appropriate comments based on each of the salient elements. Table 1: Evaluation of HP’s Mission Salient Elements of Mission Statement Does “The HP Way” meet the Criteria? Comments Customers No One of HP’s corporate objectives is customer loyalty, which shows the company’s commitment to providing value and highest quality to win customer loyalty and respect. However, the objective does not specify the company’s customers. Products/services Yes “The HP Way” identifies the company’s products and services although not specifically. It is clear that HP is a technology firm providing innovative products and services as well as solutions. Markets No The shared values and corporate objectives of HP do not show the company’s market. Technology Yes One of HP’s shared values is meaningful innovation, which means that the company is an inventor and innovator of new and useful technologies. Concern for growth, profitability, and survival Yes The growth element is clearly stated in HP’s corporate objectives. One of the company’s corporate objectives is growth, which explains the company’s nature of identifying and seizing growth opportunities. Philosophy Yes HP has clear company values including trust, respect, teamwork, meaningful innovation, uncompromising integrity, achievement and contribution. Self-concept Yes Through its market leadership corporate objective, HP is committed to becoming the market leader through its competitive advantages in developing and delivering innovative and useful solutions, products, and services. Concern for public image Yes HP has a global citizenship corporate objective to fulfill its social responsibilities. Concern for employees Yes HP is committed to its employees. The company achieves this through rewarding and promoting employees who perform well. It also has a good work environment based on the shared values. Part 2: Strategic Direction The strategic direction is an important element in ensuring the success of a company. A company without a strategic direction is like a plane without a pilot that moves haphazardly. Such a business, like the plane, is likely to collapse. HP has had a clear strategic direction over the years since its formation. The growth and success of the company is proof of this. However, strategy is dynamic and needs to be updated continuously depending on prevailing conditions. Therefore, it is important to analyze HP’s current strategic direction. In analyzing a company’s strategic direction, it is important to distinguish the different levels of strategy. There are three levels of strategy including corporate strategy, business strategy, and functional strategy. The corporate strategy covers the entire company including the various business units. It involves the corporate mission, objectives, leadership, resource allocation, and coordination of all business units. The business strategy focuses on the specific business units of a company. It focuses on how a firm competes within a specific market. Finally, the functional strategy focuses on the functional areas or departments such as human resources, IT, and finance. The business and functional strategies support the corporate strategy (Kozami, 2002, p. 30). HP’s strategic direction will be analyzed based on the three levels of strategy. HP’s Corporate Strategy HP’s corporate strategy is exemplified in its corporate objectives and shared values. The company’s corporate strategy can be viewed as “The HP Way”. This unique way of doing things adopted by the company meets the fundamental elements of a corporate strategy. According to Chartered Quality Institute (2015), the corporate strategy identifies the current position of the company, the desired position of the company, and the specific ways of getting to the desired position. Considering HP’s corporate objectives and shared values, the strategic direction of the company is clear. They present a clear picture of where the company wants to be in the future as well as how the company intends to get there. For example, HP intends to become a market leader in the global technology market. This is clearly noted in its market leadership corporate objective (Hewlett-Packard Development Company, 2015). With regard to the nature of business the company is involved in, it is clear from the corporate objectives that HP deals with technology products, services, and solutions (Hewlett-Packard Development Company, 2015). It is clear that HP only deals in technology solutions, products, and services and not any other activities such as health services, motor vehicle manufacturing, or retail business. The distinction of HP as a technology company is quite clear in its corporate strategy. The company also knows how exactly to get to where it desires to be in the future. HP identifies several factors that are essential to realizing its desired future including identifying and exploring growth opportunities, creating value for shareholders, building customer trust, striving for excellence, teamwork, upholding integrity, developing useful innovations, commitment to employees, building leadership capabilities, and fulfilling its social responsibilities (Hewlett-Packard Development Company, 2015). HP’s Business Strategy HP’soperations are categorized into seven strategic business units. These include Printing, Enterprise Services, HP Financial Services, Enterprise Group, Corporate Investments, Software, and Personal Systems (HP, 2015). Each of these strategic business units focuses on specific operational areas. Porter proposed three generic business strategies including differentiation, focus, and cost leadership. HP has adopted the differentiation strategy. This strategy entails developing products/services with unique attributes such that consumers develop the perception that the products/services are different and or better than competitors’ (Sengupta, Bhattacharya & Sengupta, 2006, p. 121).The company has adopted different strategic business units to enable it produce unique products/services, and solutions. For example, HP is known for producing unique printers, which are perceived as being of better quality than printers from competitors. This business strategy supports HP’s corporate strategy of providing technology solutions, products, and services. HP’s Functional Strategy At the functional level, HP has key departments including Finance, Administration, human resource management, marketing, information technology, procurement, research and development, sales, and operations among others. These departments are responsible for performing specific tasks and responsibilities to support the business and corporate strategies. For example, the marketing department is responsible for conducting market research, developing marketing plans, and implementing the marketing plans. However, for this to happen, the marketing department works with the finance department to get the marketing budget as well as other departments. The human resource department is responsible to recruiting talented personnel to provide the necessary skills in making technology solutions, products, and services. References Chartered Quality Institute. (2015). Elements of corporate strategy. Retrieved from http://www.thecqi.org/Knowledge-Hub/Knowledge-portal/Corporate-strategy/Elements-of-corporate-strategy/ Forbes. (2014). Hewlett-Packard. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/companies/hewlett-packard/ Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (2015).HP corporate objectives and shared values. Retrieved from http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/about-hp/corporate-objectives.html HP. (2015). 2014 annual report. Retrieved from http://h30261.www3.hp.com/~/media/Files/H/HP-IR/documents/reports/2015/hpq-annual-report-2014.pdf Kozami, A. (2002). Business policy and strategic management, 2e. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Lacy, S., & Mullins, R. (2002). What is the HP Way? Silicon Valley Business Journals. Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2002/03/18/story1.html?page=all Sengupta, N., Bhattacharya, M., S., & Sengupta, R., N. (2006). Managing change in organizations. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Zainbooks.com. (2014). Characteristics of a mission statement. Retrieved from http://www.zainbooks.com/books/management/strategic-management_6_characteristics-of-a-mission-statement.html Read More