Mission statements: Is it time to shelve them?

A mission statement has long been argued to lead to better performance by aiding strategy formulation and implementation. Empirical evidence to support this argument is however lacking in the literature. This has led to a considerable waning of managerial confidence in mission statements in recent years. This article reports the results of an empirical investigation into the dynamic multi-media domain in The Netherlands. Statement content as well as process were taken into account when studying the impact of mission statements. The findings are consistent with the thesis that a mission statement can lead to superior performance. Managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

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