Planning

Mission Statement

As we saw in an earlier chapter, the mission statement describes the purpose of your organization – the reason for its existence. It tells the reader what the organization is committed to doing. It can be very concise, like the one from Mary Kay Inc. (the cosmetics company): "To enrich the lives of women around the world". Or it can be as detailed as the one from Harley-Davidson: "We fulfill dreams inspired by the many roads of the world by providing extraordinary motorcycles and customer experiences. We fuel the passion for freedom in our customers to express their own individuality".

What about Notes-4-You? What should your mission statement say? A simple, concise mission statement for your enterprise could be the following: "To provide high-quality class notes to college students". On the other hand, you could prepare a more detailed statement that explains what the company is committed to doing, who its customers are, what its focus is, what goods or services it provides, and how it serves its customers. In that case, your mission statement might be the following:

"Notes-4-You is committed to earning the loyalty of college students through its focus on customer service. It provides high-quality, dependable, competitively priced class notes that help college students master complex academic subjects".