CORPORATE CORE VALUES

Por María Victoria Retondaro Costaguta

Core values are the basis of a company, the essence of its identity, they support the vision, shape the culture and reflect what the company appreciates. They guide employees and stakeholders in making decisions, planning strategies and interacting with the other members. They make companies run smoothly since values underlie employees’ work.Core values are timeless and unchangeable,sustainable in the long term, they should be unaffected by external factors.

According to Jim Collins, business consultant, organizational values cannot be “set”; they should be discovered. Some companies fall into errorof picking their values randomly and trying to fit them into their organization, but core values are not “one size fits all”. Instead, instituting strong and unique core values brings internal and external advantages:they educate clients and potential customers on what the company is about and clarify the identity of the company and increasingly they are becoming recruiting and retention tools. New employees will bring their own set of values, still these should be aligned with the values of the company that is hiring them.

Core values are not necessarily reliant on the type of company or industry and can vary broadly, even among organizations that do similar types of work. Although, there are some repeated core valuesacross organizations of different kinds:

·         Balance – creating and maintaining a healthy work-life balance for workers

·         Commitment – Committing to great product, service, and other initiatives

·         Community –Contributing to society

·         Diversity – Enhancing diversity and equal opportunity

·         Innovation – Chasing new creative ideas

Some advicesin order to found and maintain company values are:

-          Document and talk about the values with the team very often

-          A set of five or less values is ideal, this way the employees will have them always in mind when making decisions

-          Determine a set of questions to be askedduring selection processesthat aid to determine if a candidate’s values align

-          Generic values won’t establish a strong culture. Companies with unique cultures tend to have unconventionaland even controversial values

-          Focus on establishing strong values early and hiring people that have aligning values

As an example, diversity and equal opportunity are two of Inditex core values. Differently, luxury brand Dior core values underline the constant performance and appreciation for its quality at the highest levels.

Sources:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/core-values.html#ixzz42DnnWJon

https://7geese.com/benefits-of-having-core-values-and-how-to-set-them-in-your-organization/

http://www.visit-france.com/luxury-brands-of-france-dior/

VISION STATEMENT

Por María Victoria Retondaro Costaguta

A wisely crafted vision statement can help transfer the company’s goals to employees and management in a single sentence or a couple of lines. It’s a tool that helps inspire strategic decision making and product development for upcoming years. It should be the framework for the strategic planning of a company.

The first step when shaping a vision statement is to take a careful look at where you are as a company, your place in the industry and your realistic goals for the intermediate and long term.

Vision statements are aspirational; they outline the most important goals for a company, though in general they don’t sketch a plan to accomplish those goals. They allow employees to develop business strategies to attain the identified goals. It describes what a company is aiming to build and works as a benchmark for your future actions.

A vision statement needs to expound where the company wants to be in the close future, it may also have some excitement and motivation to it. Vision statements are future-based and are intended to stimulate and give direction to the employees of the company, rather than to customers. The vision statement should answer the question “Where do I see my business going?”

A vision should be a blend of both aspirational and concrete goals. While the mission helps to clarify the “what” and “who” of a company, a vision adds the “why” and “how”.

It’s key to identify some core values that have been brought to the organization and then ask “What are we doing that aligns with these values? Where are we not aligned with these values as we grow over the next 5/10 years?” Founded on the answers, ask what success will look like if you accomplish those things, this answer should shape your vision statement.

Another tactic when designing a vision statement is to envision that the company will be appearing in a magazine in 5 or 10 years. A short article should be drafted out describing the business in this expected future. What has been its biggest triumph? How many employees does it have? How does this company compare to its competitors?

Vision statements should expanse the imagination while providing direction and clarity. A good vision statement should set priorities while stimulating employees to grow. It should be compelling not just to the high-level execs of your company, but to all employees.

When writing a vision statement, your mission statement and your core competencies can be a valuable starting point for articulating your values.

A ‘golden rule’ when crafting the vision statement: It should require effort to create, but should not require effort to understand. According to Forbes, some questions to help create your company’s vision statement would be:

1. Does it describe what the company does? It shouldn’t, instead describe the resultant outcome.
2. Has it gone beyond simple? If so, re-write. Keep it simple.
3. Is it easy to recite/explain? The least complicated the best.
4. Did you sleep on it? If you think you’ve got the vision statement aright away, stop and re-think about it.

 

Some examples of vision statements would be:

·   Instagram “Capture and Share the World’s Moments”

·      Linkedin “To connect the world’s professionals and make them more productive and successful.”

Sources:

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/businessplanning/g/visionstatement.htm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2013/10/14/the-reason-most-company-vision-statements-arent-effective/#2715e4857a0bbb9efe11cfd8

CORPORATE MISSION STATEMENTS

Por María Victoria Retondaro Costaguta

The mission declares the purpose of a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions. According to Pearce, it distinguishes the organization from others of its type and identifies the scope of its operations in product and market terms. Known as "the starting point for a corporate identity program," mission statements are described as having substantial influence over organizational performance (Leuthesser & Kohli, 1997). As Bart and Tabone précis: "in recent years, mission statements have become recognized in modern management theory as one of the cornerstones of an organization. Mission statements are an essential factor contributing to an organization's enduring success".

Mission statements are designed to attain three basic purposes:

- to inspire and motivate organizational members to higher levels of performance

- to guide resource allocation in a constant way

- to create a sense of balance among the competing and often conflicting interests of various organizational stakeholders

Besides, mission statements deliver a sense of direction, promote shared values amid employees and refocus an organization during crises.

Bart and Tabone consider that the predominant purpose for developing a mission statement is to improve firm performance.

The mission statement should be a concise statement of business strategy and developed from the customer's perspective and it should fit with the vision for the business, should answer three questions:

What do we do? This question should be answered by the real and/or psychological needs that are fulfilled when customers buy the company’s products or services.

How do we do it? The answer should encompass the physical product or service and how it is sold and delivered to customers.

For whom do we do it? This answer should comprise the company’s target client or customer.

What new values are brought? This question is related to what makes this product or service unique.

It is not uncommon for organizations to update their mission statement and generally happens when an organization evolves

A mission statement can be a motivational tool within an organization, allowing employees to work towards one common goal that benefits the organization and themselves. This can also help with factors like employee satisfaction and productivity. Employees need to feel a sense of purpose. Thanks to this sense they can focus more on their daily tasks and they are able to realize the goals of the organization and their role.

While most of published literature on missions tends to praise the benefits of well-articulated and implemented statements, there are some authors like Coulon-Thomas, David, Klemm, Sanderson and Luffman who argue against the value of a mission statement since they report that several well-run companies succeed without one and avoid wasting the time needed to formulate a coherent statement.

A generalized critic to most mission statements is that they are too vague, having involved only a few of stakeholders and being too replete of dull clichés.

On the other hand, Campbell and colleagues reported a positive relationship between a company mission statement and firm performance, as Medley and Wilson who claimed that the existence of a mission statement can result in a 50% increase in organizational effectiveness.

Furthermore, a study conducted by Bart found that greater satisfaction with the mission statement was connected with variables assessing the mission's perceived degree of influence over organizational member behavior, and that satisfaction with mission statements was associated with specific components of statement. As a final point, Bart and Baetz found that satisfaction with mission statements was positively related to firm performance.

As an example of the theory exposed, some fashion brands mission statements will be compared. To start with, Chanel mission statement is: "To be the Ultimate House of Luxury, defining style and creating desire, now and forever." Remaining true to the distinction of its tradition and its founder, the mission statement keeps the legacy of the brand while successfully moving it into the future.

On the other side, Inditex, fast fashion company, has a very different mission statement. Amancio Ortega, the founder, has two rules which guided the operations of the retail chain from the beginning; these are the base of the mission statement: "Give customers what they want, and get it to them faster than anyone else.”

Sources:

 Do Missions Accomplish their Missions? An Exploratory Analysis of Mission Statement Content

and Organizational Longevity - The University of Louisiana at Lafayette

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http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Mar-No/Mission-and-Vision-Statements.html