Vision Statement : Ford Motor Company's Mission Statement

A strategic vision thus points an organization in a particular direction, charts a strategic path for it to follow in preparing for the future, and molds organizational identity. A clearly articulated strategic vision communicates management’s aspirations to stakeholders and helps steer the energies of company personnel in a common direction. For instance, Henry Ford’s vision of a car in every garage had power because it captured the imagination of others, aided internal efforts to mobilize the Ford Motor Company’s resources, and served as a reference point for gauging the merits of the company’s strategic actions.

They each have a mission statement, Ford’s mission statement “One Team, One Plan, One Goal.” Ford’s mission statement is defined to each part of the statement, One Team meaning people working together as a lean, global enterprise. One Plan meaning aggressively

This defines what a company will do to achieve its vision. It may include the company’s functions, goals and philosophies

1. Mission and Vision Statement – Mission is a written declaration of the purpose of an organization and Vision is that business will accomplish in future years.

An organizations existence is based on its mission statement. The mission statement of an organization identifies the people who it serves and states the standards of practice, ethics, and principles for which it believes in. An organization’s vision statement looks into the future and states goals the organization wishes to accomplish (Marquis & Huston, 2012). The mission and vision statement are important for driving the climate and culture of the organization.

Ford has a very strong brand name and offers wide range of cars like automobiles, commercial vehicles, luxury vehicles etc. they also target different set of customers.

Ford Motor Company is an American automaker, it is the world's fifth largest automaker based on worldwide vehicle sales. Its headquarters are based in Dearborn, Michigan, which is a suburb in Detroit. Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903 and it became one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, as well as being one of the few to survive the Great Depression. Ford Company is the largest family-controlled company in the world; it has been in continuous family power for over 110

The Mission Statement is a vital component in the strategic planning of a business organization. Creating a mission is one of the first actions an organization should take. This can be a building block for an overall strategy and development of more specific functional strategies (Abrahams, 1995). By defining a mission an organization is making a statement of organizational purpose.

A vision is basically the target goal for the company’s future. After reading the Mystic Monk Case, I came to the conclusion that the vision for the company is to earn enough profit to be able to purchase a Ranch called Irma Lake. In the case study, Father Daniel Mary states his vision, “We beg your prayers, your friendship and your support that this vision, our vision may come to be that Mount Carmel may be refounded in Wyoming’s Rockies for the glory of God”. In this statement, the Irma Lake Ranch is located in what he refers to as the Wyoming Rockies. The mission statement essentially is what is happening in the company at that time

Profitability (performance) ratios are used to assess a company’s ability to create equity as compared to its debt and other appropriate expenses created during a particular time frame. A favorable analysis of profitability ratios will reveal that a company’s value is higher than a competitor’s value.

Ford’s vision statement, “people working together as a lean, global enterprise for automotive leadership” (Thompson, 2015) has three major points that surrounds the vision statement; which are global leadership, emphasis on stakeholders, and lean business (Thompson, 2015). Each area is a specific point that Ford concentrates on in order to better the business. Global Leadership indicates that Ford wants to become a top player in the international market; Ford achieves Emphasis on Stakeholders through enhancing their HR policies and corporate social responsibility strategies for employees, customers, investors, and others; and Lean Business which they have

Ideally, a good mission statement also provides information regarding the organization’s overall management philosophy, its business model, its technical and social competencies, and its values and beliefs (Aguinis, 2009; Azaddin, 2011; Bart & Hupfer, 2004; Covin, Slevin, & Schultz, 1994). Moreover, to make mission statements of large companies more individually relevant, Azaddin (2011) advocates flexible “guiding statements” that account for the “context, culture, structure, and needs of an organization” (p. 31). Thus, a mission statement must be meaningful and applicable to all stakeholders for strategic decision-making to be effective.

The mission statement of Ford is not written because in past decades, U.S. vehicle industries have changed dramatically. However, Ford has a vision statement which can be substituted for mission statement, “People working together as a lean, global enterprise to make people’s lives better through automotive and mobility leadership.”

On the other hand, mission statement is the reason why a company exists and it’s a statement that declares the core purpose of a company. Mission statement usually will remain the same over time (Bratianu, 2007). The mission is different from a vision as it aims to create competitive advantage and also achieve the social goal of a company (Bratianu, 2007).

The mission statement communicates to stakeholders the main activities that the company focuses on in order for it to achieve its vision. The mission statement communicates to employees’ information on how to conduct their day to day activities. The mission statements also describe the organizations, policies, culture as well as ethics (Alesia 2013).