Page 32 - Marketing the Basics 2nd

24 Marketing: the Basics
THE STRATEGIC PLAN
To ameliorate the inherent tensions between each organizational unit and thereby create a sustainable long-term strategy, senior managers engage in a process called strategic planning. Strategic planning is a process of developing and maintaining a plan of action that coordinates the activities of every business unit to ensure the long-term goals of an organization are fulfilled. Over the course of a strategic planning session, a strategic plan emerges. The strategic plan is both a sermon and a pulpit. It clearly states the company’s goals and explains the sequence of events in how they will achieve their objectives. Once the strategic direction is set it is up to the various units to figure out how to creatively deliver the required results.
THE MISSION STATEMENT
A strategic plan starts with a mission statement. The mission state- ment explains in general terms the organization’s goals and its raison d’être, or purpose. For example, here is the mission statement of Skype, a vendor of phone services that routes phone calls over the Internet:
Skype aims to delight you by offering free global telephony, to make unlimited, superior quality voice calls via its next-generation peer- to-peer software. Skype’s mission is providing a simple, reliable and friendly communications tool that just works. We aim for people to communicate with friends, families and colleagues more flexibly, more cost effectively and with better sound quality than ever previ- ously imagined.
Studies have shown that well-crafted mission statements have three characteristics. They first focus on a limited number of goals that are challenging yet realistic. Second, mission statements explain the policies and values of the company. Third, they state which markets the company is targeting. Do you think managers at Skype have met these conditions?