A good mission statement is a crucial aspect of strategic marketing, and not only provides a declaration of organizational goals to customers, but also serves as an anchor for the members of the organization. A mission statement should be brief, give the audience a clear idea of what the company represents, and give a long-term vision for the company. As this paper will also discuss, mission statements can also be useful in one’s personal life. It can be difficult to succeed without a clear sense of one’s overall direction. For Christians, it can be said that the Bible has given us a mission statement of our own, which can be found in Proverbs 16:3: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (NIV). Whether one is speaking of an individual or an organization, it is all too easy to become distracted by short-term demands and the exigencies of daily life. However, a good mission statement can provide an anchor and a guiding light by which an organization can remain true to their long-term goals.
The mission statement selected for examination in this paper is that of the life insurance company, AFLAC: “To combine aggressive marketing with quality products and services at competitive prices to provide the best insurance value for customers” (Anonymous, 2016). AFLAC’s mission statement fulfills all of the traditional markers for a good mission statement: it is succinct, provides the customer and employees with a good idea of the organizational goals, and sets a long-term goal (Kotler & Keller, 2011). This mission statement also gives the overall impression that AFLAC is an ethical company who is not simply out to make a profit at any cost. AFLAC appears to be a company that will place the needs of their customers first, and values the provision of quality services above all.
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"The Value of a Good Mission Statement".
As a Christian, it is exceptionally important to me that I work for a company that places service to others ahead of its bottom line. While every organization needs to pay close attention to its profitability and productivity in order to ensure its survival in this competitive global market, this can be done without sacrificing ethics and Christian values. When selecting a company to work for in the future, I will pay close heed to its mission statement in order to determine whether it is a company whose values align closely with my own. These days, too many organizations seem focused solely on short-term profitability, and this is not only a grave strategic mistake, but it indicates a lack of faith in Christ and in God. A company such as AFLAC, who seems determined to maintain their ethics even in the face of short-term losses, will ultimately succeed in the long run because their customers will not abandon them and purchase insurance from other providers.
Proverbs 16:3, above all else, reminds us as Christians that it is important to establish our own missions in life, and to trust that the Lord will guide us in accomplishing those goals, so long as they fall in line with Christian principles. As for me, my long-term mission is to find a fulfilling career that will not only allow me to sustain myself, but will provide me with the opportunity to serve others in a positive way. For Christians, or for anyone else, it is important to keep a long-term goal in mind at all times, as daily life can throw many obstacles and temptations our way, and keep us from focusing on the big picture. Thus, major organizations such as AFLAC and others have found value in the creation of mission statements. Not only are they a good branding strategy, but mission statements also keep all organizational members on board with the larger goals of the company.
That being said, my mission for this class in the next eight weeks is to endeavor to work as hard as possible to understand all of the concepts that we will learn in this relatively brief time period. As a Christian who seeks a career in marketing, I feel a strong ethical duty to invest my full effort in learning sound marketing strategies in order to be the best possible employee I can be in the future, and to serve my future customers with quality products and excellent value for their money. In this sense, the short-term goal of attaining a good grade in this class fits in perfectly with my longer-term mission, and I will thus work as hard as I can to meet the demands of this class. For the next eight weeks, I will invest as much time into study as my schedule allows, and I will think proactively about the topics and how they can best fit in with a Christian worldview. As this class offers much of value to me for my future career, I feel that I owe it to myself and to the Lord to work as hard as I can to get a good grade.
A well-written mission statement can have a tremendous impact on the long term goal-setting and strategic positioning of an organization. Further, it is important to have a clearly defined mission in one’s personal life, especially if one is a Christian. Simply living day by day, without any long-term plan, ultimately denotes a lack of faith. Thus, mission statements can provide a clear sense of direction, and are important part of being successful, whether one is referring to an individual or an organization.
