Business Goals And Mission Statements: What’s The Difference?

How are business goals different from a mission statement?  Are there any differences, or are these just two phrases that basically mean the same thing?  If you’ve been seeing these terms being used a lot more lately, these are some of the questions you may be asking yourself.  In this article, we’ll discuss the differences between business goals and mission statements, and how they work together.
These terms don’t mean the same thing.  Part of the confusion stems from the fact that a mission statement is a kind of over arching goal for a company.  It’s what the company is in existence to achieve.  A mission statement serves to differentiate a company from its competitors with a succinct statement stating what the company is, what it plans to be in the future, and the values of the company.  It’s used both for PR purposes, and to keep employees constantly reminded of what they should be aiming for.  It’s rarely more than a few paragraphs long, and the longer versions  will sometimes stress what the company is not, and might include references to ethical practices of the firm.

Business goals are how the accompany goes about seeking to fulfill its mission statement.  For example, if a company’s mission is to provide the healthiest natural juices on the market, then one of their goals will be to adopt the manufacturing process that removes the least nutrients from their juices. That would be one of the firm’s major goals, of which there would probably be several at any one time.   Of course, there will be goals on the way to accomplishing each major goal, too.  In fact, there will often be hundreds of sub-goals involved in the achievement of any business goal.  Business goals and mission statements are two different, but related things.  A company uses the former to achieve the latter.

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