Topic 5: STRATEGIC

INTENT
Definition
• Strategic intent refer to the purpose(s) the organisation strives
for

• Strategic intent envisions a desired leadership position and

establishes the criterion the organisation will use to chart its
progress
*The concept of strategic intent encompasses an active
management process that includes: focusing organisation’s
attention on the essence of winning motivating people by
communicating the value of the target, leaving room for
individual and team contributions, sustaining enthusiasm by
providing new operational definition as circumstances change
and using intent consistently to guide resource allocation

• Broadly speaking strategic intent represent the vision and

mission statement for the organisation
• Strategic intent: vision and mission statement should
be a necessity and useful management planning tools
for giving an corporate entity a sense of future
direction. A future direction that becomes real when
the vision statement is imprinted in the mind of
strategic planners, organisations member and then is
translated into concrete mission or purpose for the
organisation
Corporate Vision
• A corporate entity needs a vision because ‘ where there is no
vision, the people perish...‘ (Proverb 29: 18).
• Vision is important in that it guides and perpetuates
corporate existence.
• Vision is viewed as a mental picture of a compelling future
situation
• It originates from creative imagination, the act or power of
perceiving imaginative mental images or foresightedness
• Corporate vision can be associated with external agencies
imposition of strategy or vision and, they can be deliberately
formulated as part of planning process (Johnson, Scholes and
Whittington 2006)
• Corporate vision creates a picture of a company‘s destination
and provides a rational for going there(Thompson, Gamble
and Strickland,2004) -Somewhat of a roadmap of a
company‘s future
• Essentially, corporate vision represents the dreams, wild
aspirations of the company as may be stated by the top
executives or founders of the organisation
• Corporate vision is the desired future state of the
organisation; an aspiration around which a strategist might
seek to focus the attention and energies of the organisation
(Johnson, [Link], 2006).
• And, in the words of Bennis and Nanus (1997) strategic
decision makers or founders must first have developed a
mental picture, a mental image, of a possible and desirable
future state of the organisation
• Vision articulates a view of a realistic, credible, attractive
future for the organisation; a condition that is better in some
ways than what now exists.
• Corporate vision delineates management aspirations for the
business, providing a panoramic view of where are we going
and why?
• Vision statement should be a necessity and a useful
management tool for giving an organisation a sense of future
direction for a viable corporation. A future direction that
becomes real when the vision statement is implanted in the
minds of organisations’ members(Thompson, [Link],2004) and
then translated into concrete mission or purpose for the
organisation.
• A corporate vision is the corporate future picture. It is a
challenging and imaginative picture of the future roles and
objectives of an organisation, sometimes, significantly going
beyond its current environment and competitive position
(Lynch, 2006)
• Vision is a highly desired possibilities that may not be
attainable. It is an inspirational resonance of desires, values
and possibilities which overlap
• Hamel and Prahalad(1994) have suggested that the relevance
and appropriateness of a corporate vision statement can be
judged on five criteria: foresight, breath, uniqueness,
consensus and action ability.
Benefits of Vision Statement
• Visions provide desirable challenge for employees and stimulate
organisations mission positively

• Visions can lead to a purpose or engineer a change of purpose

• Vision represent a discontinuity, a step function and a jump ahead so

that the company knows what it is to be

• Good vision help in the creation of a common identity and a shared

sense of purpose
• Good visions are competitive, original and unique. Practical
in the market place

• Good visions foster risk taking and experimentation, and

long-term thinking

• Good vision represent integrity: they are truly genuine and

can be used to the benefit of people
Mission Statement
• Strategic decision makers need to determine the basic goals,
characteristics and philosophies that key-in into the corporate
vision
• The purpose of the mission statement is to set the
organisational context within which strategic decisions are
made to provide the firm with a strategic focus and direction
in the realisation of the stated or implied vision.
• Vision is a forward-looking view of what an organisation
wishes to become, Mission is what the organisation is and
why it exists
Definition of Mission
• According to Pearce II (1982) corporate mission is the fundamental
unique purpose that set a firm apart from others of its type and that
identifies the scope of its operations in product and market terms
• It is the purpose or reason for the organisation’s existence
• The mission statement distinguishes a corporate entity by defining the
roles that the organisation is to play in the society. That is, the
particular need(s) of the society for which the organisation exists to
serve
• And, as suggested by Kazmi(1996) it serves to link the organisation to
the society
• Mission statement answer the question of any venture such that any
discerning outsider can come to term with what business the business
entity is in and what are the reasons for its being
• Corporate mission is a foundation for corporate priorities, strategies,
ideas and assignment
• Mission statement describes corporate purpose, customers, products
or services, market niche, area of operations, business philosophy and
basic operative mechanisms
• In addition, the corporate self concept, desired public image and core
technologies to be adopted are key component of the corporate
mission statement
• The unsatisfied needs of customers must be anticipated and
incorporated into the corporate mission.
• Blunt perceptual ability in specifying key component of the
corporate mission in such manner that incorporates
customers‘ future needs can be inhibitive- an inhibiting factor
in adapting to changing external environment (Fjortoft and
Smart, 1994).
• The case of the US rail road is a classical example. Railroads
defined their industry wrongly and became product- oriented
instead of customer –oriented,
Characteristics of a Mission
Statement
• Organisation legitimize themselves by performing some valued
function by the society. Mission statement reflect corporate
philosophy, identity, character and image of the organization. Mission
statement possess these characteristics:
• Feasible: It must aim high but must not be an impossible statement.
It must be realistic and achievable
• Precise: Not too narrow as to restrict organization activities nor to
broad as to become meaningless
• Clear: Clear enough to lead to action not mere high sounding
platitudes for publicity stunt
• Motivating: Motivating for members of the organization and
the society such that they consider it worthwhile working in
the organization or being a customer
• Distinctive: Unique to the organization
• Indicate major components of strategy:
• Indicate how objectives are to be accomplished. It must
provide clues on manner in which objectives are to be
accomplished
CORPORATE VISION AND MISSION
• Vision in one breath is the future picture of the organisation while the
mission statement describes the role that the organisation chooses to
adopt based on current situation.
• Mission statement clearly answers the question what is the corporate
business?‘‘ the vision statement answers the question ‘what the
corporate entity want to be‘
• The concept of vision and mission is clearly distinguished in the
advertised slogan of a Nigerian bank: Twenty years ago we have a
vision, Today, we have a mission‘‘ This advertised slogan aptly
demonstrates the relationship between corporate vision and mission.
• Vision should naturally bring about a sense of purpose and
mission

• Vision should inform the mission statement and be embedded

in it. Visions, they insisted, must be realistic in the light other
facets of the mission. Consequently, we can discern or infer
from the mission statement the future business aspirations,
expected changes in company‘s business and the direction
the business is heading
BUSINES DEFINITION
• Clear definition of a firms business is helpful in strategic
management
• It can indicate the choice of objectives, guide in making
choice among strategic alternatives, facilitate functional
policy implementation and suggest appropriate organisational
structure
• Derek(1960) suggested three dimensional approach to define
a firm’s business:
(a) Customer groups: An answer to the question ‘who’ is
being satisfied? Customer groups could be individual
customers or industrial users
 (b) Customers needs: this describes ‘what’ is being satisfied?
The functional aspect the business is addressing. Customers
needs for wrist watch can be finding time, recording time,
using watches as fashionable accessory, gift item or piece of
art

(c)Technologies; this is ‘how’ the need is being satisfied. The

alternative technologies involved. For example, a wrist watch
might satisfy customers functions of finding time, recording
time using mechanical, quartz digital, or quartz analogue
Goals and Objectives
• Goals denote what an organisation hopes to accomplish in a future period of
time

• They represent the future state or outcome of effort put in now

• Objectives are the ends that state specifically how the goals shall be
achieved. They are concrete and specific in contrast to goals that are
generalised

• Objectives make goals operational. Goals may be qualitative, objectives

tends to be quantitative in specification
Role of objectives
• Define organisation’s relationship with the environment: By
stating its objectives organisation commits to itself what it
has to achieve for its employees, customers and the society

• Guide organisation in the pursuit of its vision and mission: by

defining long-term position that an organisation wishes to
attain and the short-term targets to be achieve objective help
organisation in the pursuit of its vision and mission
* Provide basis for strategic decision making: direct attention
to areas where strategic decision need to be taken

* Lead to desirable standards of behaviour and coordination of

strategic decision-making

• Standards for performance appraisal: by stating targets, time

periods and measures to achieve them it lay down standards
by which performance can be assessed
Characteristics of objectives
• Understandable: those who are to achieve them must have
clear understanding of the objective

• Concrete and specific: simple to lead and motivate with

concrete objective

• Time frame: objective should be related to a time frame for

achievement
• Measurable and controllable

• Challenging: objectives should be challenging but not unrealistic,

neither too high or low

• Objectives should correlate with each other: an organisation set

objectives in different areas, these objectives must correlate to
avoid inter-department conflict

• Set within constraints: internal and external constraints must be

weighed in setting objective( resource constraints, legal constraint,
etc)