Strategic Management of Anheuser-Busch
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Strategic Management
Anheuser-Busch
Mission Statement: What it is all about
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.
Christopher Bart a foremost researcher in the art of mission statements articulates,
“A good mission statement portrays an organizations unique and lasting reason for being, and energizes stakeholders to follow common goals. It likewise enables a focused allocation of organizational resources since it compels a firm to address some hard questions: What is our business? Why do we exist? What are we trying to accomplish?” (Bart,1998).
A mission statement should be inspiring (Bailey, 1996). The reader should want to be a part of an organization after reading its mission statement. It should be enduring, though not cast in stone. The statement should project a sense of worth, intent, and shared expectations and should state intrinsic value of the firms products/services (David and David, 2003).
Moreover, David and David (2003) suggest that the document should include the following nine components: overall strategy and development of more specific functional strategies. By
Customers
Products/Services
Geographic Markets
Technology
Concern for Survival/Growth/ Profits
Philosophy
Public Image
Employees
Distinctive Competence
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Buschs operations and resources are focused on beer, adventure park entertainment and packaging (Anheuser-Busch, 2003). Anheuser-Busch also has interests in aluminum beverage container recycling, malt production, rice milling, real estate development, turf farming, metalized paper label printing and transportation services.
The companys vision is: Through all of our products, services and relationships, we will add to lifes enjoyment.
Anheuser-Buschs Mission Statement
Anheuser-Buschs mission statement is:
Be the worlds beer company
Enrich and entertain a global audience
Deliver superior returns to our shareholders
After its mission statement, the company enumerates its values in support of the mission statement. The values are the following:
Quality in everything we do
Exceeding customer expectations
Trust, respect and integrity in all of our relationships
Continuous improvement, innovation and embracing change
Teamwork and open, honest communication
Each employees responsibility for contributing to the companys success
Creating a safe, productive and rewarding work environment
Building a high-performing, diverse workforce
Promoting the responsible consumption of our products
Preserving and protecting the environment and supporting communities where we do business
If I were to analyze the companys mission statement according to the elements of a mission statement enumerated by David and David, it would be as follows:
Customers
This involves the companys target market. The mission statement includes the element of customers because it states that “entertain and enrich a global audience.” It means that it is targeting that its customers should be people around the globe.
Products/Services
This pertains to the offerings and value offered to customers. The companys product is stated in the mission statement: “Be the worlds beer company.” This means that the product of the company is beer.
Geographic Markets
Geographic markets are where the firm seeks customers. In the companys mission statement, it states that it wants to reach a global audience and it hopes to be the worlds beer company. Thus, the firm wants to reach the global and world market.
Technology
This relates to the technology used to produce and market products. Upon analyzing the firms mission statement, I have noticed that technology is not mentioned or included in the firms mission statement.
Concern for survival/growth/profits
This is about the companys