Every business should have a vision and mission. The vision is a
picture of what the firm wants to be (Ireland et al., 2009), while the
mission specifies the business in which the firm intends to operate
and the customers it intends to serve (Kemp and Dwyer, 2003).
The mission and vision might not be long statements but they are
usually broad in nature, encompassing, far-reaching and usually
impossible to be achieved all at once. Goals are general statements
of mileposts for firms to meet toward achieving the vision. Goals
break up the vision and mission into smaller pieces by providing the
road map and manageable stepping stones to achieve the mission
and make the vision a reality (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). Goals need
to be integrated with the vision, and they also need to be integrated
with the mission for achieving that vision. Thus, goals can easily be
said to be the first step toward achieving the vision and mission
collectively. Taking into account the links between a firm’s goals
and vision, this study proposes the following hypothesis: