A good mission statement describes an organization’s purpose, customers, products or services, markets, philosophy, and basic technology. According to Vern McGinnis, a mis- sion statement should define what the organization is and what the organization aspires to be, be limited enough to exclude some ventures and broad enough to allow for creative growth, distinguish a given organization from all others, serve as a frame- work for evaluating both current and prospective activities, and be stated in terms sufficiently clear to be widely understood throughout the organization.
A good mission statement reflects the anticipations of customers. Rather than developing a product and then trying to find a market, the operating philosophy of organizations should be to identify customers’ needs and then provide a product or service to fulfill those needs.