Strategic Management of Anheuser-Busch

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 organization's 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 firm's 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

1. Customers

2. Products/Services

3. Geographic Markets

4. Technology

5. Concern for Survival/Growth/ Profits

6. Philosophy

7. Public Image

8. Employees

9. Distinctive Competence

Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser-Busch's 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 company's vision is: Through all of our products, services and relationships, we will add to life's enjoyment.

Anheuser-Busch's Mission Statement

Anheuser-Busch's mission statement is:

* Be the world's 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 employee's responsibility for contributing to the company's 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 company's mission statement according to the elements of a mission statement enumerated by David and David, it would be as follows:

* Customers

This involves the company's 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 company's product is stated in the mission statement: "Be the world's beer company." This means that the product of the company is beer.

* Geographic Markets

Geographic markets are where the firm seeks customers. In the company's mission statement, it states that it wants to reach a global audience and it hopes to be the world's 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 firm's mission statement, I have noticed that technology is not mentioned or included in the firm's mission statement.

* Concern for survival/growth/profits

This is about the company's