Insights
Strategy Documents
I07/2011
Public Affairs
Mission, vision and values
of the company: the centre
of a good CSR praxis
What is the purpose of the self-declaration made by a company, the elements
which make up and make sense of its identity in relation to Corporate Social
Responsibility? CSR should be based and rooted in the organizational culture of
the company, because there is no single way to understand or practice it.
What should exist is a coherent and holistic
vision of Corporate Social Responsibility and its
integration in the activity, the business of the
company. In fact, the socially responsible focus
should be included in the company’s corporate
statement, both in its vision and in its mission
and values, which give and confer meaning and
purpose as an organization.
On the one hand, there must be a specific and
singular CSR statement of vision, mission and values
in the company, which is the focus that corresponds
to the company’s style. But on the other hand, as we
said, there must exist an integration, as well as an
alignment, of the CSR focus within the corporate
mission, vision and values.
A vision (a clear perception of what the company
wants to achieve in the medium and long run),
without a mission (direction or objective) and
values (tools to achieve it) is nothing other than a
declaration of good intentions, but a mission without
a vision and values is a lack of a sense of proportion,
according to Antonio Argandona, professor of
Economics and Director of the CSR and Corporate
Governance chair at IESE Business School.
CSR must also make itself explicit in a series of
promises and public commitments which must not
be broken or forgotten, because it means a framework
of action for correct and efficient decision making
in relation to interest groups, in the management of
a good relationship with them and of a joint process
of value generation, as Michael Porter has recently
stated in his article “Creating Shared Value”,
published in the Harvard Business Review.
Drawing up the CSR mission
There are two aspects, two dimensions of the CSR
mission:
1. Internal: needs that are satisfied
from those which, in turn, satisfy
others’ needs (external mission).
2. External: people’s needs which are
solved: the principal contribution
to society and ‘raison d’être’.
Document prepared by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership with reference to, among other sources, the intervention
of Antonio Argandona (Professor of Economics and holder of the ‘la Caixa’ CSR and Corporate Governance chair at IESE) during the
sessions of the Executive Education Program “Making Social Responsibility Work: The Cornerstone of Sustainable Business” organized
by IESE Business School in Barcelona in July 2011.
Mission, vision
and values of the
company: the centre
of a good CSR praxis
What attributes must a good mission statement have?
• Authentic.
• Simple.
• Easy.
• Brave.
• Stimulating.
• Feasible.
• Inspiring.
• Convincing.
• Credible.
• Ambitious.
It is also necessary to personalize and apply the
mission to each of the stakeholders. A good
example of this is Southwest Airlines, a great case
inspired by the spirit which encourages Corporate
Social Responsibility, especially in the labor and
environmental sphere.
This was the only company which grew after the
9/11 terrorist attacks, even though it was a low cost
company centered on domestic passenger flights, as
were the three flights hijacked that day. In 2006,
the company obtained, from domestic operations
only, the record number of passengers in the entire
US, compared to any other competing airline and
including international flights in this case.
‘CSR must also make itself
explicit in a series of
promises and public
commitments which must
not be broken or forgotten
by the company.’
The company’s mission is “dedication to the
highest quality of Customer Service delivered
with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual
pride, and company spirit.” But the company adds
Southwest: Commitment to customer care
Our mission
The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the
most high quality of service delivered to the customer
with a feeling of warmth, individual pride and friendship
through of entrepreneurship.
Source: Southwest Airlines, 2011.
in its Mission statement a specific reference to its
talent management policy and its concern for its
employees when it states that it offers “a stable work
environment with equal opportunity for learning
and personal growth.”
Southwest understands that creativity and
innovation are two key factors for the growth
and efficiency of the company and for this reason
it is responsibly committed to a policy of human
capital in which concern, respect and care are a
constant in the company, especially as they expect
that these principles are the ones that guide the
actions and behaviors of their employees with the
airline’s clients.
This North American airline company understands
that the best way to achieve a responsible behavior
from its employees towards its clients and society in
general is behaving in the same manner with them,
anticipating itself and creating the necessary mood
and environment to achieve this, aligning precisely
the internal mission with the external one.
Starbucks: Mission and principles
Our mission
To inspire and nurture the human spirit person to
person, cup to cup and community to community.
These are the principles that guide our daily work:
Our coffee
Our stores
Partner Links Partners
Our community
Our customers
Our shareholders
Source: Starbucks Coffee Company, 2011.
Another good example along these lines is that of
Starbucks, whose mission is “to inspire and nurture
the human spirit – one person, one cup and one
neighborhood at a time.” Starbucks represents the
commitment of a company, from its own corporate
statement to its last operation, with the community
in which it operates, the environment in which it
develops and the talent on which it relies to achieve
it (respect and diversity).
A shared mission
There are different ‘owners’ of the mission
within a company, but a mission fails when it is
badly drawn up, defined or applied, or it is not
necessarily shared by the entire organization and,
especially, by its management team. In many
cases, the incoherency between the mission and
business practice has to do with the way in which
objectives are set, often without considering
the ethical dimension or the style of internal
leadership, led by the CEO.
Insights
2
Mission, vision
and values of the
company: the centre
of a good CSR praxis
The mission can be a tool for public relations
or a framework for decision making, according
to Professor Argandona, two visions which are
certainly divergent, if not opposed: it inspires
internal politics and procedures, it recognizes
and confirms identity and values, and trains
managers and employees in their relationship with
other stakeholders, apart from stimulating the
motivation to allow self-regulation and internal
control systems.
Within the origin of the mission lie the ideals of the
founder or founders of the organization, and later
of the management team, but in its development
it is fundamental to establish a process of open
dialogue to enable its continuous improvement
in its application. For this reason, only when the
company as a whole realizes how much the mission
can and does contribute, is when all can share it.
‘Organizational values
must be coherent, not
contradictory, with the
personal values of each
individual in the company.’
And to achieve this shared mission the role of
communications is especially relevant, in order to
give a clear idea to everyone, but also to explain
to each one what the company expects from
them, what they must do and, finally and no less
important, to give them autonomy, responsibility,
and empower them.
One of the more efficient ways to make a mission
operative, in line with what Professor Pablo Cardona
at IESE has posed, is to ensure that it is consistent,
that it is aligned to:
• The strategy.
• The operations.
• The policies.
• The procedures.
• The structures.
And the shared mission is expressed in different
levels of the organization and must be reflected in the
scorecard, translated into concrete and measureable
results, combining it with specific objectives.
The function of values in
organizational change
Values are ideas (they do not need an origin) and
beliefs (as a function of a cultural context) – they
are not emotions or feelings, tastes or preferences
– of the desirable behavior of people who guide the
election or evaluation of alternatives which, in
the end, rule behavior. Hence its relevance to the
debate surrounding CSR and its implementation
in organizations. Personal values exist, but so do
organizational, collective values which do not
represent the mere sum of the personal ones, but
those which belong to an entire company and
which have value in themselves to be appreciated,
considered important, good, positive and even
attractive.
Organizational values must be coherent, not
contradictory, with the personal values of each
individual in the company (hence the importance
of the selection and direction of talent through
values, as proposed Simon Dolan, professor at
ESADE Business School). But a company can also
change or suffocate personal values which can
adjust, sometimes, to a greater extent than those
of the organization itself, to CSR standards, which
we see as more responsible. Furthermore, values
must be defined around the mission analyzing at
the same time real values, experienced within the
company, day to day, by way of a yardstick that
never misleads nor fail in this task: decision making
and prioritization of issues, the facts.
Finally, virtues allow one to live in accordance with
values, but self-commitment, the true capacity to act,
and its stimulation or advocacy become key in this
process. Virtues push, they support the experience
of values. That is why permanent examples of
internal coherence with values are necessary, as well
as a solid pride of ownership which reinforces and
reaffirms them.
Conclusions: a change of values for CSR
Values in a company are changed by decision,
education, but also by reflection and meditation
on behavior itself and its consequences, which on
certain occasions leads to the conversion of these
through the acquisition of new habits, always
contrary to comfort or satisfaction itself.
In the end, a realistic exercise is necessary to define
the company’s mission correctly in agreement with
the vision and the values, as well as coordinating
it with the specific mission of CSR and its needs
and requirements.
Insights
3
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