Strategy for Tourism
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Unit 2
Mission and
Purpose
Reading
Book
Ch
Tribe, J, (2010) Strategy for Tourism, Goodfellow
Publishers, Oxford.
2
Capon, C. (2008) Understanding Strategic
Management, Prentice Hall: Hemel Hempstead.
5
Tribe, J. (2005) The Economics of Recreation, Leisure
and Tourism, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford.
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Johnson, G., Scholes, K., and Whittington, R. (2008)
Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall: Hemel
Hempstead.
4
Objectives
 After studying this unit and related materials you
should be able to understand:
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vision, mission and objectives
mission types such as profit and growth and quality of life
governance and social responsibility
stakeholders and stakeholder power
 and critically evaluate, explain and apply the above
concepts.
Case Study 2: British
Airports Authority
Plate 2: London Heathrow Airport – Generating noise as well as profit.
Case Study 2: British
Airports Authority
 BAA’s vision statement for Heathrow airport is to
“Become Europe’s hub of choice by making every
journey better”
 Its strategic intents to achieve this vision as follows:
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Make Heathrow the preferred choice for passengers
Improve airport operations every day
Succeed through airline success
Run our airport responsibly, safely and securely
Focus people and teams on service and results
Deliver the business plan
Transform the airport
Win support for our airport vision
Aims, Missions and
Objectives
Aims and Missions
Many organisations work to a mission
statement (David, 1989).
A mission statement is a concise expression
of what the organisation is trying to achieve
and explains what it is in business for
Kenya Wildlife Service
TUI Travel Strategic
Objectives
 TUI Travel’s primary strategic objectives are:
● to be one of the world’s leading leisure travel groups
by providing customers with a wide choice of
products with the flexibility to meet their changing
needs;
● to deliver earnings growth and margin expansion
through the combination of organic development
and selected acquisitions;
● to deliver cost synergies estimated to be at least
£100 million (e146 million) per annum on an
annualised basis within three years of Completion;
● to maintain a lean and efficient business model; and
● to maximise shareholder value.
Mission contd.
A useful mission statement should have the
following characteristics:
 It should be succinct
 It should be a future oriented statement
 It should be an umbrella statement which can
cover more detailed objectives
 It should be realistic and achievable
 It should describe the main aims of the
organisation
Objectives
Objectives spell out the goals that have to be
achieved to realise a mission.
Thus objectives set out in more detail how a
mission is to be achieved.
Framing of objectives and
missions
 Closed objectives should conform to SMART
principles, that is they should be:
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specific
measurable
agreed with those who must attain them
realistic, and,
time-constrained
 Open statements are written in more qualitative
terms.
 Missions are generally written as open statements and
targets such as "the most successful" are not measurable
without further definition.
Types of mission
The aims and missions of organisations can
be classified according to a number of types,
where classification depends upon the
significance of profit as against other aims.
The following classification illustrates five
main types.
 Profit-maximisation
 Tempered profit maximisation
 Indirect profit maximisation
 Social aims
 Organisations in communist states
Types of Mission
Mission Types and Mission
Agenda
 Missions may include some
of the following aspects
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Maximising profits
Corporate success
Customer satisfaction
Employee welfare
Environmental sensitivity
Product safety
Employment policy
Community activity
Ethical considerations
Benefits to society
Political considerations
Mission and reality
 Are mission statements are just a good public relations front
which put an acceptable face on the cut-throat world of the
activities of organisations in modern markets? This view would
suggest that cost reduction, and revenue enhancement are the
universal unspoken missions of most private sector
organisations, but that such a mission would make rather
alarming reading.
 The divorce between ownership and control of large
organisations can cause mission conflict
 Whilst shareholders will favour a mission which generates a
good rate of return on their capital, managers (who may not
necessarily have a significant shareholding) may actually
pursue a different mission which maximise their own benefits,
irrespective of the published mission. Thus they may seek
remuneration packages, and a series of perks including cars
and travel which detract from profitability.
Governance
Governance is concerned with authority,
accountability and responsibility.
It describes the rules and ways that
determine how an entity is directed and
controlled.
Good governance exists to ensure that too
much power is not vested in one or a few
individuals and that the actions of those
responsible for controlling entities are subject
to proper scrutiny.
Social Responsibility
 Where governance defines the ways in which an
entity must act in relation to the law and its
stakeholders, social responsibility is an area that is
more discretionary.
 It is a commitment to avoid negative impacts and
deliver benefits to the wider society in which an entity
operates.
 It is defined by McWilliams and Siegel (2001) as
 “actions that appear to further some social good, beyond
the interests of the firm and that which is required by law.”
Social Responsibility:The
Adventure Company
 The Adventure Company offers worldwide tours based around four
themes of Discovery, Wildlife, Adventure and Trekking. It has a well
developed Responsible Travel policy which includes the following
initiatives:
 Local group leaders/staff welfare – local group leaders are employed on
more than 90% of trips.
 A porter protection policy is in place.
 Use local services – by using local transport and as many local
businesses as possible, money stays in-country and local enterprise is
encouraged.
 Everyone who travels with the company gets a copy of its Responsible
Travel policy
 It audits all of its trips to ensure their environmental impact is minimised.
 55% of the company’s trips support a local project. Examples include a
school in India and a community centre in Tanzania.
 The company offsets all staff carbon emissions from work-related flights
and travel to work, and also office-generated emissions.
 The suppliers we use by the company and the practices adopted in its
offices are constantly reviewed.
 Source: www.adventurecompany.co.uk/responsible-travel.aspx
Stakeholders
Stakeholder analysis (Friedman et al., 2002)
is a useful way of identifying the variety of
different forces that act on an organisation's
mission.
The term stakeholder refers to a person or
grouping with an interest in the operation of a
particular organisation.
Stakeholder Mapping: BAA
Stakeholder Conflict: BAA
Stakeholder Power
 Interest alone is
insufficient to
explain the relative
influence of
stakeholder groups
on mission.
 We need to add
another dimension that of stakeholder
power - to get the
full picture of
stakeholder
influence
(Mendelow 1991).
 Competing
stakeholder
groupings for BAA
Internal and External
Stakeholders
 internal stakeholders' power is enhanced by:
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position in hierarchy
charisma
comprehensive intelligence about the organisation
specialist knowledge
patronage
control of resources
formation of coalitions
 external stakeholders power is enhanced by:
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control of resources (e.g. finance)
constitutional role (e.g. shareholders voting rights)
public relations skills
control of distribution links (e.g. outlets)
formation of coalitions
Review of Key Terms
 Vision: signals what an entity would like to become.
 Mission: sets out in more concrete terms the general aims of an
entity, what it is trying to achieve and what it is in existence for.
 Objectives: spell out the goals that have to be achieved to realise
a mission.
 SMART objectives: should be specific, measurable, agreed with
those who must attain them, realistic and time-constrained.
 Governance: describes the rules that determine how an entity is
directed and controlled to discharge its responsibilities to its
owners and to the law.
 Social Responsibility: actions that appear to further some social
good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required
by law.
 Stakeholder: person or grouping with an interest in the operation
of a particular entity.
 Stakeholder Power: the ability to influence policy.
Discussion Questions
1. Distinguish between vision, mission and objectives
for a named tourism entity.
2. What are SMART objectives and what makes them
SMART?
3. Distinguish between governance and social
responsibility for a tourism entity.
4. What is the difference between shareholders and
stakeholders?
5. Distinguish between external and internal
stakeholders. What are the main sources of power
for each?
Strategy for Tourism
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Unit 2
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Mission and
Purpose
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The End