Debunking the Myths of Vision and Mission Statements: A Content Analysis of FT Ranked Top 100 Business Schools

. The purpose of this paper is to answer seven famous myths about vision and mission statements by analysing the vision and mission statements of FT Ranked Top 100 Business Schools in the world. First myth states that all business schools have both vision and mission statements. Second myth says both mission and vision statements are equal in length. Third myth states that all nine components must be present in all mission statements. Fourth myth assumes faculty is the hallmark of business school’s mission. Fifth myth states technology is at the centre stage of business school’s mission. Sixth myth assumes research is not part of business school’s mission. Finally, seventh myth says leadership is no more part of business school’s mission. FT ranking for Top 100 Business Sch ools was selected for this study and business school’s vision and mission statements were collected from their official websites. Content analysis was used as the major data analysis technique. Data analyses using descriptive statistics proved all seven myths wrong.


Introduction
World's top business schools [1] have similarities and differences in their focuses, roles and functions [2]. These differentiations are reflected in their strategic planning especially their crucial elements of strategic planning e.g., vision and mission statements [3] [4]. Vision statements normally explains the long-term goals of the university and these statements control and guide the future practices [4]. On the other hand, mission statements reflect the reason for being an organization. These statements eventually guide the functions of the organization [4].

Methods
Top-100 business school were selected for this study based on FT ranking [1]. Business school's vision and mission statements were collected from their official websites. This technique of collecting vision/mission statements through official websites is quite common in earlier studies on vision/mission statements of universities [2] [3][4] [5], medical schools [6], law schools [7], non-profit education institutions [8] or even in business schools [9]. This study employs Content Analysis, as it is commonly used technique in contemporary business studies. It provides opportunity to collect verbal, print and electronic data by both ways qualitatively and quantitatively [10]. Content analysis or textual analysis is "any technique of making inferences by objectively and systematically identifying specified characteristics of messages" [11]. In other words, it is "summarizing, quantitative analysis of messages that relies on scientific method (including attention to objectivity, inter subjectivity, priori design, reliability, and hypothesis testing) and is not limited as to the types of variables that may be measured or the context in which the messages are created or presented" [12]. In the literature, content analysis has been extensively used in analysing mission statements for example in different industries in USA [13]; in cross-country analyses [14]; in public libraries [15]. Even in academia, many studies on mission statement have used content analysis for example in top 100 global brands [16]; in social work school [17]; or even in engineering schools [18]. Content analysis has also been used in many studies focused on analyzing university's vision/mission statements [19][20] [21]; in FT ranked European Business Schools [22] and even in AACSB-accredited schools [23]. The framework used in this study to analyse mission statements is based on the 9 possible components and 10 characteristics of mission statements. It also involves 10 components of vision statements. This study used the components and characteristics of mission statements and components of vision statements and their operational definitions; possible explanations keywords as coding schemes taken from earlier studies [24]. This framework of nine components has extensively been used in earlier to analyse mission statements [22] [16].

Results and Discussion
This study provides four sets of analyses on mission and vision statement including (1) Word count and Vocabulary density; (2) Frequently used keywords; (3) Major themes in mission statements; (4) Examination of components and characteristics of mission statements. Table 1 presents a comparison of vision and mission statements based on the word and vocabulary density of mission and vision statements. This table suggest that vision statements are shorter in length (average number of words = 47) as compared to corresponding mission statement (average number of words = 63). Table 4 also suggest that vision statements have higher vocabulary density (0.32) as compared to corresponding mission statements (0.226). Vision statements having relatively higher vocabulary density indicates simpler text with words reused.  Table 2 provides a list of top five frequently keywords in vision and missions statements. Four keywords are common in both vision and mission statements including 'business', 'research', 'leader', and 'world'. Two keywords are distinct; 'students' appeared among vision statement and 'knowledge' appeared more in mission statements. Table 2 Most frequently used keywords in vision and mission statements Table 3 presents components of mission statements with frequency of occurrence. It suggest that not all nine components of mission statements are fully replicated in FT Ranked Top 100 Business school's mission statements. Highest frequency is for 'Concern for public image'.   Research (28) Leaders (62) World (26) Research (60) Leaders (21) World (52) Students (19) Knowledge (44) Based on the presence of vision and/or mission statement FT ranked top 100 Business Schools classified into three clusters (Fig. 1). Cluster 1 include business schools having Mission Statements only. 47 business schools fall in this category while average rank is 43 (Table 5). Cluster 2 include business schools having both mission and vision statements. 44 business schools fall into this category and their average rank is 56 (Table 6). Cluster 3 include business schools having vision statements only. This seems to be smallest cluster as compared to other two having only 9 business schools listed in this category with an average rank is 58 (Table 7). It means business schools having only mission statement relatively higher rank as compared to other two clusters.    Table 8 presents cluster wise information of most frequently used words. Different cluster presents almost similar patterns of most frequent words total information mentioned Table 3. Four keywords are common in both vision and mission statements including 'business', 'research', 'leader', and 'world'. Two keywords are distinct; 'students' appeared among vision statement and 'knowledge' appeared more in mission statements.

Conclusions
This paper attempts to answer seven myths about vision and mission statements by analysing the vision and mission statements of Top 100 Business Schools in the world.
Myth 1: All business schools have both vision and mission statements. False. Based on the analysis presented earlier (Fig 1; (Table 3).
Myth 5 Technology is at the centre stage of business school's mission. False. Technology is the least mentioned item among nine components in FT Ranked Top 100 Business school's mission statements (Table 3).

Myth 6 Research is not part of business school's mission.
False. Research is one of the four most important keywords used in FT Ranked Top 100 Business school's mission statements (Table 3).
Myth 7 Leadership is no more part of business school's mission. False. Leadership is one of the four most important keywords used in FT Ranked Top 100 Business school's mission statements (Table 3).

Recommendations
This paper supports recommendations provided by earlier research on the subject area [25]. Firstly, it supports the development of separate criteria to evaluate mission and vision statements for academic institutions.
It also supports the recommendation of need for uniqueness by Business Schools. Under the prevailing situation and competitive market, it is a very difficult situation for business schools to differentiate among other business schools. Now it is time for Business schools decision makers including deans, directors and other senior members to create uniqueness in their business schools, starting with uniqueness mission statements.