Strategic intent

It refers to the purposes of organisation strives

for.
Acc to Hamel and Prahalad strategic intent is
an “obsession with an organisation: an
obsession of having ambitions that may even
be out of proportion of their resources and
capabilities. The obsession to win at all levels
of the organisation while obtaining that
obsession in the quest for global leadership”.
It points out to what a firm should set out to
achieve.
Stretch, leverage & fit
• Stretch is a misfit between resources
and aspirations.
• Leverage refers to concentrating,
accumulating, complementing,
conserving and recovering resources
in a manner that the meagre
resource is stretched to meet the
aspirations that an organisation
dares to have.
• Fit means positioning of the firm by
 Vision, mission,
objectives & goals
 vision
• Vision means “description of
something in the future, mental
perception of the kind of
environment an individual, or an
organization, aspires to create within
a broad time horizon and the
underlying conditions for the
actualization of this perception”.
• Strategic intent should lead to an
end. That end is the vision of an
• Acc to Kotter(1990), “ It is a description of
something(an organisation, a corporate
culture, a business, a technology, an
activity) in future.”
• El-Namaki(1992) “ A mental perception of
the kind of environment an individual, or
an organisation aspires to create within a
broad time horizon and the underlying
conditions for the actualisation of this
perception”.
• Miller and Dess(1996) “ category of
intention that are broad, all inclusive and
forward thinking”
 Examples for vision
• BSNL “To become the largest telecom
service provider in Asia.”
• Walt Disney vision Statement “Make people
happy”
• Stokes Eye Clinic, Florence, South Carolina
“Our vision is to take care of your vision.”
• Infosys “To be a globally respected
corporation that provides best-of-breed
business solutions, leveraging technology,
delivered by best-in-class people."
 Benefits of having a vision
• Good visions are inspiring and
exhilarating.
• Good vision foster long term thinking.
• Good vision foster risk-taking and
experimentation.
• Good vision help in the creation of a
common identity and a shared sense of
purpose.
• Good visions are competitive, original and
unique.
• Good visions represent integrity, they are
 mission
• Organizations relate their existence to satisfying
a particular need of the society. They do it in
terms of their mission. Mission is a statement
which defines the role that an organization plays
in a society.
• It refers to the particular need of that society for
instance, its information needs.
• Acc to Thompson(1997), Mission is an “essential
purpose of the organization, concerning
particularly why it is in existence, the nature of
the business it is in and the customers it seeks to
serve and satisfy.
• Acc to Hunger & Wheelen mission is a “purpose
• Organizations relate their existence to satisfying a
particular need of the society. They do it in terms of
their mission.
• Mission is a statement which defines the role that
an organization plays in a society. It refers to the
particular need of that society for instance, its
information needs.
• Mission “essential purpose of the organization,
concerning particularly why it is in existence, the
nature of the business it is in, and the customers it
seeks to serve and satisfy.”
• Mission is also defined as a “purpose or reason for
the organization’s existence.”
• “Mission is an enduring statement of purpose that
distinguishes one firm from other similar firm.”
• In short the mission describes the product, market
 Characteristics of Mission statement
• Feasible
• Precise
• Clear
• Motivating
• Distinctive
• Indicates major components of
strategy.
• Indicates ways to achieve the
objectives.
• EXAMPLES FOR MISSION STATEMENT
1. BSNL: “To provide world class state
of art technology telecom services to
its customers on demand at
competitive prices. To provide world
class telecom infrastructure in its
area of operation and to contribute
to the growth of country’s economy.”
• The mission statement of an organization is normally
short, to the point, and contains the following
elements: Provides a concise statement of why the
organization exists, and what it is to achieve;
• States the purpose and identity of the organization;
• Defines the institution's values and philosophy; and
• Describes how the organization will serve those
affected by its work. Formulating mission
• What is the basic purpose of your organization?
• What is unique about your organization?
• What is in your company that will make it stand out
in a crowd?
• Who are, and who should be, your principal
customers
 Need for an explicit mission

• To ensure unanimity of purpose

within the organization.
• To provide a basis for motivating
the use of the organizations
resources.
• To develop a basis, or standard,
for allocating organizational
resources.
• To establish a general tone or
organization climate.
• A Vision statement describes
what the organization would like
to become.
• Mission statement describes
what the organization is now.
“What the company is providing
to society?
 Business definition
Business definition answers the
questions like:
What is our business?
What will it be? And
What should it be?
Vision & mission statements can use
the ideas generated through the
process of understanding and
defining business.
 Dimensions of business
definition
• According to Derek Abell, business can be
defined by following three dimensions;
1. Customer groups – identity of customers
like children, men or women.
2.Customer functions – what products or
services provide for the customers like
utility or ornamental.
3. Alternative technologies – describe the
manner in which particular function can
be performed for a customer like
mechanical/digital etc.
 objectives
• Objectives represent a managerial
commitment to achieve specified
results in a specified period, of time.
They clearly spell out the quantity
and quality of performance to be
achieved, the time period, the
process and the person who is
responsible for the achievement of
the objectives.
• Objectives are end results of planned
• Objectives are the ends that state
specifically how the goals shall be
achieved. They are concrete and
specific in contrast to goals that are
generalised. So, objectives make
goals operation, goals may be
qualitative, but objectives are
quantitative, measurable and
comparable,
• Characteristics:
 Areas of objectives
1. Markets 2. Productivity
3. Innovation 4. Product
5. Profitability 6. Financial resources
7. Physical facilities 8. Organization
structure and activities 9. Manager
performance and development
10. Employee performance and attitude
11. Customer service
12. Social responsibility
 Importance of objectives

Objectives help to define the

organization in its environment.
Objectives help in coordinating
decisions and decision-maker.
Objectives help in formulating
strategies.
Objectives provide standards for
assessing organizational
performance.
 goals
• Goal is defined as an “intermediate result
to be achieved by a certain time as part of
the grand plan . A plan can, there for have
many goals.”
• Goals are short term (one year or less)
milestones or bench marks that
organizations must achieve in order for
long term objectives to be reached.
• Goals should be measurable, quantitative,
challenging, realistic, consistent and
prioritized.
• Goals denote what an organisation hopes to
accomplish in a future period of time. They
represent the future state or outcome of
efforts put in now.
• Goals have the following features
1. Goals are derived from objectives.
2. Offer a standard for measuring
performance.
3. Are expressed in concrete terms.
4. Are time bound and work oriented.
• Goals are important in – Strategy
implementation. Objectives are in – strategy
formulation.
• Goals are an expected or desired outcome of a
planning process. Goals are usually broad,
general expressions of the guiding principles and
aspirations of an organization. Objectives are
precise targets that are necessary to achieve
goals. Objectives are detailed statements of
quantitatively or qualitatively measurable results
the plan hopes to accomplish