Abstract
Purpose Mission statements are important corporate communication tool for organizations. In order to be purposeful it should be comprehendible and easy to understand. Considering the importance of mission statements readability, this research endeavor is aimed to judge the level of readability and understandability of mission statements of Asian companies listed in Fortune 500 for the year of 2015. Design/Methodology Asian companies listed in Global Fortune-500 for 2014-2015 were taken. There were 197 Asian companies present in that listing. In order to fetch mission statements of those companies their websites were visited from Feb, 2016-April 2016. Mission statements were analyzed for their readability and understandability by estimating total sentences, total words and number of words per sentence (simple counting technique) and following tests: automated readability index, Coleman Liau index, Flasch Reading Ease tests and Gunning fog index. Findings It is evident from the study that mission statements of Asian companies are long and difficult to read and understand. Trading sector is found to have shortest mission statement, with ease of reading and understandability, when compared to other sectors. Research Limitations/Future Directions Future researchers should use other sophisticated evaluation tools and the analysis should also include the influence of country culture on contents and traits of mission statements. Managerial Implications Findings leave a valuable message for management, as they have to have a good look at the mission statements, while looking at its readability and understandability. They should also consider the traits of their stakeholders while preparing mission statement and other statements. Originality/Value This research is first study which had investigated mission statements of Asian companies listed in fortune 500, as there is no such study available upto the best of researchers’ knowledge.
Keyword(s)
Asia, mission statements, strategic management, readability, understandability