Do you think it makes sense for a firm to base its mission statement on the type of product it produces? Or more on how it wants to please the cutomers? Please explain?

For example, would it be good for a division that produces electric motors to have as its mission: "We want to make the best (from our customers' point of view) electric motors available anywhere in the world"?

In short, both are valid missions for your company, best products and best service.

A mission statement should be a short synopsis of what your company wants to be and how it wants to get there. Some are very short, some are a couple of sentences.

Then, you can follow up with a bullet point list of examples of that mission.

That is my experience with mission statements, however, there are several ways of doing it. The most important thing is that (a) employees can remember it and follow through with it; (b) involve the whole company in crafting the mission statement; (c) take inventory of how your company is now and how it needs to improve in order to live by the mission statement you are creating.

Mission statements mean nothing unless the organization makes them mean something from the top down and the bottom up. In my opinion. Good luck.

Thank You !