Strategic Management: Mission (Definitions)

"A written summary describing why an organization exists." (Timothy J  Kloppenborg et al, "Project Leadership", 2003)

"A brief declaration of why the organization, group, or department exists. It provides the foundation on which the entity will build its products and services and identifies to whom it will offer them." (Teri Lund & Susan Barksdale, "10 Steps to Successful Strategic Planning", 2006)

"A stated purpose, intent, or goal. In the Harmony/ESW process, several work activities have specific missions, including diagram creation and the microcycle." (Bruce P Douglass, "Real-Time Agility: The Harmony/ESW Method for Real-Time and Embedded Systems Development", 2009)

"A statement that describes an organization's purpose or reason for existence." (Bettina M Davis & Wendy L Combsand, "Demystifying Technical Training: Partnership, Strategy, and Execution", 2009)

"A written statement that describes the business’s purpose and provides a sense of direction for the business. It helps management to develop complementary strategies." (Gina Abudi & Brandon Toropov, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Best Practices for Small Business", 2011)

"Defines why an organization exists." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed", 2011)

"High-level declaration of the organization's purpose. (6, 622, 666)" (Leslie G Eldenburg & Susan K Wolcott, "Cost Management" 2nd Ed., 2011)

"Explains the fundamental purpose of the company or organization." (Bill Holtsnider & Brian D Jaffe, "IT Manager's Handbook" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"A statement that focuses on the present and identifies what an organization hopes to achieve and/or how it hopes to achieve it. In contrast, a vision statement focuses on the future." (Darril Gibson, "Effective Help Desk Specialist Skills", 2014)

"Short (preferably one or two sentences long) expression of an organization's services, its target market, and its competitive advantages." (Manish Agrawal, "Information Security and IT Risk Management", 2014)

"A brief description of a company’s fundamental purpose that articulates the company’s purpose both for those in the organization and for the public." (Jeffrey Magee, "The Managerial Leadership Bible", 2015)

"A statement of purpose for an organization." (Andrew Pham et al, "From Business Strategy to Information Technology Roadmap", 2016)

"A description of an organization or function’s business, its objectives, and its approach to reach those objectives." (Jonathan Ferrar et al, "The Power of People", 2017)

"An expression of the types of behaviour that an organisation sees as key to achieving its strategy, goals or vision. Generally expressed as a statement." (Duncan Angwin & Stephen Cummings, "The Strategy Pathfinder" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"An organization’s top-level requirements that must be satisfied and the properties with which they must be satisfied, including trustworthiness." (O Sami Saydjari, "Engineering Trustworthy Systems: Get Cybersecurity Design Right the First Time", 2018)

"The stated reason for the existence of the organization. It is usually prepared by the CEO and key members of the executive team and succinctly states what they will achieve or accomplish. It typically is changed only when the organization decides to pursue a completely new market." (H James Harrington & William S Ruggles, "Project Management for Performance Improvement Teams", 2018)

"What an organization does, what its perceived mission or missions are, and what business processes are involved in fulfilling the mission(s)." (William Stallings, "Effective Cybersecurity: A Guide to Using Best Practices and Standards", 2018)

"Elements of organizations describing mission areas, common/shared business services, and organization-wide services. Mission/business segments can be identified with one or more information systems which collectively support a mission/business process." (CNSSI 4009-2015)