Mission statements provide direction for all individuals in an organization, framing decisions and guiding policy. If well connected to a firm's distinctive competencies, a mission statement is specific. It will make little sense if hung on the wall of another organization.
Visit the home pages of two or three firms in this chapter or from an industry in which you might enjoy a career, and compare their mission statements.
You may be surprised to find that some firms do not publish a mission statement on their web site. Might there be valid reasons for keeping the mission proprietary?
For our purposes, we'll look for PricewaterhouseCoopers (Links to an external site.) and KPMG (Links to an external site.). You'll find a "values" statement when you access the "about us" page.