Chapter 4 Concluding Case

1.
According to Chapter 4 of the text, a “mission is a clear and concise expression of the basic purpose of the organization”. “It describes what the organization does, who it does it for, its basic good or service, and its values.” Mission statements vary in terms of specificity. For example a larger company such as Proctor & Gamble, will have a much broader mission, commensurate with the size of its target customer base. A smaller, local owned, business will typically have a smaller target customer base, creating the need for a more specific mission. A small business’ mission will need to be one that speaks to the particular niche of customers within the business’ local area. Chapter 4’s Concluding Case involves a small, local business that directly serves the traffic from a nearby university. Using text’s definition of mission, and after reading Custom Coffee & Chocolate’s case, I was able to identify that the local business serving University students and staff, would need a specific mission. I concluded that Custom Coffee & Chocolate’s mission was to “provide a place where students, university faculty, and local residents, could indulge their love of good coffee and fine chocolate”. This mission statement adequately meets the criteria of what a mission statement should include for a small business.
2.
According to Chapter 4 of the text, once managers have analyzed the environment and an organization’s resources, they will have the information needed to assess the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This type of assessment is referred to as a SWOT analysis. Chapter 4’s concluding case, “Custom Coffee & Chocolate” describes a new, small, local owned business whose managers have reached an organizational milestone and have the information they need to perform a SWOT analysis. By conducting a SWOT