Open Access Article SciPap-827
Rethinking Mission on the Basis of Deeper Understanding of Firm´S Purpose
by Karel Slinták 1,*

1 Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, Zlín 760 01, Czechia

* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract: Economy divided into a profitable and non-profit sector comes from the basic assumption that there are two types of organizations. Non-profit sector consists of organizations whose purpose is to solute social problems, while profitable sector is formed by enterprises whose purpose is to make money. The roots of this assumption lie in economic theories. In management theory there are also alternative views on the purpose of enterprises. The most famous is the hypothesis regarding the maximization of market value which reflects the economic model. Nowadays, however, it is growing interest in the social model that defines enterprises as social systems whose purpose is to serve society. The analysis of the theoretical attitudes revealed that profit or market value is not a sufficient response to what is the purpose of business organizations. Enterprises are instruments of society that satisfy different stakeholders. They are, like other organizations, set up in order to bring benefit to their environment. This benefit is formulated into a mission that represents the identity of the companies to all stakeholders. The mission is the intersection of society's needs and abilities of the company. Responsible companies therefore fulfilled their mission so that satisfy the needs of the market based on their competencies.

Keywords: Profit, Market Value, Mission, Purpose, Service To Society, Theory Of The Business

JEL classification:   L21 - Business Objectives of the Firm,   M21 - Business Economics

SciPap 2016, 24(3), 827

Received: 16 May 2016 / Accepted: 28 November 2016 / Published: 21 December 2016