Business Research Tutorial

A company's mission statement briefly explains the company's purpose. The mission statement is focused on a company's past and present.

A vision statement explains a company's goals and plans for achieving the goals; the vision statement is focused on a company's future.

For more information about mission and vision statements, see Mission, vision, and values.

Mission/vision statements can be found using the following:

• Free Web
• UMGC Library Databases
• Print Books
• Ebooks

Click on the links above to learn how to find company mission/vision statements in each of the sources listed.

The best place to find a company's mission/vision statement will usually be the company's own website. Try using a search engine such as Google or Bing and search for the company's name and the phrase mission statement and/or the phrase vision statement -- for example:

starbucks "mission statement"

"under armour" "vision statement"

You may also be able to find a company's mission/vision statement and/or information about the company's mission/vision by searching in UMGC Library business databases such as ABI/INFORM Complete and Business Source Ultimate. Search for the company's name and AND it with the phrase mission statement and/or with other similar terms -- for example:

starbucks AND ("mission statement" OR "vision statement" OR "company mission" OR "corporate mission" OR "corporate purpose")

There are numerous print books available in USMAI Book Search, the UMGC Library catalog, that contain company mission/vision statements and/or that describe how to write a mission/vision statement. These include:

• 101 great mission statements: How the world's leading companies run their businesses
• 101 mission statements from top companies: Plus guidelines for writing your own mission statement
• Corporate philosophies and mission statements: A survey and guide for corporate communicators and management
• Mission statements: A guide to the corporate and nonprofit sectors
• Say it & live it: 50 corporate mission statements that hit the mark
• The mission statement book: 301 corporate mission statements from America's top companies

You will probably not find information about a particular company's mission/vision statement in the UMGC Library's ebooks, but you can find information about what mission/vision statements are and/or how to write them by using the Library's ebook databases to search for:

"mission statement*" OR "vision statement*"