Strategic Alignment of Mission and Strategy: A Comparative Report

This report provides a comparative analysis of organizational strategy by examining two case studies: Possible Health, a non-governmental organization, and General Motors (GM). The report analyzes the mission statements and strategic approaches of both organizations, assessing the degree to which their strategies align with their stated missions. Possible Health is highlighted for its effective integration of mission and strategy, particularly in providing healthcare services to rural Nepal. In contrast, GM is critiqued for failing to align its corporate mission with its actions, specifically concerning the faulty ignition switch issue. The report emphasizes the importance of clear, consistent mission and strategy statements that guide employee behavior and contribute to organizational success. The conclusion underscores the role of leadership in ensuring strategic alignment and provides recommendations for maintaining consistency between an organization's mission and its strategic initiatives.

What is strategy?

Possible Health is a non-governmental organization that focuses on delivering health care
services to the poor people of Nepal by engaging in public-private partnership with the
government. The mission statement of the company is to deliver high quality and low cost
healthcare service to the rural poor of the world (About us, 2018). As per secondary research, it
has been found that the company conforms to the mission statement as since the year 2008 it has
treated around 5 lakh patients within rural Nepal through the network of government hospitals,
clinics as well as community health workers.
As per the company’s strategy it wishes to provide integrated healthcare services to the entire
population by connecting governmental facilities as well as community health workers from
hospital to home. According to a report by Clinton global initiative (2018) the stated
organizational strategy aligns effectively with the notion of the firm. This is as since the time of
earthquake in Nepal the firm has been focusing on rebuilding health care services in the nation so
as to restore healthcare access to 74,464 people. Harel (2018) is further of the view point that the
company has focused on providing affordable services to the people by keeping health care
services less than 20 dollars thereby meeting the mission of low cost service provision.
GM motors is one of the largest car makers in the world that began its operations since the year
1908. The company is headquartered in Detroit and has operations in over 140 nations where it
has been found to sell a wide range of vehicles starting from electric cars to heavy-duty trucks
(Emadi, 2017). The company however failed to align with the corporate mission and strategy
which is showcased below. The mission statement of General motors is to engage itself in
socially responsible practices on a worldwide basis and provide products and services to the
consumers that are of superior value (Drucker, 2017). The company however failed in its mission
statement by engaging in irresponsible practices as it was fined around 900 US dollars for killing
124 people on account of faulty ignition switch (Spector and Matthews, 2015). As per the
corporate strategy of the company it wants to earn the consumers for life by making use of
breakthrough technologies and generating an expereince that id loved by people.
The engineers within GM were not in tune with the strategy as they considered the
issue of switch ignition as the ones linked to consumer satisfaction rather than
safety. Hence they failed to provide a good expereince to the consumers.
As a CEO of an organization I will always ensure that the mission and strategy statements
convey what the organization really does. This can be done by making sure that they are not

ambiguous or contradictory in nature and are able to guide employee behavior in the best
possible manner. Moreover the strategies should be such that they are able to link with the
mission statement. If certain issue is found while adhering with them then an attempt will be
made to change it as soon as possible.

References
About us. (2018). [Online]. Available through: <https://www.linkedin.com/company/possible/>
[Accessed on 26th April 2018].
Clinton global initiative. (2018). [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/commitments/possible-
rebuilding-nepals-health-system/> [Accessed on 26th April 2018].
Drucker, P. F. (2017). The Theory of the Business (Harvard Business Review Classics. Harvard
Business Press.
Emadi, A. (2017). Handbook of automotive power electronics and motor drives. CRC press.
Harel, T., (2018). Possible Health – Mark Arnoldy, Under 30 and Changing the World. [Online].
Available through: <https://www.classy.org/blog/possible-health-mark-arnoldy-under-
30-and-changing-the-world//> [Accessed on 26th April 2018].
Spector, M. and Matthews, C. M. (2015). U.S. Charges GM with Wire Fraud, Concealing Facts
on Ignition Switch. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-
charges-gm-with-wire-fraud-concealing-facts-on-ignition-switch-1442502075/>
[Accessed on 26th April 2018].