Exercises: Mission, vision, and values

Define mission, vision, and values in your own words, and create them for a local churros shop: what it does and for whom (mission), what it aims to become (vision), and what principles it will never compromise on (values).

Classify each statement from a school cooperative as mission, vision, or value: (a) "to sell healthy and affordable breakfasts to students at the school"; (b) "to become the benchmark for healthy food in local secondary schools within three years"; (c) "we always buy from local producers, even if it costs more"; (d) "no team member is left without learning how to operate the till".

The figure shows the pyramid on which an entrepreneurial entity is built, but the apex is covered with a question mark.

1. a) State which component occupies the top and explain why values form the base (what would happen if they falter).
2. b) Write an example of each level of the pyramid for your local basketball team.

Explain with an example why the mission must be understandable by anyone. Rewrite this convoluted mission of a school cooperative: 'facilitating cross-cutting food synergies for the student collective' so that a Year 7 pupil can understand it.

A project team says its main value is 'honesty'. Give two examples of real decisions at a school market stall where that value would show (what happens if there are coins left over from the change, what they put on the ingredients sign) and explain what difference there is between having the value written down and practising it.

Match each sentence with mission, vision or value, and justify one of them: (a) 'repairing bikes so the neighbourhood can get around better'; (b) 'in five years, for there to be a workshop like ours in every school in the district'; (c) 'everyone deserves friendly treatment, whether they come to spend money or not'; (d) 'we recover abandoned bikes before making anything new'.

Explain what a short-term goal and a long-term goal are within a vision, with the example of the drama club: the vision is 'to fill the neighbourhood theatre at the June premiere'. Write one goal for this month and one for the term that push towards that vision.

Name the five basic functions of any entrepreneurial organisation (production, purchasing, sales, finance and people) and state which one handles each task at the juice stall: squeezing the fruit, ordering more oranges, counting the till at the end, putting up the offers sign, calming an overwhelmed classmate.

Draft the mission, vision, and three values of your class cooperative (or a healthy breakfast stall). Review your wording: the mission must state what you do and for whom, the vision must be verifiable after a certain period, and the values must help guide decisions in a real conflict. Justify each component.

Every entrepreneurial entity divides functions: production (making the product), purchasing (obtaining materials), sales (reaching people), finance (controlling money), and human resources (organising the team). Assign each task of a school food truck to its corresponding function: (a) negotiating the price of tortillas with the supplier; (b) keeping track of money coming in and going out; (c) designing the daily menu; (d) preparing tacos at the fair; (e) resolving a conflict between two partners; (f) posting opening hours on social media.

The school cooperative faces a dilemma: buying biodegradable cups costs twice as much, reducing the profit intended for their school trip. Their core values state "we care for the environment". Explain how having written values helps in decision-making, which consistent option you would choose, and what would happen if decisions were made on a whim every time.

A student cooperative sells breakfasts and shares out the profit: $50\ \%$ for the study trip, $30\ \%$ to reinvest in the project and $20\ \%$ for a local NGO. Write its mission and its one-year vision, and explain how the profit split already reveals the cooperative's values even though they are not written down.

The school vegetable garden's mission says 'bringing the kitchen garden closer to young people'. This year only $6$ pupils out of the school's $400$ take part. Explain why a mission without measurable goals becomes decoration, and write two concrete, measurable annual goals that would move that mission forward (participation, workshops, selling veg boxes).

The notes app team is arguing: some want to charge $1\ \text{€}$ per download to fund the servers; others recall that the mission is 'that nobody goes without notes because they can't pay'. Propose two models compatible with the mission (free with donations, free for everything with paid extras, a PTA grant) and defend one, explaining what it sacrifices and what it protects.

Split the functions of this event among five people: the school's charity concert needs contacting bands, applying for the gym permit, handling ticket sales and the till, designing posters and social media, and coordinating rehearsals. Assign each block to a function (management, purchasing/relations, finance, communication, production) and explain what happens if one function is left without an owner.

Two teams sell the same thing at the fair with the same success, but one has its mission and three rules written down and the other doesn't. When sharing out the profit, the second team argues for an hour; the first sorts it out in ten minutes. Explain how written values act as a 'referee' when there is a conflict, and write the three rules you think the first team had.

Three friends created an app for sharing school revision notes, with the mission "that no one is left behind because they cannot afford private tuition". As it grows, an advertiser offers $500\ \text{€}$ per month to place ads for private tutoring centres within the app.

1. a) Analyse the conflict between this offer and the original mission.
2. b) Decide what you would do and draft the rule you would establish for similar future decisions.

In a rural district of $3.000$ inhabitants, two financial institutions operate: the branch of a large publicly traded commercial bank and a local credit union. Both attract savings and grant financing, but they have radically different missions: maximizing value for shareholders versus satisfying the members' needs and revitalizing the territory.

This year, three critical situations arise in the district:

1. A repair shop applies for a $25.000\ \text{€}$ loan to modernize its machinery after a bad year. Its financial collateral is very tight according to automated risk models, but its activity sustains $4$ key jobs in the village.

2. After the close of the financial year, each institution earns a net profit of $90.000\ \text{€}$ in that district.

3. The physical premises record a maintenance cost higher than the direct business margin generated by in-person customers (mostly elderly people).

1. a) Predict with reasoned arguments what each institution will decide in each of the three situations (granting the loan, allocation of profits, and future of the physical branch), justifying how each decision stems directly from its mission.
2. b) Assess what economic and social consequences the district's population would suffer in the medium term if the credit union abandoned its purpose and adopted the commercial bank's mission.

The school charity fair is organised by $12$ people. Design its organisation: what functions are required (management, purchasing, sales, finance, communication, human resources), how many people you allocate to each, who makes which decisions, and how information flows (meetings, board, manager). Draw it as a simple diagram and justify two design choices.

The school cooperative is a success: it sells $80$ breakfasts a day. A group of students proposes expanding: opening another stall at the neighbouring school. The original mission was 'offering a healthy breakfast to the students of our school'.

1. a) Analyse whether expanding contradicts or amplifies the mission, and what questions the cooperative should answer before deciding (resources, team, purpose).
2. b) Rewrite the mission so that it can grow without losing its identity, and defend the wording to those who fear that growing will 'dilute' the project.

Three projects ask for the PTA's support with three different missions: 'selling a lot to pay for our trip', 'learning to run a real business by selling breakfasts', 'that no pupil arrives at first period without breakfast'.

1. a) Analyse what kind of decisions each project will make when it has to choose between profit and learning, or between profit and service (give one concrete dilemma as an example).
2. b) As a PTA member, decide which one you would support with $100\ \text{€}$ and explain what a project's mission says about its future.

A much-loved neighbourhood shop has a motto on its door: 'The customer is boss here.' For months an employee has been suffering a customer who shouts at her and the owner does nothing 'because the customer is always right'.

1. a) Analyse how a misunderstood value ('the customer first') can clash with another one ('looking after the team') and which should weigh more in this case.
2. b) Rewrite the two values in a compatible way for the shop, with a decision rule for when they come into conflict.

Your school cooperative has grown: $15$ members, two stalls and $1.200\ \text{€}$ handled this school year. Design its minimum 'constitution': the mission in one sentence, three values with their application rule, how important decisions are made (voting, majorities), how members join and leave, and what happens to the profits. Defend the two rules that would generate the most debate.

'Companies exist only to make money; everything else is window dressing.' Contrast this with the idea of a company with a purpose: analyse what would happen to the decisions of a neighbourhood artisan bakery if it only looked at profit (suppliers, employees, neighbourhood) and what a company that looks after its mission gains in the long run (trust, loyal customers, a stable team). Finish by taking a stance with a realistic example.