Missioon ja visioon jaekaubanduses Sportland Eesti AS näitel
Date
2006
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Abstract
Description
The world is globalising, we are living in an information society, consumption has
acquired new content and form. Mankind has reached an era where needs and
consumption no longer have a direct connection and through acquiring things we do not
satisfy our direct needs but rather buy affiliation, status and contentment. Thus today’s
retailing organisations have an important role to play in moulding and directing
contemporary culture.
In the thesis titled “Mission and Vision in retailing – based on Sportland Eesti AS’s
example” the author examined mission and vision in retailing. A word is the simplest
way of expressing thoughts generated from feelings and the utmost chance of
amplifying them. It has been proven that word and thought have immense power,
however mission and vision are the expression of a company’s existence put into words.
The thesis’ main problems were: what are mission and vision, and how mission and
vision affect the creation of a company’s strategy, concept and sales environment,
positioning and differentiation from competitors.
Mission and vision in retailing were viewed in the context of Sportland Eesti AS.
Sportland Eesti AS is a part of Sportland International Group AS, where the subjects of
mission and vision are paid considerable attention. The author’s long-term and tight
relationship with Sportland most probably affected the distancing of the thesis but on
the other hand it provided the possibility of contrasting theory and practical processes.
The theoretical definition of mission and vision, and the connected themes played an
important role in the thesis. The author’s analysis of Sportland’s mission, vision and
values was based on a discourse analysis and in order to determine the opinions of
Estonian retailing experts on mission and vision the author conducted and expert semi
structured expert interview with them.
The thesis alternates with the theoretical, literature based approach to mission and
vision and the connected realms, phenomenon, activities etc and the author’s analysis and comments about Sportland and an overview of the opinions and citations from the
interviews conducted with the Estonian retailing experts.
In the first chapter the author gives a short overview of the Estonian retailing
development over the past fifteen years. The development found longer coverage with
the aim to find the breaking point where supply exceeded the demand. That very point
may be considered to be the moment of entering a consumer society where the success
and failure of companies is affected by different factors than before and where the
subjects of mission and vision become presumably more important. The second chapter
consisted of ponderings over the term consumer society with the help of different
authors. The author also covered the development of the Sportland store chain from
1997 to the present day and gave an overview of the company’s structure. In the last
part of the second chapter the author reviewed strategic planning. The third chapter
described the thesis methodology. In the beginning of the chapter a short overview is
given of the discourse analysis that was used to analyse Sportland’s mission, vision and
values; the choice of interviewees, interview questions and other issues connected with
the interviews were also covered. The fourth chapter is dedicated to mission and vision.
In the first part of the chapter the author gives the theoretical definition of mission, then
brings out the connections between mission and the power of word and thought and
lastly analyses the mission of Sportland. The second part of the chapter covers vision.
The chapter is concluded by the analysis of the interviews with the Estonian retailing
experts. The fifth chapter reviews organisational values and structure and sixth
positioning and its connections with mission and vision. The seventh chapter views
concept and the development of the retailing environment, and the importance of
mission and vision at that.
Based on Sportland Eesti AS it could be said that a clearly worded mission and vision
are a strong basis for the development of a retailer’s strategy, concept and the retailing
environment and the clear-sighted and meaningful organisation of daily work. It is also
clear that mission and vision aid in the differentiation from competitors. In principle all
interviewed retailing experts considered the subject of mission and vision as the general
basis for organising a company’s activities to be important, however, the opinions differed in the sense of how much the subject is paid attention to in Estonian retailing
companies and how much attention should be paid to it. Based on the development of
Sportland Eesti AS, it could be said that paying attention to those questions became
actual in 2000. Also all interviewees agreed that in the 1990s the subject of mission and
vision had no practical value in Estonia and that the importance started increasing in
2000 when competition had become tighter. All interviewees also noted that through
tightening competition also the importance of the so called softer issues becomes more
important for the comapnies.
Taking into consideration the volume of the thesis, it was not possible to cover all
aspects connected with mission and vision. The discussion included a somewhat more
thorough overview of the possible development directions of the thesis. The author was
forced to leave out marketing in retailing and its connections to mission and vision,
since the marketing subject itself is very extensive. The author also didn’t cover the
subject of mission and vision from the aspect of human resources, i.e. the
communication of the mission and vision to the organisation members and by the
members.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd