Analysis of the mission statements of AACSB‐accredited schools

Purpose – Research indicates that high‐performing firms share common components among their mission statements. The present study aims to begin a search for a similar correlation among academic schools of business. Design/methodology/approach – Content and statistical analyses are used to analyze mission statements gathered from nearly all AACSB‐accredited business schools. Findings – Mission statements for AACSB‐accredited schools are less than a page but not extremely short nor memorable. They address multiple stakeholders and usually do not include vision statements, goals or objectives. They often do not reference quality or the AACSB. Research limitations/implications – The sample was AACSB schools. As such, one should be circumspect in generalizing to other areas of business. Practical implications – This paper shows deans and other interested stakeholders what an average mission statement for an AACSB school looks like. It also suggests that mission statements do not effectively identify individual universities. In general, mission statements are found to be longer than expected. Originality/value – Business school deans need to be aware of the mission statements among their competitors in order to make better decisions in writing their own statements. Also, the research lays useful groundwork for those who want to discuss more controversial issues, such as the following: do mission statements differentiate the schools or is each school mission statement so similar to the others that there is little or no value in its expression?