An advanced knowledge-based analysis of company vision statements

Abstract

What distinguishes a good vision? A knowledge perspective on organizational visions can be helpful in order to identify which content vision statements should include. Knowledge enablers aim to respond to the question what organizations need to know for planning effectively and performing their activities well. Previous studies identified three knowledge enablers in organizational visions: knowledge about organizational identity (OI), emerging potentiality (EP) and mutual embeddedness (ME). In this paper, we empirically tested these findings through a qualitative content analysis of a large number of Forbes-2000 companies vision statements. As a result, we detected all three knowledge enablers in our sample. Moreover, we found that the rank of companies in the Forbes 2000 list correlates not only with the occurrence of knowledge enablers, but also with the frequency of knowledge about emerging potentiality. Consequently, companies have to be supported to generate especially this knowledge enabler. Our results can contribute to research on knowledge-based vision development and inspire an ongoing discussion in the KM community about future research priorities.