business objectives

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Definition

Establishing meaningful objectives is essential to strategy development. Objectives are set to guide behavior in achieving the business purpose. To help orient thinking for forming specific objectives, here is a generic set of business objectives provided by Russell L. Ackoff (1981, pp 30-45):

  • Survival - continue to exist
  • Growth - increase in size or numbers
  • Development - an increase in capacity and potential
  • Omnicompetence - unlimited power to (the ability or capacity to perform effectively) vs. power over (might or authority). Omnicompetence is an ideal.

""Businesses exist only for their economic function, and if they have no economic function, they have no reason to exist."" (Kay, 2004, pp 92).