An advanced knowledge-based analysis of company vision statements

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.