The effects of innovation-oriented mission statements on innovation performance and non-financial business performance

The innovation literature has given a great deal of attention to the antecedents of innovationperformance within the firm. Although many multinational companies include innovationrelatedwords in their mission statements, little effort has been devoted to the relationshipbetween a mission statement and innovation performance. This study investigates howmission statements influence innovation performance and then tests the relationship betweeninnovation performance and non-financial business performance. An empirical analysis wasconducted on a sample of the Chinese high-tech industry. Those companies with innovationorientatedmission have better innovation performance than companies without. The resultsalso show strong evidence that mission statements have a positive influence on innovationperformance, especially when innovation-related words are present in the statements. Theresults also indicate that both the newness of a technology and its newness to market cansignificantly enhance corporate image and customer satisfaction and that is critical for firmsto understand the appropriate time to launch new products. This study discusses thepractical implications of this work for managers.