Is It Necessary to be Clear? An Examination of Strategic Ambiguity in Family Business Mission Statements

Abstract

Family businesses comprise the largest portion of organizations in the United States. Although much is known about how individuals interact in these businesses, little is known about how family businesses function at an organizational level. Family businesses are likely to use strategic ambiguity in their mission statements to allow for multiple interpretations of the same message by their stakeholders. This study analyzed the mission statements of the 20 largest family businesses in the United States to explore their use of strategic ambiguity. Family businesses used strategic ambiguity for the purposes of unified diversity, promoting varied understandings of goals, and for facilitating organizational change, but not for the purposes of deniability. This research begins to provide an explanation of the potential driving factors of family business mission statements.

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