A study of Mission statements for strategic management - Focusing on the tertiary care hospitals in korea and special functioning hospitals in Japan-

한국과 일본병원의 미션선언문 비교연구 - 한국의 상급종합병원과 일본의 특정기능병원을 중심으로-

This study investigated contents of mission statements for Strategic Management of hospitals in Korea and Japan. For the study, 44 tertiary care hospitals in korea, which were accredited by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, were selected. And 83 special functioning hospitals in Japan, which were approved by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, were included. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted by classifying 5 components of the mission statement; market, service, philosophy, image, contribution. Findings from this study are as follow. First, hospitals in Korea emphasized image(93.2%) and philosophy(81.8%) components in their mission statements, whereas hospitals in Japan highlighted components of service(89.2%) and market(72.3%). In detail, mission statements of Korean tertiary care hospitals describe the components of hospital's image (93.2%), philosophy(81.8%), contribution(56.8%), market(22.7%) and service (18.2%) in order. On the other hand, mission statements of Japanese special functioning hospitals describe hospital's service(89.2%), market(72.3%), contribution(61.4%), image (49.4%) and philosophy(34.9%), respectively. Second, as results of Content analysis, there were some differences in mission statements of hospitals between two countries, and it is mainly from the divergences of standards for recognition of medical institutions, environmental factors, and different ways of mission statement description. For strategic hospital management, carrying out innovative restructuring organization or promoting of research and training for medical development is considered as a desirable approach. However, clear description of mission statement is more important and it is required for effective control and managing organization. And then the mission should be communicated within an organization so all internal members understand it and put their efforts to achieve the mission of organization. In conclusion, it is recommended that a leader and senior managers should re-evaluate its mission statement whether it reflects characteristics of an organization. In addition, a mission statement should be created or improved based on critical decision, as well as it should be clearly shared within an organization in order to become a future oriented organizations.