Walgreens (the trading name of Walgreens company) is the United States’ second-largest pharmacy retail chain. Founded in 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, by Charles R. Walgreen as a food store, the chain expanded in just a decade to four stores, adding a fifth to the list by 1915. In just a year the number had increased to nine stores. Walgreens currently has 9,277 store locations around the country. Business boomed initially and especially grew in the 1920s, i.e. the prohibition period, as the chain engaged in the sale of prescription whiskey. By the next decade, the company had a worth amounting to $4,000,000, a significant proportion of which was owing to the under-the-counter sales of alcohol during prohibition. Today’s article gives details about Walgreens Mission and Vision Statement.
The Walgreens Boots Alliance was formed in 2014 when Walgreen bought 55% of the Swiss company Alliance Boots. Walgreens is now a subsidiary of this new company thus formed and currently trades with the symbol WBA op NASDAQ. Walgreens primarily caters to health and wellness and deals in health information, filling prescriptions, photo services, and health and wellness products.
Walgreens is the second-biggest pharmacy store in the United States and with reason. Given their missions and vision statements, one can understand their commitment to the products and services they provide, aiming at not only the growth of their own company but also of the entire pharmacy sector. The mission statement of the company stands for the company’s dedication to improving the condition of health and well-being of fellow Americans. The vision statement, on the other hand, puts their long-term goals in perspective and describes their intention of being the leading service provider in the pharmacy sector.
While the mission statement focuses on how the company intends to grow and what it aims to achieve via the services it provides, the vision statement stands for the idea that the organization intends to achieve and lays out the direction of the growth. Both of these statements need to be read and analyzed together to truly understand the business stance of Walgreens. Along with this, the core values of the organization become important in the sense that their practice is directly related to how the goals set in the mission statement would be implemented and how the vision of the company would be achieved.
Walgreens Mission Statement
Walgreens does not have a mission statement but it does have a purpose statement which can be interpreted as a mission statement and analyzed as such. It is:
“We help people across the world lead healthier and happier lives.”
On the first reading, it seems like a simple enough statement which describes the commitment of the pharmacy retail chain to providing top-notch service to their customers. We can, however, divide the statement into some core elements which would help us understand the purpose of this statement better. These are as follows:
- Helping people
- Providing their services worldwide
- Offering products and services to better the quality of life
Mission Statement Analysis
Given how the first sentiment of the mission statement is to help people, the company establishes itself as a leading service provider which is committed to providing healthcare solutions to help people in mind. The company’s focus on the health of its customers is also shown by its products which include products like pharmaceuticals and nutritional supplements. The Walgreens Boots Alliance is also responsible for running some clinics that allow patients to book appointments with ease and offer them a flexible way of doing so.
The first core element directly relates to Walgreens’ mission to spread its mission of helping people from the United States to people all around the world. While this extends the commitment that the organization has to healthcare, it also underlines how the business aims at expansion. While the focal point of the company remains its healthcare services and products, the scope is increased and includes a greater number of people to whom these services can be offered.
After outlining just how the corporation aims at expanding its business, the purpose/mission statement of Walgreens gets back to its original point in the third core element. The end goal of the services provided is not shown to be profit or expansion but the establishment of a quality of life that does not only translate to physical health but also means mental and emotional well-being. Taking the very first core element of the company into account, one can see how the commitment to help people translates to the betterment of their health and well-being.
The mission statement thus correctly elaborates the strategy of the company to expand and grow while also underlining how they need to prioritize the services they offer to their customers.
Walgreens Vision Statement
Walgreens’s vision statement is to “Be the first choice for pharmacy, well-being, and beauty – caring for people and communities around the world.”
Walgreens is consciously trying to break free from the boundaries of its origin country and aiming to be a supplier of health and wellness products and services to customers around the world. But it is not the only focus of their vision statement. Walgreens’ vision comprises the following core components:
- To be established as the leader
- Provider of pharmaceuticals, well-being, and beauty products
- Targeting communities and individuals globally
Vision Statement Analysis
Walgreen does not explicitly spell out that they want to be placed as the leader in the pharmacy sector globally. The functioning word of the first core component in the vision statement is to be established as the first choice. Being the first choice is only feasible if the company products are accessible and affordable worldwide and are well-received and trusted by the customers over a long period of time.
Since a vision statement outlines the future goals of a company, the first core element puts forth the idea that Walgreens needs to achieve. While the pharmacy retail chain is already well-established in the United States, it still has a long way to go in the global scenario. Competing with local markets of diverse locations and cultures would be a daunting task that needs to be worked upon in detail.
Along with explaining how the company wants to be a globally recognized and trusted pharmacy retail chain, Walgreens also expands its area of expertise by including beauty products along with its pharmaceutical services. With a diverse portfolio, the chances of success increase as the range of products offered increases.
The final core component of the vision statement ties the first and second core components together. It underlines just on what scale the growth needs to be so that the company operates with that ideal in mind. Being the first-choice globally is not easy especially since individuals and communities vary from location to location. The vision thus, puts forth what needs to be achieved in terms of services and products by the corporation for success.
Core Values
As per the official website of the Walgreens Boots Alliance, they have six core values. Analyzed and practiced along with the mission and vision statements, these core values describe just how the vision can become reality. These core values are as follows:
- Dedication – This core value explains the commitment the corporation has to healthcare and the quality of the service it provides to its customers, no matter their background. It is the dedication that shows itself in both the mission and vision statements with the company’s fixation of being the leader in a global market and not just in their origin country.
- Trust – Being the first choice of their customers is only possible if Walgreens fosters a culture of trust among them. With its quality products and its commitment to continue to give the best to its customers, trust becomes an important value to uphold. Neither the mission nor the vision statement would hold if trust is withdrawn from the list of the company’s core values.
- Care – Whether it is health or beauty, Walgreens offers both the products under the labels of healthcare and beauty care. If it wasn’t for Walgreen’s commitment to quality, these words would not ring true with their product lines and the company would not be the success it is today.
- Inclusion – With the aim of expansion around the globe, the idea of inclusion becomes vital. The diversity in the many communities that Walgreens aims to serve globally makes them acknowledge that they need to be aware of the differences between the markets they would be introducing their products in so they can better serve their new client base.
- Partnership – Walgreens partners with many leading brands and minor ones to provide products that cater to a wider section of the population. Without partnering with other brands and suppliers, Walgreens would be limited in its options which would have hindered its progress.
- Innovation – Innovation is important to stay relevant with the changing times and changing needs of the market. Keeping an open mind allows for growth.
The Takeaway
Walgreens is well aware of its strengths in the American market and since it has a firmly fixed place in the United States, it is natural that the chain wants to expand to locations outside of the States. Both the mission and vision statements are surprisingly simple but point to the exact goal that needs to be achieved to succeed in a global market. Easily understandable, these statements spell profit for investors as with expansion, more revenue would be generated and more opportunities would be open to the corporation.
