Objectives of a Company: Types and Their Characteristics, Examples and How to Write Objectives

The objectives of a company are the goals that that organization wants to achieve through the economic activity that is being carried out. These objectives must be multiple and must be well defined to achieve success, since these will depend on the future of the company and its survival.

Therefore, like the structure of the organization itself, these goals must have an organization, beginning with the mission and vision of the company. The mission is a statement of the purpose of the company, what it is doing in the world. Instead, the vision is the"dream"of the organization; that is, what he would like to achieve in the future.

Once the mission and vision of the company have been defined, it is time to set the objectives that help achieve the company's mission correctly in the present, in order to achieve the vision determined in the future.

Types of objectives and characteristics

The objectives can be divided in multiple ways; However, a very common way of organizing them is according to the following elements: time, nature, hierarchy and its measurement.

According to time

If the time taken to achieve each objective is taken into account, it can be divided into three types: long-term, medium-term and short-term.

Long term

The objectives to be achieved within a period of three or more years are considered long-term.

Medium term

The goals that have to be carried out in a period of between one and three years are considered medium-term objectives.

Short term

These are the objectives that must be achieved in less than a year.

According to its nature

Considering how concrete the objectives are, they can be divided into two categories: general and specific.

General objectives

These objectives are, as the word indicates, general goals that the company wants to achieve. They are not as specific as the specific ones, since they tend to encompass many of these and tend to be more long-term.

Specific objectives

These are more exact objectives, expressed in times and quantities. Normally, the sum of many specific objectives must result in achieving the general objectives of the company.

According to your hierarchy

In this case, the classification is based on the level of importance of the objective and its scope of action:

Strategic objectives

These are the general objectives of the company, which are usually marked in the long term and formulated by the highest executives of the organization. They are linked to the growth of the company in a constant way and very aligned with their vision.

Tactical objectives

They are the objectives of each department of the organization. Also formulated from the top positions, they are destined to reach the strategic objectives.

Operational objectives

They are the specific objectives of each worker in particular; therefore, formulates the person in charge of each department. They are intended to achieve the fulfillment of tactical objectives.

According to your measurement

Another way to distinguish objectives is according to how they are measured. Thus, they can be divided between quantitative and qualitative:

Quantitative objectives

As the word indicates, they are those that are measured in quantities. They tend to be short-term and are almost always specific objectives.

Qualitative objectives

They are those that have to do mainly with the brand image or the positioning of the company. These goals are usually in the medium or long term. They are achieved thanks to the achievement of several specific objectives over time.

Examples

As an example, we are going to take a Spanish shoe company with a monthly turnover of 180,000 euros. Some of the objectives that could be marked are the following:

According to time

Long term

To be the leading brand of shoes in Spain.

Medium term

Achieve that in 3 years the monthly turnover reaches the million euros.

Short term

That the sales of the following month reach 200,000 euros.

According to its nature

General

Become the leading brand of shoes in Spain.

Specific

That the sales of the following month reach 200,000 euros.

According to your hierarchy

Strategic

To be the leading brand of shoes in Spain.

Tactics

Achieve sales of the month reach 200 000 euros.

Operative

Increase the sales per call ratio.

According to your measurement

Quantitative

Achieve sales of the month reach 200 000 euros.

Qualitative

Become the leading brand of shoes in Spain.

How should the objectives be written?

For the objectives to end up being successful, a series of guidelines must be followed in order to ensure that their scope is possible. A great way to do this is by working with the rule called SMART, or smart goals.

The SMART rule

The SMART rule comes from joining the English initials of the 5 main characteristics that the objectives must have:

Specific ( Specific )

They have to answer the question of what they want to achieve; that is, they must be concrete.

Measurable ( Measurable )

They must have ways to measure their degree of achievement. In this way, it will be possible to know if they are being achieved as expected.

Achievable ( Attainable )

You have to be realistic with your goals (which does not mean pessimistic). We must avoid setting targets that are very unlikely.

Relevant ( Relevant )

They must be aligned with the vision and mission of the company. It would not make sense that, achieving that goal, we move away from the raison d'être of the organization.

On time ( Timely )

The times to achieve them must be perfectly defined.

In the previous example, a SMART goal could be the following: to achieve sales by 20% in the next 6 months.

It is specific, since it says exactly what is sought; it is measurable, since sales can be measured to see if it is achieved; it is achievable, since it can be done; and it is marked with a time, because the period of time in which it must be achieved is defined.

References

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3. Aziz, Abd El; Rasha Fady (2013). "Business Improvement using Organizational Goals, Riva Technique and e-Business Development Stages". Journal of Enterprise Information Management.
4. "Difference Between Strategic & Operational Objectives". Small Business .
5. Drucker, P. F (1976). What results should you expect? A users' guide to MBO Vol. 36 . Public Administration Review.
6. Hoang, Paul (2007). "Unit 1.3."Business & Management . IBID.