CHAPTER 3

Strategic Direction

High-performing healthcare organizations (HCOs) tend to have an organizational identity, or strategic direction, that is understood by both internal and external stakeholders. Strategic direction can be defined in terms of a firm’s mission, a vision of where it is heading, and its purpose, as reflected in the values of the organization.1 It is documented and communicated through tools such as mission and vision statements, values statements, sustainability statements, and codes of ethics. However, it is important to distinguish between these written artifacts and the actual strategic direction of a firm. Some firms don’t have a physical mission statement, but they still have a strategic direction, although it ...

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