A mission statement outlines the company's current activities, target audience, and value-adding methods. A vision statement is aspirational and looks to the future, outlining the company's goals and desired influence. These statements are crucial because they help unite customers, investors, and employees by expressing beliefs, guiding decision-making, and defining goals. For example, Medtronic’s mission is: “To contribute to human welfare by application of biomedical engineering in the research, design, manufacture, and sale of instruments or appliances that alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life.” Their mission emphasizes biomedical engineering, alleviating pain, and restoring health clear technical and patient-facing goals. Compare that with Orthofix: “We provide medical technologies that heal musculoskeletal pathologies, collaborate to bring to market highly innovative, cost-effective, and user-friendly medical technologies.” Their mission and vision emphasize innovation, collaboration, cost effectiveness, and usability. These comments, in my opinion, frequently do represent culture and values in the actual world—or at the very least, how the business wishes to be seen. A business that declares that it will "demand quality, act with integrity". Cook Medical, for instance: "Serving patients is a privilege … we demand the highest standards of quality, ethics, and service". Cook Medical is sending a message that ethics and quality should permeate every aspect of its business, not simply its website. However, how well the business upholds those values, leadership, and accountability will determine whether that actually occurs. Do you believe that a mission or vision statement may influence behavior in an established organization, or are they primarily symbolic in these situations?