中美跨境电商平台企业使命陈述的体裁对比分析

glish as a lingua franca  (ELF) for  business  in  China  has  become  increasingly  important.  Although mission  statement  remains  a  hot  research topic  in  the  field  of  management  and economics and becoming increasingly prevalent, little attention has been received in the  field  of  genre  analysis.  Meanwhile,  this  thesis  is  going  to  combine  the management theory and the linguistic theory to compare the format, content and move structures of mission statements of Chinese and American cross-border e-commerce enterprises, which is a new attempt in the research of mission statement. 

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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Mission Statement as a Genre

The rapid development of the economy and technology give birth to the emerging of new  genres,  of  which  mission statement  is  one  of  the  example.  Although  it  is  a specific  type  of  genre,  little  research  has  been  conducted on  the  genre  analysis  of mission  statements.  This  part  will  make  a  detailed  explanation  of  the  definition, components, function and previous studies on mission statements.

2.1.1 Definition of Mission Statement

Many scholars have given their understanding of mission statement. Pearce (1982:15), in his paper The Company Mission as a Strategic Goal, argues that mission statement is an enduring statement of purpose that distinguishes one business from other similar firms. According to F.G. Boseman and A.V. Phatak analysis (1989), mission statement is the ultimate guiding force that governs where the firm’s critical resources will be deployed. An organization without a vision or mission of what it plans to be is like a ship without a direction (Russell L. Ackoff, 1987:185). 

Meanwhile,  the  mission  statement  also  keeps  it  in  the  frame  of  a  specific operation  area  and  controls  this, guides  and  motivates  all  the  stakeholders  while informing them (Bart and Baetz, 1998:823).

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2.2 Genre Analysis

2.2.1 The Definition of Genre

The word “genre” comes from French vocabulary and means “kind” or “sort”. Genre can be the category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment. Based on the stylistic standard, it could be any form written or spoken, audio or visual. As the development of the society, new genres emerges constantly. Lots of studies have been  done  on the  genre  research  and  many  scholars  give  the  definition  on  the  term “genre”.

According to Campbell and Jamieson (1978), a genre is a group of acts unified by a constellation of forms that recurs in each of its members. These forms, in isolation, appear in other discourses. What is distinctive about the acts in a genre is a recurrence of the forms together in constellation.

Later,  Miller  (1984)  advances  Campbell  and  Jamieson’s  view  in  a  number  of important  ways.  First,  she  has principled  reasons  for  extending  the  scope  of  genre analysis to types of discourse us