A Contrastive Genre Analysis Of Mission Statements Of Chinese And American Information And Communication Technology Service Enterprises

In the new era,the Chinese economy has shifted from a stage of high-speed development to high-quality development.Chinese enterprises are actively promoting the “going global” strategy with the further implementation of the “Belt and Road”initiative.The mission statement serves as a crucial means of spreading corporate information,establishing a corporate image,improving the foreign discourse status of Chinese enterprises and expanding the international market.Since the 1980 s,genre analysis has aroused the interests of linguists and researchers.While other business discourses have been becoming the focus of linguists and researchers,the contrastive genre analysis of mission statement is required for further exploration.The purpose of this thesis is to explore the similarities and differences of 60 English version mission statements in Chinese and American information and communication technology(ICT)service enterprises.Based on Swale and Bhatia’s genre analysis theory and Hasan’s Generic Structure Potential model,this thesis makes a contrastive analysis of the format,move structure and generic structure potential model of mission statement of the two countries.Based on them,this thesis seeks to explore the possible reasons behind these differences from cultural dimensions aspects and provides some generic and cross-cultural communicative suggestions for optimizing the drafting.This research indicates that there are significant differences in the format,move structure and generic structure potential model of Chinese and American ICT service enterprises’ mission statements based on the Chi-square test.Firstly,Chinese ICT service enterprises tend to use keywords,phrases or short sentences to state their mission,vision,and values,while American ICT service enterprises prefer to several paragraphs in the mission statements.Secondly,in addition to the three moves in common,namely,stating the vision,stating the mission and stating the philosophy,the American mission statement also includes the move of introducing the company.Thirdly,the obligatory elements inChinese mission statements’ generic structure potential model are less than that of American ones.Fourth,Chinese enterprises pay more attention to customers,products,services,and technology while American enterprises emphasize the role of enterprise employees and society in its sustainable development.Overall,to further optimize the mission statement of Chinese ICT service enterprises and to gain greater development in the international market,this thesis proposes some suggestions from the following aspects:(1)to optimize the format of mission statement with relevant details for explaining;(2)to improve the move structure by adding basic information on the enterprise before presenting the mission and vision;(3)to present a good public image and corporate social responsibilities for the enterprise by enriching the elements in mission statement,such as corporate employees,social environment,etc.