88) Why was Goldman Sachs having trouble recruiting the best and brightest MBAs, finding
itself competing for talent with high tech firms like Amazon, Google, and Facebook? What
lessons can be learned about how culture impacts the strategy execution effort?
89) When confronted with problems in recruiting newly minted talent from top business schools,
what steps did Goldman Sachs take to change its culture and work climate? What lessons can be
learned from Goldman’s efforts about the culture change effort to promote good strategy
execution?
90) Epic Systems Corporation, a provider of IT systems for hospitals and clinics, is widely
recognized in its industry for its superior products and high customer satisfaction. One of the
major reasons for its recognition is that the company is grounded in and shaped by its core values
and ethical standards and drives a shared commitment to achieve the firm’s strategic and
financial objectives. True or false? For what reasons?
91) In 2017, it came to light that in order to meet its demanding profit target, Wells Fargo put
such pressure on its employees to hit sales quotas that many employees responded by
fraudulently opening customer accounts. Characterize Wells Fargo’s corporate culture. How did
its culture undercut its strategy execution effort? What lessons about the importance of culture to
the strategy execution effort can be learned from this situation?
92) In 2017, Uber’s well-publicized scandals, tarnished reputation, loss of market share to rival
companies, and the ouster of its co-founder Travis Kalanick illustrated an unhealthy culture.
Once a new management team is brought in, what steps could be taken to perpetuate a healthier
culture at Uber?
93) How can one tell whether a company has a strong or weak corporate culture?
94) Vicky is COO and Chief Nursing Officer of a regional Kaiser Permanente health care
facility. She has asked you for help in understanding how important a healthy culture is for her
organization. How might you explain to Vicky the purpose and benefits of closely aligning
Kaiser’s corporate culture with its requirements for proficient and often mission-critical strategy
execution?
95) What are the distinctive features of high-performance corporate cultures?
96) Areena is the Diversity Program Manager in Tech Recruiting at Facebook. To nurture an
adaptive culture that is sufficiently flexible to respond rapidly to changing business conditions,
what are the most important characteristics of prospective employees that Areena needs to take
into consideration? Why?
97) Suppose you are managing a company that provides digital archival record-keeping services
to midsized companies and institutions. How might the two basic types of healthy corporate
cultures become valuable to good strategy execution? How would you know if your company
has one or the other type of healthy corporate culture?
98) Your state university has been recognized by its peer schools for having a healthy culture,
particularly in its responses to recent weather disasters that resulted in the loss of homes for more
than 500 students, faculty, and staff. Could clashing subcultures still exist in your university? For
what reasons?
99) Jason manages an auto dealership that is characterized by hostility to change, heavily
politicized decision-making, insular thinking, unethical and greed-driven behaviors, and the
presence of incompatible, clashing subcultures. These traits, individually and together, are
indicative of what type of corporate culture?
100) Briefly identify three types of unhealthy corporate cultures.
101) Why is changing a problem culture one of the toughest management tasks? Explain and
justify your answer.
102) It’s your first full-time job since graduation, and morale at the company you just joined is
poor and no end seems to be in sight. What would you suggest to your supervisor to change a
culture that is out of step with the company’s strategy?
103) Gina has recently been hired as the CEO of the St. Vincent DePaul Society affiliate in your
local community. She recognizes that her current organization, a charity, is dysfunctional.
Employees and volunteers alike stubbornly pose obstacles to executing her strategic initiatives to
grow donations to the charity, sales of donated items, and possible diversification into other
activities that could provide financial support to her organization’s mission. What might be
Gina’s options regarding culture-changing actions that could lead to rectifying St. Vincent
DePaul’s dysfunctional culture?
104) What are the primary responsibilities of top-level executives in the strategy implementation
and execution effort?
105) What are the two things involved in the leadership challenge to consistently achieve good
strategy execution?
106) Why is Apple Inc. widely recognized as an exemplar of a healthy corporate culture? Please
explain.
107) What is the role of managerial leadership in changing a problem corporate culture?
108) Due to the retirements of the KLH consulting company’s founder-managers, Bri, a long-
time employee has recently been promoted to CEO. KLH is an IT consultancy that specializes in
installing and servicing computerized network systems for small-to-medium size businesses, but
KLH has recently experienced declining sales, missed deadlines, increasing costs, and the
departures of many fellow long-term employees. What steps could Bri take to change a culture
that is out of step with the company’s strategy?
109) Explain how managerial leadership can foster a high-performance culture.
110) Enumerate at least four actions that managerial leadership can take to mobilize the effort for
excellence in strategy execution.
111) When a company’s strategy execution effort is not delivering good results, it is the leader’s
responsibility to step forward and initiate corrective actions. What are some of the actions a
leader can take to correct the strategy execution effort?
112) You are an employee at a pharmaceutical company that manufactures and markets off-
patent, generic treatments for various common ailments. It has just been reported in the press that
the CEO of your company personally spearheaded a sudden fourfold price increase in the prices
charged for a particular generic medication while taking a huge pay raise for herself. The CEO
has worked for your company for 25 years. The same press report revealed that your CEO’s alma
mater awarded her a business degree 10 years after she had attended the school, even though she
had completed only about half of the coursework. Your company’s motto states: “We challenge
every member of every team to challenge the status quo. Embrace change. And drive the
business forward with passion and commitment. We have integrity. We behave responsibly.” As
an employee of this company, how would you characterize the culture?