89) Identify the five integrated stages of the strategy-making, strategy-executing process, and
which tasks each stage entails.
90) What is the difference between strategic vision and strategic intent? Provide at least one
example of each term to support your answer.
91) A well-conceived strategic vision helps prepare a company for the future. True or false?
Explain and justify your answer.
92) Explain why an organization needs a strategic vision. What purpose does a strategic vision
serve?
93) Explain and provide an example of unsuccessful and successful uses of extreme stretch
goals.
94) Is there a difference between a strategic vision and a mission statement? Please explain.
95) Explain how managers can decide to capture the vision of where an organization should head
in a catchy or easily remembered slogan. Cite at least three examples of company slogans that
capture a company’s vision.
96) Identify and provide at least two examples illustrating the key characteristics of a well-stated
organizational objective.
66
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No reproduction or distribution without the prior written onsent of McGraw-Hill Education.
General Mills: Generate low single-digit organic net sales growth and high single-digit growth
in earnings per share. Deliver double-digit returns to shareholders over the long-term, To drive
future growth, focus on Consumer First strategy to gain a deep understanding of consumer needs
and respond quickly to give them what they want. More specifically, (1) grow, cereal globally
with a strong line-up of new products, including new flavors of iconic Cheerios; (2) innovate, in
fast-growing, segments of the yogurt category to improve performance and expand the yogurt
platform into new cities in China; (3) expand distribution and advertising for high performing
brands, such as Häagen-Dazs and Old El Paso; (4) build a more agile organization by
streamlining support functions, allowing for more fluid use of resources and idea sharing around
the world, enhancing e-commerce know-how to capture more growth in this emerging channel;
and (5) investing in strategic revenue management tools to optimize promotions, prices, and mix
of products to drive sales growth.
Difficulty: 3 Hard
Topic: Strategy and the Strategic Management Process
Learning Objective: 02-02 The importance of setting both strategic and financial objectives.
Bloom’s: Understand
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
97) What is meant by the term “stretch objectives”? Is it important that companies establish
stretch objectives? Why or why not?
98) Why does an organization need both financial and strategic objectives?
99) Explain the difference between financial objectives and strategic objectives. Give examples
of each.
100) A VP of Global Products at Tiffany’s is in the process of developing financial and strategic
objectives. Tiffany’s is a luxury jewelry and accessories company. The VP realizes she needs to
add short-term and longer-term performance targets. Is it important for her to spell out both
short-term and long-term performance targets? Which time frame is more important? Are there
tradeoffs involved? Explain.
101) The achievement of financial objectives tends to be a leading indicator of a company’s
performance, while the achievement of strategic objectives tends to be a lagging indicator of a
company’s future financial performance. True or false? Support and explain your answer.
102) What is the meaning of the term “balanced scorecard”? What are the merits of using a
balanced scorecard in judging a company’s performance?
103) Which is more important to a company’s future financial performance, the achievement of
strategic objectives or the achievement of financial objectives? Why?
104) Explain the role and responsibility of the CEO in the strategy-making, strategy-executing
process. Name several CEOs and their companies that exemplify this role.
105) What are some of the arguments for and against adopting the balanced scorecard approach?
Explain and then provide several examples of organizations that have adopted the balanced
scorecard performance measurement system.
106) The task of crafting a company’s strategy is typically a job for the company’s whole
management team, not just a small group of senior executives. True or false? Explain and
support your answer.
107) Explain why a company’s strategy is really a collection of strategies.
108) Compare and contrast the strategy-making hierarchy at Patagonia, a privately owned
manufacturer and marketer of sustainable outdoor clothing, with the strategy-making hierarchy at
Nike, a publicly traded multinational corporation engaged in the design, development,
manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of diversified footwear, apparel, equipment,
accessories, and services.
109) Weak governance at Volkswagen contributed to the 2015 emissions-cheating scandal,
which cost the company billions of dollars and the trust of its stakeholders. Explain.
110) An organization’s strategic plan consists of the actions that management plans to take in the
near future. True or false? Explain and justify your answer.
111) Identify and explain three actions that top executives can take to help instill a spirit of high
achievement into the corporate culture and mobilize organizational energy behind the drive for
good strategy execution and operating excellence.
112) Identify and explain four actions that top executives can take that are key elements in
directing organizational action and building capabilities behind the drive for good strategy
execution to meet or beat performance targets.
113) Six years after its founding, in 2009, at 25, Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of
Theranos, a company based in Palo Alto, California, that manufactured and marketed medical
devices for testing blood, told a small group at Stanford University that her ticket to success was
“conviction” that you could “make something work, no matter what.” On June 15, 2018, Holmes
and Theranos’s former president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were indicted on multiple counts
of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to the indictment, investors and
doctors and patients were defrauded. Holmes herself had falsely claimed in 2014 that the
company had annual revenues of $100 million, a thousand times more than the actual figure of
$100,000. Prosecutors claimed they had engaged in an “elaborate, years-long fraud” wherein
they “deceived investors into believing that its key product—a portable blood analyzer—could
conduct comprehensive blood tests from finger drops of blood.” It was alleged the defendants
were aware of the unreliability and inaccuracy of their products, but concealed that information.
If convicted, they each face a maximum fine of $250,000 and 20 years in prison. Normatively
speaking, which actions should Theranos’s board of directors have taken to provide good
governance oversight and prevent this fraud from occurring?
114) A company’s board of directors plays an independent and fiduciary role in corporate
governance and the strategy-making, strategy-executing process. True or false? Please explain.
115) Brad Black and Susan Griffin-Black are cofounders and top managers of one of the last
large independently owned organic beauty companies, EO Products. Explain the strategy the
partners could use to strengthen EO Products’ market position and build a competitive advantage
over its rivals. Differentiate between a business strategy and a corporate strategy.
116) Identify and briefly discuss at least two examples of faulty oversight by a company’s board
of directors in corporate governance and/or the strategy-making, strategy-executing process.