Chandler, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, 5e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Chapter 9: Strategy + CSR
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. The need that the organization strives to meet forms the basis of its ______.
A. aspirations or vision
B. strategy
C. profits
D. mission
2. For any business, the pursuit of ______ is so broad a mandate that it offers little
guidance about where to begin or what to do.
A. vision
B. strategy
C. mission
D. profit
3. The firm’s ______ identifies what the organization is going to do in order to attain its
______.
A. profitability; revenue target
B. mission; profits
C. mission; vision
D. vision; mission
4. “Ending hunger in its community” and “feeding the poor” illustrate the relationship
between ______.
A. strategy and tactics
B. profits and revenue
C. vision and mission
D. aspirations and strategy
Chandler, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, 5e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
5. IKEA’s ______ statement is “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”
A. mission
B. vision
C. strategy
D. tactics
6. The ______ determines how the organization is going to undertake its ______.
A. strategy; mission
B. mission; tactics
C. vision; mission
D. vision; strategy
7. The ______ are the day-to-day management decisions made to implement the firm’s
______.
A. strategies; tactics
B. tactics; strategies
C. tactics; vision
D. strategies; vision
8. Digital innovation has disrupted a number of industries. Which of the following firms
have remained profitable?
A. The New York Times
B. Verizon
C. Barnes & Noble
D. Universal Music
9. What are the firm’s most valuable resources or most innovative capabilities?
A. its people
B. its finances
C. its competencies
D. its strategies
10. The ______ perspective is an ______ view of the firm that identifies its unique
resources as the main determinant of a competitive advantage.
A. resources; internal
B. industry; external
C. resources; external
D. industry; internal
11. You own a small bakery and focus on developing highly skilled employees and
baking the best, highest quality, and most tasty bakery items possible, with little regard
for what other bakeries are doing. This best exemplifies the ______ perspective on
business strategy.
A. industry
B. financial
C. strategic CSR
D. resources
12. The resources perspective on business strategy ______.
A. deemphasizes the external context in which the firm operates
B. has been disproven through research
C. is too narrow, focusing only on assets, not processes
D. focuses on the firm’s competitive operating environment
13. One of the criticisms of Porter’s Five Forces model is that it assumes competition to
be a ______ game among the firm and its various stakeholders.
A. zero-sum
B. cooperative
C. strategic
D. nationalistic
14. In Jay Barney’s model, VRIO stands for which four concepts?
A. variability, returns, industry, operations
B. valuable, rare, imitate, organized
C. valuable, returns, industry, organized
D. variability, rare, imitate, operations
15. Southwest’s competitive advantage in the airline industry is a combination of its
technology and its ______.
A. suppliers
B. rivals
C. culture
D. customers
16. Which of the following does Porter’s Five Forces Model NOT include?
A. suppliers
B. buyers
C. government regulation
D. industry rivalry
17. The ______ perspective assumes a zero-sum game and a confrontational view.
A. focused
B. industry
C. resources
Chandler, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, 5e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
D. strategic CSR
18. Which of the following is a limitation of the resources perspective?
A. It provides a description of the firm that is overly deliberate and rational.
B. It focuses too much on a firm’s competitors.
C. It provides a description of the firm that is not very deliberate or rational.
D. It presents business as a combative pursuit.
19. Prahalad and Hamel are most closely associated with which of the following?
A. Strategic CSR
B. the industry perspective
C. the resources perspective
D. SWOT analysis
20. The late C. K. Prahalad argued that countries at the bottom of the pyramid ______.
A. deserve restitution from the colonial powers that historically exploited these countries
B. should work with the United Nations to develop health programs for their
impoverished people
C. will soon be more economically powerful than the United States, France, and
Germany combined
D. represent a huge and largely untapped market with many business opportunities
21. With which of the following is Michael Porter is most closely associated?
A. Strategic CSR
B. the industry perspective
C. the resources perspective
D. SWOT analysis
22. Walmart most likely has a higher CSR threshold because ______.
A. it is a big company
B. it deals with the public
C. it has a business strategy that pursues low costs
D. it is undertaking an extensive corporate social responsibility effort
23. Firms that sell based on price are likely ______.
A. to pay greater attention to corporate social responsibility
B. to have the resources to mount an effective corporate social responsibility campaign
C. to attract less attention from consumers on issues unrelated to price
D. to be big and thus attract greater attention from interest groups
24. In Europe, pressure for corporate social responsibility is more likely to come from
______.
A. courts
B. governments
C. nonprofits (NGOs)
D. competitors
25. A central feature of Prahalad and Hamel’s model of business strategy is its focus on
______.
A. functional business units within a firm
B. core competencies within a firm
C. core competencies of competing firms
D. firm comparisons across industries
26. According to the textbook, the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP),
formed by a group of energy and manufacturing firms, is ______.
Chandler, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, 5e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
A. CSR as brand insurance
B. CSR as a corporate social opportunity
C. CSR as a key component of cost-benefit analysis
D. CSR as an offensive strategy
27. The Honest Company, founded by actress Jessica Alba, sells products such as
baby diapers, wipes, and other personal care products. The Honest Company describes
its products as being “made without health–compromising chemicals or compounds.”
This company has a ______ CSR threshold.
A. low
B. medium
C. high
D. extremely high
28. The CSR threshold is higher in the financial/banking industry than in the apparel
industry because ______.
A. less money is involved when consumers purchase clothing than when they buy
banking/financial products such as home mortgages
B. it is harder for consumers to identify a victim caused by a CSR violation in the
financial/banking industry
C. the apparel industry has dramatically improved supply chain issues such as the use
of sweatshop labor
D. bank customers have a great deal of power and can demand more responsible
actions from financial institutions
29. As the news media and blogosphere continue to expose corporate social
responsibility transgressions and people are better able to compare conditions across
cultures, what will happen with societal tolerance for irresponsible behavior?
A. It will increase.
B. It will not change.
C. It will decrease.
D. It will be accounted for primarily in financial terms rather than cultural terms.
30. Mercedes-Benz operates on a ______ business strategy.
A. cost-leadership
B. premium customer
C. resource utilization
D. differentiation
31. SWOT analyses allow firms to identify their ______.
A. strategies, wealth, opportunities, and theories
B. strategies, weaknesses, organization, and threats
C. strengths, wealth, opportunities, and theories
D. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
32. To assess their potential impact on the firm’s stakeholders, any tactical and strategic
actions must first pass through a ______.
A. strategic evaluation
B. third-party assessment
C. CSR filter
D. McKinsey consultation
33. According to Prahalad and Hamel, a firm’s capability must meet three criteria to be
truly considered a core competency. Which of the following is NOT one of the criteria?
A. It should be applicable to multiple markets.
B. It should emphasize the external context in which the firm operates.
C. It should be valued by the consumer.
D. It should be difficult for a competitor to imitate.
34. One of the reasons that Amazon is successful is that it has achieved a core
competency in managing its ______.
A. workforce
B. board of directors
C. products
D. supply chain
35. CSR can be viewed as ______.
A. a set of defensive policies
B. a set of offensive strategies
C. a set of defensive policies and a set of offensive strategies
D. neither of these
36. A company with a ______ is more vulnerable to CSR transgressions than a
company with a ______.
A. lifestyle brand strategy; low-cost strategy
B. low-cost strategy; lifestyle brand strategy
C. differentiation strategy; lifestyle brand strategy
D. low-cost strategy; differentiation strategy
37. ______ countries have taken the lead in environmental management.
A. Asian
B. European
C. North American
D. South American
1. Vision statements do not need to appeal to multiple stakeholders.
2. Walmart’s core competency is efficient distribution.
3. The CSR threshold is the same for all companies in all industries.
4. The United States is more self-sufficient in the area of natural resources than is
Europe; therefore, the United States has less need from the economic perspective of
corporate social responsibility to preserve natural resources.
5. The urgency with which corporate social responsibility policies are implemented
depends on the perceived CSR threshold and the priority the issue holds for the firm’s
leaders.
1. Define SWOT analysis and provide an example of how such an analysis could be
applied to a specific business.
2. A firm’s vision, mission, strategy, and tactics are broadly constrained in three ways.
What are they and how do they constrain the firm?
3. The textbook states that companies can pursue an effective corporate social
responsibility policy of either offense or defense. What does this mean? In your answer,
provide detailed examples of both approaches.
4. Define each of the following terms: vision, mission, strategy, and tactics. What is the
relationship among them in relation to a firm’s strategic planning process?
5. Why do some firms, industries, and cultures have different CSR thresholds than
others? Illustrate your answer with examples for all three categories.
6. Outline the industry perspective on business strategy. Choose an example industry
and conduct an analysis of its competitive structure using Porter’s Five Forces model.