Risk in strategic management is only the probability that the strategy will be effective.
Answer:
In dynamic environments, the CEO’s focus is on forces in the societal environment.
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One of the possible barriers to entry is product differentiation.
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The gross domestic product (GDP) is used ONLY in the United States to measure the
total output of goods and services within the country’s borders.
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There is mounting evidence that when an organization is facing a dynamic
environment, the best strategic decisions are arrived at through consensus when
everyone agrees on one alternative.
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Synergy is the concept that two businesses operating within a company will generate
more profits together than they could separately by common use of technology,
customers, distribution, managerial skills, or product similarity.
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Ratios are only useful for large firms where their ratios may be compared with industry
averages.
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The second stage of the organizational life cycle is maturity.
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The corporation’s life cycle can be extended by managerial and product innovation.
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The continuous improvement system was developed by Deming.
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The only factor used to determine whether an industry will be primarily multidomestic
or primarily global is the pressure for local responsiveness.
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The use of timely, quantifiable standards guarantees good performance.
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A budget is a statement of a corporation’s programs in terms of dollars.
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According to a survey of Fortune 500 firms, the most frequently cited problem with
implementing a strategic change is that implementation took more time than originally
planned.
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Turnkey operations are typically contracts for the construction of operating facilities in
exchange for a fee.
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A professional liquidator was the executive type called in to Montgomery Ward when
the company declared bankruptcy for the second time.
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The concept of social responsibility proposes that a corporation has responsibilities to
society that extend beyond making a profit.
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The need to invest huge financial resources in manufacturing facilities in order to
produce large commercial airplanes creates a significant barrier to entry to any
competitor for Boeing and Airbus.
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The majority of outside directors are active or retired CEOs and COOs of other
corporations.
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Kohlberg’s preconventional level is characterized by a person’s adherence to an internal
moral code.
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Tight cost control is an organizational requirement for a cost leadership strategy.
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An industry matrix summarizes the key success factors within a particular industry.
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According to Michael Porter, the weaker each of the competitive forces, the more
limited companies are in their ability to raise prices and earn greater profits.
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A multinational corporation is a company with significant assets and activities in
multiple countries.
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Conglomerate diversification is diversifying into an industry unrelated to its current
one.
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The automobile industry is currently experimenting with the strategy of mass
customization in which pre-assembled sub-assemblies are delivered as they are needed
to a company’s assembly line workers.
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Population ecology is a theory that proposes organizations can and do adapt to change
by imitating other successful organizations.
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Using a market development strategy, a company can capture a larger share of an
existing market for current products or develop new markets for current products.
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Analyzers tend to have CEOs with a marketing/sales background.
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The TOWS Matrix illustrates how the external opportunities and threats facing a
particular corporation can be matched with that company’s internal strengths and
weaknesses to result in four sets of possible strategic alternatives.
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Research indicates that greater financial leverage has a positive impact on performance
for firms in stable environments.
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Alliances take more financial resources and involve more risk than do acquisitions and
going it alone.
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Strategic flexibility is the ability to shift from one dominant strategy to another.
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Population theory states that problems arise in corporations because the agents (top
management) are not willing to bear responsibility for their decisions unless they own a
substantial amount of stock in the corporation.
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General Electric is well known for its distinctive competency in management
development.
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One success factor to a strategic alliance is the ability to identify likely partnering risks
and deal with them when the alliance is formed.
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According to Carroll, legal responsibilities are defined by governments in laws that
management is expected to obey.
Answer:
Which type of international industry manufactures and sells the same products with
only minor adjustments made for individual countries around the world?
A) consortium industry
B) global industry
C) indigenous industry
D) multidomestic industry
E) worldwide industry
Answer:
Which one of the following is NOT one of the characteristics possessed by companies
that have made successful major culture changes?
A) The CEO has a strategic vision of what the company could become.
B) If the vision is difficult, the CEO immediately terminates the goal.
C) The vision is translated into objective, well-defined goals with appropriate incentives
and recognition aides.
D) The CEO communicates to all employees where the organization stands in relation
to the competition and its outlook on the future.
E) The CEO constantly updates the workforce as to the progress of the company in
achieving those elements identified as important in attaining the vision.
Answer:
Which country pioneered the use of worker participation on corporate boards?
A) England
B) France
C) Sweden
D) Japan
E) Germany
Answer:
According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, which country scored among the highest
on individualism?
A) Hong Kong
B) Germany
C) Pakistan
D) United States
E) Mexico
Answer:
Successful defender firms tend to be headed by CEOs with backgrounds in the areas of
A) research/engineering and general management.
B) accounting/finance, manufacturing/production, and general management.
C) marketing/sales.
D) human resources and strategy.
E) purchasing and logistics.
Answer:
A code of ethics is important to clarify company expectations of employee conduct in
various situations and to
A) reduce the burden on the judicial system.
B) make it clear that the company expects its people to recognize the ethical dimensions
in decision and actions.
C) promote a high level of societal norms.
D) encourage individuals to strive for good citizenship and corporations to contribute
positively to society.
E) minimize the possibility of mandatory regulations.
Answer:
At what Z-value level is a firm considered in serious trouble?
A) below 1.81
B) above 1.81
C) greater than 5.0
D) between 2.2 and 3.1
E) between 3.2 and 4.1
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT one of TQM’s objectives?
A) greater flexibility in adjusting to customers’ shifting requirements
B) lower cost through quality improvement and elimination of non-value-adding work
C) increased alignment of employee goals with management’s objectives
D) quicker, less variable response in processes to customer needs
E) better, less variable quality of the product and service
Answer:
At what Z-value level is a firm considered healthy?
A) below 1.81
B) above 3.0
C) above 5.0
D) between 6.0 and 10.0
E) above 100
Answer:
Training is especially important in reinforcing the customer service culture at Zappos
where
A) new employees are offered $4,000 to quit.
B) training lasts 7 weeks.
C) training includes tests.
D) trainees must graduate to be an employee.
E) all of the above
Answer:
Which one of the following was NOT one of the cultural dimensions that Hofstede
found which could explain the success or failure of certain management practices?
A) uncertainty avoidance
B) masculinity-femininity
C) individualism-collectivism
D) cultural diversity
E) power distance
Answer:
Which financial ratio measures the number of times that average inventory of finished
goods was turned over or sold during a period of time?
A) days of inventory
B) asset turnover
C) average collection period
D) fixed asset turnover
E) inventory turnover
Answer:
RFID
A) is radio frequency identification.
B) is an electronic tagging technology.
C) improves supply-chain efficiency.
D) is used as wireless computer passes for toll roads.
E) all of the above
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT descriptive of interlocking directorates?
A) Interlocking directorates occur because large firms have a large impact on other
corporations.
B) Interlocking directorates are more common in small, family-owned companies.
C) Interlocking directorates are a useful method for gaining inside information about an
uncertain environment.
D) Interlocking directorates occur in about 20% of the 1000 largest US firms.
E) Interlocking directorates provide objective expertise about a firm’s strategy.
Answer:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was designed to protect
A) retired workers from losing their pensions.
B) CEOs from losing their golden parachutes.
C) CEO salary increases.
D) shareholders from the excesses and failed oversight of firms.
E) corporations from misguided whistleblowers.
Answer:
The key to outsourcing is to purchase from the outside only those activities that
A) are not key to the company’s distinctive competence.
B) are very expensive.
C) provide the company competitive advantage.
D) are provided by an important supplier.
E) are not very expensive.
Answer:
The approach to ethical behavior which proposes that decision makers be equitable,
fair, and impartial in the distribution of costs and benefits to individuals and groups is
called
A) individual rights approach.
B) mercantilism approach.
C) utilitarian approach.
D) justice approach.
E) moral imperialism approach.
Answer:
Which of the following is an example of a mission statement?
A) Diversify product line to appeal to more people.
B) Increase sales by 10% over last year.
C) Pay highest salaries to keep high quality employees.
D) Develop and sell quality appliances worldwide.
E) Divide a sales region into a group of sales districts.
Answer:
The U.S. Clayton Act and Banking Act of 1933
A) promote interlocking directorates by U.S. companies to foster better
communications and working relationships.
B) prohibit acts or contracts tending to create a monopoly.
C) prevent unfair practices in interstate commerce.
D) promote racial parity on the board of directors.
E) prohibit interlocking directorates by U.S. companies competing in the same industry.
Answer:
The union of all of a company’s major business activities from order processing to
production within a single family of software modules is known as
A) enterprise resource planning.
B) enterprise strategic planning.
C) information system planning.
D) united resource planning.
E) united strategic planning.
Answer:
Which one of the following is NOT one of the four methods to improve the
corporation’s quality of work life?
A) improve the work environment
B) introduce participative problem-solving
C) improve the responsiveness of management
D) introduce innovative reward systems
E) restructuring work
Answer:
To avoid the consensus trap, which technique involving presenting two conflicting
views (the thesis and the antithesis) presented in a debate format can be traced back to
Plato and Aristotle?
A) devil’s advocate
B) Sloan’s judgment
C) sales presentation
D) dialectical inquiry
E) scenario construction
Answer:
Which structure is described as a “non-structure” by its virtual elimination of inhouse
business functions?
A) strategic business units
B) functional structure
C) network structure
D) divisional structure
E) matrix structure
Answer:
A problem with the utilitarian approach is
A) that it assumes all countries subscribe to the same definition of “fundamental rights.”
B) that it imposes a set of mandatory values and behaviors on all entities in society.
C) that it encourages selfish behavior.
D) that it imposes one’s morality upon others and judges them by standards they may or
may not accept.
E) that it is difficult to recognize all the benefits and costs of any particular decision.
Answer:
Research done by Henry Mintzberg suggests that strategy formulation
A) is typically an irregular and a discontinuous process.
B) should be followed unswervingly to ensure success of the plan.
C) is a process to which organizations find they must make significant yearly changes.
D) should be reviewed after a specific interval of time to make sure it is still applicable.
E) is merely a checklist of actions following a logical process.
Answer:
Ethics is defined as
A) formal codes that permit or forbid certain behaviors.
B) a general rule of conduct of personal behavior, based on religious or philosophical
grounds.
C) consensually accepted standards of behavior for an occupation, trade, or profession.
D) imposing one’s morality upon another.
E) voluntary obligations assumed by an individual or organization.
Answer:
To ensure employees are gaining the appropriate mix of experience to prepare
employees for future responsibilities, many corporations move people from one job to
another utilizing the technique of
A) job design.
B) job specialization.
C) job rotation.
D) job enlargement.
E) job enrichment.
Answer:
Which one of the following is included in the firm’s task environment?
A) technological factors
B) sociocultural factors
C) economic factors
D) stockholders
E) political-legal forces
Answer:
An external block preventing a corporation from moving from one stage to another is
A) unfavorable economic conditions.
B) strategic myopia.
C) organizational inflexibility.
D) lack of operating efficiency.
E) lack of managerial resources.
Answer:
Which form of synergy was demonstrated when P&G purchased Gillette to combine
P&G’s knowledge of the female consumer with Gillette’s knowledge of the male
consumer?
A) shared tangible resources
B) shared know-how
C) coordinated strategies
D) economies of scale
E) new business creation
Answer:
Discuss the five stages of international development.
Answer:
List eight current sociocultural trends in the United States that are transforming North
America and the world.
Answer:
How can a corporation’s life cycle be extended?
Answer:
What are the two factors that tend to determine whether an industry will be primarily
multidomestic or primarily global?
Answer:
What does a financial strategy examine?
Answer:
Discuss Kohlberg’s levels of moral development.
Answer:
Define a retrenchment strategy. Discuss the more popular options.
Answer:
What is a triggering event? List some possible examples.
Answer:
What is the matrix structure? What are the three conditions which usually exist when
the matrix structure is found?
Answer:
Distinguish between a fragmented and consolidated industry.
Answer:
What is strategy implementation? What questions must strategy makers consider to
begin the implementation process?
Answer:
Describe the four categories of the BCG Growth Share Matrix.
Answer:
Define globalization and identify the role of strategic management in globalization.
Answer:
Discuss the more popular stability strategies.
Answer:
Distinguish between a market development and a product development strategy.
Answer: