The confidence levels of executive leaders may blind them to information that is
contrary to a decided course of action; this may help to understand why overconfident
CEOs are more likely to conduct mergers and acquisitions.
Answer:
Law refers to formal codes that permit or forbid certain behaviors and may or may not
enforce ethics or morality.
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A product development strategy deals with pricing, selling, and distributing a product.
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The long-term evaluation method encourages executives to look at developmental
expenses as being different from expenses required for current operations.
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A company’s center of gravity is usually the point at which the company started.
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To be effective, strategic management must be a formal process.
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Constant dollars are dollars adjusted for inflation to make them comparable over
various years.
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The Golden Rule is the essence of one of Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperatives to
resolve ethical dilemmas.
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A value chain is a linked set of value-creating activities.
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One of the key reasons for the success of Walmart has been management’s use of the
company’s sophisticated information system to control purchasing decisions.
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As industries move from being multidomestic to more globally integrated, multinational
corporations are increasingly switching from the geographic-area to the product-group
structure.
Answer:
According to Yankelovich Partners survey firm, eight out of 10 portfolio managers and
75 percent of security analysts use annual reports when making decisions.
Answer:
The EFAS Table is one way to organize the internal factors into generally accepted
categories of strengths and weaknesses as well as to analyze how well a particular
company’s management is responding to these specific factors in light of the perceived
importance of these factors to the company.
Answer:
Assimilation involves the relatively balanced give-and-take of culture and managerial
practices between the merger practices.
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While the strategic audit is not an all-inclusive list, it presents many of the critical
questions needed for a detailed strategic analysis of any business.
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Statistical modeling is a quantitative forecasting technique that attempts to discover
causal or at least explanatory factors that link two or more time series together.
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The revenue center is measured in terms of efficiency.
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Corporate parenting views the corporation in terms of resources and capabilities that
can be used to build business unit value as well as generate synergies across business
units.
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Succession planning has become the most important topic discussed by boards of
directors.
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The amount of change from one year to the next in GDP indicates how much that
country’s economy is growing.
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An operations strategy determines how and where a product or service is to be
manufactured, the level of vertical integration in the production process, the
deployment of physical resources, and relationships with suppliers.
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Once in place, procedures seldom have to be updated to reflect changes in technology
or strategy.
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One of the goals to be achieved in strategy implementation is synergy between and
among functions and business units.
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According to Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture, uncertainty avoidance is the
extent to which a society accepts an unequal distribution of power in organizations.
Answer:
Training and development can be especially important for organizations implementing
an overall low cost or differentiation strategy, but not for those in retrenchment.
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The use of SBUs may result in a red tape crisis in which the corporation has grown too
large and complex to be managed through formal programs, and rigid systems and
procedures take precedence over problem-solving.
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ISO 9000 Standards Series, developed by the International Standards Association of
Geneva, Switzerland, is an example of a behavior control.
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According to Kohlberg’s levels of moral development, the conventional level is
characterized by considerations of society’s laws and norms.
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The stability strategies are really a lack of any strategy.
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Strategic myopia is the willingness to reject unfamiliar as well as negative information.
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A value chain partnership is a loose alliance with several distributors for the short term.
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An example of a company that was “stuck in the middle” is K-Mart as they tried to
imitate both Walmart’s low-cost strategy and Target’s differentiation strategy.
Answer:
The pricing, selling, and distributing of a product is referred to as a(n) ________
strategy.
A) functional
B) marketing
C) operations
D) financial
E) human resource management
Answer:
Which one of the following is NOT true of risk?
A) It includes the length of time the asset will be unavailable for other uses.
B) It includes the probability that the strategy will be effective.
C) Managers who own a significant amount of stock in their firms are less likely to
engage in risk-taking actions.
D) It includes the amount of assets the corporation must allocate to that strategy.
E) The greater the assets involved, the more likely top management is to demand a high
probability of success.
Answer:
The role of the board of directors in the strategic management of the corporation is
likely to
A) be more active in the future.
B) be less active in the future.
C) be nonexistent as planning departments take over.
D) remain the same.
E) shift more toward managing daily operations.
Answer:
“Times interest earned” is an example of a(n)
A) leverage ratio.
B) liquidity ratio.
C) activity ratio.
D) asset management ratio.
E) profitability ratio.
Answer:
Those variables that can affect significantly the overall competitive positions of
companies within any particular industry are known as
A) external strategic factors.
B) internal strategic factors.
C) matrix factors.
D) key success factors.
E) industry scenario.
Answer:
According to Kohlberg, in what stage of moral development do the vast majority of
people in the United States occupy?
A) principled stage
B) conventional stage
C) essential stage
D) preconventional stage
E) fundamental stage
Answer:
The principle which argues that wrongs should be compensated in proportion to the
offense suffered is called
A) compensatory justice.
B) retributive justice.
C) relevant justice.
D) distributive justice.
E) punitive justice.
Answer:
Which company experienced a tarnished reputation and scandal after experiencing
behavior substitution when employees altered their behavior on the job to fit the reward
system?
A) Sears, Roebuck, & Co.
B) J.C. Penney
C) Neiman Marcus
D) Saks
E) Macy’s
Answer:
When Yamaha entered the market with a broader range of pianos, keyboards, and other
musical instruments, it was using which offensive tactic?
A) flanking maneuver
B) frontal assault
C) encirclement
D) bypass attack
E) guerilla attack
Answer:
Jet airplane manufacturers often enter into strategic alliances to
A) obtain new capabilities.
B) obtain access to specific markets.
C) reduce financial risk.
D) reduce political risk.
E) preserve autonomy.
Answer:
The regional trade association composed of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay is
called
A) EU.
B) ASEAN.
C) NAFTA.
D) Mercosur.
E) ABUP.
Answer:
According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, which country scored lowest on power
distance?
A) Malaysia
B) Mexico
C) Germany
D) United States
E) Great Britain
Answer:
According to the text, which one of the following is NOT one of the dangers of using
primarily foreign nationals to staff managerial positions in subsidiaries?
A) the increased likelihood of suboptimization
B) difficulty for the MNC to meet long-term, worldwide objectives
C) the ability for communication and coordination becomes increasingly difficult
D) promotes anger and jealousy within the nationalistic host government
E) problems in coordinating activities of several international subsidiaries leads to
problems in operating in a global industry
Answer:
Between 1997 and 1999, what percent of the mergers used the pooling approach to
account for the value of the companies’ stocks?
A) 95%
B) 80%
C) 55%
D) 40%
E) 20%
Answer:
Orphagenix, a small biotech firm, avoids head-to-head competition with large
pharmaceutical companies by developing orphan drugs to target diseases that affect
fewer than 200,000 people. This is an example of which of Porter’s generic strategies?
A) differentiation
B) cost leadership
C) differentiation focus
D) competitive advantage
E) cost focus
Answer:
A code of conduct that regulates supplier conduct
A) is never enforced.
B) almost always protects a corporation’s reputation if an offshore supplier conceals
abuses.
C) is recommended if the company outsources manufacturing to a company in another
country.
D) is rarely used.
E) has always been found to be legally enforceable.
Answer:
According to Hofstede, which cultural dimension describes the extent to which society
is oriented toward money and things or towards people?
A) uncertainty avoidance
B) masculinity-femininity
C) individualism-collectivism
D) power distance
E) long-term orientation
Answer:
When a company determines how and where a product or service is to be manufactured,
the level of vertical integration in the production process, the deployment of physical
resources, and relationships with suppliers, the company is developing its ________
strategy.
A) marketing
B) operations
C) R&D
D) financial
E) human resource management
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT one of the limitations of the BCG Growth Share
Matrix?
A) It is too simplistic.
B) The link between market share and profitability is questionable.
C) Growth rate is only one aspect of industry attractiveness.
D) There are too many aspects of overall competitive position included.
E) Small competitors with fast-growing market share are ignored.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT an element of the organization’s task environment?
A) local communities
B) trade associations
C) governments
D) technological developments
E) special interest groups
Answer:
What percentage of public corporations have periodic board meetings devoted primarily
to the review of overall strategy?
A) 24%
B) 34%
C) 44%
D) 64%
E) 74%
Answer:
According to the text, what information can be obtained by accessing the SEC website?
A) corporate annual reports and 10-k forms
B) press releases
C) product specifications
D) research and development trends
E) information about graduate school
Answer:
The function of a nominating committee is to
A) find board members who have compatible viewpoints with management.
B) find outside board members for election by the stockholders.
C) search for internal employees who would provide valuable insight into the working
operations of the corporation.
D) search for candidates who could bring prestige to the board.
E) find inside board members for election by the stockholders.
Answer:
Which of the following is a trend in corporate governance?
A) Boards are getting less involved in shaping corporate strategy.
B) Shareholders are demanding that directors and top managers own less stock in the
company.
C) Boards are establishing mandatory retirement ages for board members.
D) Boards are getting larger.
E) Boards are looking for fewer members with international experience.
Answer:
According to Alfred Chandler
A) high-tech industries are defined by “paths of learning.”
B) companies spring from an individual entrepreneur’s knowledge, which then evolves
into organizational knowledge.
C) once a corporation has built its learning base to the point where it has become a core
company in its industry, entrepreneurial start-ups are rarely able to successfully enter.
D) organizational strengths derive from learned capabilities.
E) all of the above
Answer:
IBM under CEO Louis Gerstner and his strategic decision to invest in services in 1993,
is an example of which mode of strategic decision making?
A) adaptive
B) entrepreneurial
C) logical incrementalism
D) planning
E) none of the above
Answer:
Which one of the following best describes a divisional structure?
A) Work is divided into subunits on the basis of such functions as manufacturing,
marketing, finance, and human resources.
B) This is most appropriate for large corporations with many product lines in several
related industries, with employees acting as functional specialists attempting to gain
synergy among divisional activities.
C) This is most appropriate for small, entrepreneur-dominated companies with one or
two product lines that operate in a small niche market, with employees acting as
jack-of-all trades.
D) Employees have two or more superiors, a project manager and a functional manager.
E) This is most appropriate for large corporations with many product lines in several
unrelated industries, with employees acting as functional specialists but with no attempt
at gaining synergy among the divisions.
Answer:
In a TOWS Matrix, ST Strategies
A) are generated by thinking of ways in which a company or business unit could use its
strengths to take advantage of opportunities.
B) attempt to take advantage of opportunities by overcoming weaknesses.
C) are basically defensive and primarily act to minimize weaknesses and avoid threats.
D) consider a company’s or unit’s strengths as a way to avoid threats.
E) are ways to get strategists to think “out of the box.”
Answer:
A company with significant assets and activities in multiple countries is known as a(n)
A) multinational corporation.
B) repatriated corporation.
C) transferable corporation.
D) duplicate corporation.
E) emancipated corporation.
Answer:
More than ________ of outside directors surveyed said that they had been named as
part of a lawsuit against the corporation.
A) 40%
B) 50%
C) 60%
D) 70%
E) 80%
Answer:
What are the more popular options for international entry?
Answer:
Distinguish between continuous and intermittent manufacturing systems providing
examples of each.
Answer:
What are the responsibilities of top management?
Answer:
What is synergy? According to Goold and Campbell, what are the six forms it can take?
Answer:
What is an executive type? What is their significance to strategy?
Answer:
What are the benefits of strategic management?
Answer:
Discuss the benchmarking process.
Answer: