To deeply ingrain core values and ethical standards, a company must:
A. provide every employee with a copy of the company’s statement of core values and
code of ethics.
B. turn the espoused core values and ethical standards into strictly enforced cultural
norms.
C. encourage company personnel to observe the core values and ethical standards.
D. give big pay raises and bonuses to individuals and groups who display the
company’s core values and observe its ethical standards.
E. fire employees who do not live up to the core values or who are found guilty of
violating the code of ethics.
Answer:
Installing well-conceived, state-of-the-art support systems is an important managerial
component of implementing and executing strategy because:
A. such systems are essential to being able to engage in effective benchmarking and
continuous improvement.
B. such support systems not only enable better strategy execution but also strengthen
organizational capabilities (perhaps enough to provide a competitive edge over rivals).
C. they help managers run a tight ship and preserve strong, centralized control over
internal activities.
D. they are the basis for revamping value chains, boosting labor productivity, and
reducing operating costs.
E. decentralized decision making and employee empowerment cannot work well
without having well-conceived information and operating systems to accurately
benchmark internally performed value chain activities against best-in-industry and
best-in-class performers.
Answer:
A powerful tool for sizing up the company’s competitive assets and determining
whether they can provide the foundation necessary for competitive success in the
marketplace is termed:
A. resource and capability analysis.
B. SWOT.
C. competitive analysis.
D. financial and asset management analysis.
E. value chain analysis.
Answer:
Vertical integration strategies:
A. extend a company’s competitive scope within the same industry by expanding its
operations across multiple segments or stages of the industry value chain.
B. are one of the best strategic options for helping companies win the race for global
market leadership.
C. offer good potential to expand a company’s lineup of products and services.
D. are particularly effective in boosting a company’s ability to expand into additional
geographic markets, particularly the markets of foreign countries.
E. area good strategy option for helping a company revamp its value chain and bypass
low value-added activities.
Answer:
Buyers are in position to exert strong bargaining power in dealing with sellers when:
A. their costs to switch to competing brands or to substitute products are relatively high.
B. a particular seller’s product delivers quality or performance that is very important to
the buyer and is not matched by other brands.
C. they buy the product infrequently or in small quantities and are not particularly
well-informed about sellers’ products, prices, and costs.
D. buyer demand is growing rapidly.
E. buyers are price-sensitive due to the product representing a significant fraction of
their purchases.
Answer:
Once established, company cultures can be perpetuated by:
A. relying on word-of-mouth indoctrination and the power of tradition to instill the
culture’s fundamentals, as well as frequent reiteration of core values by senior managers
and group members, and regular ceremonies honoring members who display desired
cultural behaviors.
B. avoiding frequent or dramatic reorganizations that could disturb existing
relationships and networking among departments and company personnel.
C. making adherence to cultural beliefs and cultural norms the defining features of the
company’s strategic vision.
D. rewarding departments that observe cultural norms with above-average budget
increases and penalizing those who don’t with budget cuts.
E. making cultural values and beliefs the centerpiece of the company’s competitive
strategy.
Answer:
Briefly define each of the following terms.
a. Sustainable competitive advantage
b. Deliberate strategy
c. Emergent strategy
d. Realized strategy
e. Abandoned strategy
Answer:
Because functional organization structures often result in pieces of strategically relevant
activities and capabilities being scattered across many different functional departments,
companies have found that:
A. it is necessary to give these functional departments the freedom to collaborate
closely with each other to achieve the desired degree of coordination.
B. it is necessary to outsource those activities that are fragmented to strategic partners
in order to achieve the needed coordination.
C. there is merit in using business process reengineering to radically redesign and
streamline strategy-critical processes and workflow from different departments and
unifying their performance into a single department or cross-functional work group that
has charge over the whole process.
D. TQM is a potent way to reengineer the work effort, avoid the shortcomings of a
functional organization structure, and achieve rapid-response capability.
E. it makes good organizational sense to combine those functional departments where
fragmentation is a problem into a single department.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT true regarding the effect of ethical standards on a
company’s strategy?
A. An unethical strategy reflects badly on the character of the company personnel
involved.
B. A strategy that is unethical in whole or in part is morally wrong.
C. Pursuing an unethical strategy damages a company’s reputation and can have costly
consequences.
D. An ethical strategy is good business and is in the best interest of shareholders.
E. An ethical strategy results in higher employee turnover.
Answer:
Which of the following is LIKELY to have the biggest strategy-shaping impact on
mobile service providers?
A. Coca-Cola launches mobile campaigns for community-connect and awareness.
B. Discovery Channel launches a mobile game to promote its Gold Rush TV show.
C. T-Mobile US signs a pact with Nokia Networks for greater spectrum support.
D. Hugo Boss announces the launch of its fall/winter collection via mobile.
E. Apple enters into a pact with PayPal to market its mobile wallet application.
Answer:
A company’s strategy is increasingly effective the more it can match the company
strategy to competitive conditions, so the firm can:
A. pursue avenues that expose the firm to as many of the different competitive
pressures as possible.
B. shift the competitive battle in favor of the firm by altering the underlying factors
driving the five forces.
C. pursue ways to identify and complement the five forces contradictions and
inferences to attract competitive growth opportunities.
D. pursue avenues that promote strategic thinking about how to contest competitor
strengths and weaknesses and to create a checklist of potential profitability preferences.
E. shift societal concerns, attitudes, and lifestyles by altering the pattern of competition.
Answer:
In identifying an industry’s key success factors, strategists should:
A. try to single out all factors that play a major role in shaping whether buyer demand
grows rapidly or slowly.
B. consider on what basis customers choose between competing brands, what resources
and competitive capabilities firms need to be competitively successful, and what
shortcomings are almost certain to put a company at a significant competitive
disadvantage.
C. consider whether the number of strategic groups is increasing or decreasing and
whether the five competitive forces are powerful or relatively weak.
D. consider what it will take to overtake the company with the industry’s overall best
strategy.
E. focus their attention on what it will take to capitalize on the impacts of the industry’s
driving forces.
Answer:
A company’s strengths are important because they:
A. pave the way for establishing a low-cost advantage over rivals.
B. represent the quality of its competitive assets that enhance its competitiveness in the
marketplace.
C. provide extra muscle in helping lengthen the company’s value chain.
D. give it competitive protection against the industry’s driving forces.
E. provide extra organizational muscle in turning a core competence into a key success
factor.
Answer:
Which of the following generic types of competitive strategies is typically the “best”
strategy for a company to employ?
A. A strategy that seeks to underprice rivals on comparable products that attract a broad
spectrum of buyers
B. A strategy that seeks to differentiate product offerings from rivals by offering
superior attributes that attract a broad spectrum of buyers
C. A strategy that concentrates on a narrow buyer segment and outcompetes rivals by
offering niche members customized attributes
D. A strategy that concentrates on value-conscious buyers and outcompetes rivals by
offering products at attractive prices
E. A strategy that is customized to fit the macro-environment and industry and employs
resources and capabilities that rivals have trouble duplicating
Answer:
Competitive pressures stemming from buyer bargaining power tend to be weaker in
which of the following circumstances?
A. Most consumers vary the brands they choose for their cookware and kitchen gadgets.
B. There is a global decline in the demand for CD players.
C. The investment banking industry offers highly differentiated products.
D. The Internet offers a huge amount of information on a variety of products.
E. Heinz owns a metal-can manufacturing subsidiary to cut back on supplier costs.
Answer:
The essential difference between a “think global, act global” and a “think global, act
local” approach to strategy-making is that:
A. a “think global, act global” approach entails extensive strategy coordination across
countries and a “think global, act local” approach entails little or no strategy
coordination across countries.
B. the former aims at implementing the same business model worldwide, whereas the
latter aims at implementing customized business models to better match local market
circumstances.
C. the “think global, act local” approach gives local managers more latitude to make
minor strategy variations where necessary to better satisfy local buyers and to better
match local market conditions.
D. a “think global, act global” approach involves selling a mostly standardized product
worldwide, whereas a “think global, act local” approach entails selling products that are
highly differentiated from country to country.
E. a “think global, act global” approach involves selling under a single brand name
worldwide, whereas a “think global, act local” approach entails utilizing multiple
brands (typically one for each different country or group of neighboring countries).
Answer:
The means to enhance differentiation through activities at the forward end of the value
chain system do NOT include:
A. engaging in cooperative advertising and promotions.
B. creating exclusive arrangements with downstream sellers or other mechanisms that
increase their incentives for enhanced-delivery customer value.
C. creating and enforcing standards for downstream activities.
D. assisting in training channel partners in business practices.
E. enhancing cost-reducing activities with defensive functionality designed to create
incentives.
Answer:
In which of the following market circumstances is a broad differentiation strategy
generally NOT well-suited?
A. When buyer needs and preferences are too diverse to be fully satisfied by a
standardized product
B. When few rivals are pursuing a similar differentiation approach
C. When the products of rivals are weakly differentiated
D. When there are many ways to differentiate a product or a service and many buyers
perceive these differences valuable
E. When technological change is fast-paced and competition revolves around rapidly
evolving product features
Answer:
The task of top executives when the company faces disruptive changes in its
environment is to not only raise questions about the appropriateness of its direction and
strategy but also to:
A. know when to continue with the present corporate culture and when to shift to a
different and better corporate culture.
B. ferret out the causes and decide when adjustments are needed and what adjustments
are needed for improved performance and operating excellence.
C. figure out whether to arrive at decisions quickly or slowly in choosing among the
various alternative adjustments.
D. decide whether to try to fix the problems of poor strategy execution or simply shift
to a strategy that is easier to execute correctly.
E. decide how to identify the problems that need fixing.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT part of organizing the work effort in ways that promote
successful strategy execution?
A. Facilitating collaboration with external partners and strategic allies
B. Providing for cross-unit coordination and deciding which value chain activities to
perform in-house and which ones to outsource
C. Determining how much authority to centralize at the top and how much to delegate
to down-the-line managers and employees
D. Determining which functions and organizational units require superior intellectual
capital
E. Maintaining expertise and resource depth in performing those internally
strategy-critical value chain activities that underpin its long-term competitive success
and provide for the main building blocks in the organization structure
Answer:
A useful way to identify a company’s resources is to view them as:
A. divided into two main categories, tangible and intangible.
B. productive inputs or competitive assets, except human assets and intellectual capital,
which are considered capabilities or competencies.
C. physical resources, such as the company’s brand, image, and reputation assets.
D. an inventory or a collection of the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats.
E. intangible resources such as patents, copyrights, and technological processes.
Answer:
A multidivisional structure consists of a:
A. centralized structure combining corporate overhead with support functions.
B. decentralized structure with of a set of operating divisions organized along business,
product, customer groups or geographic lines, and a central corporate headquarters that
allocates resources, provides support functions, and monitors divisional activities.
C. decentralized structure or divisional structure that monitors performance and
allocates funding to those divisions wanting to grow.
D. decentralized format of senior executives with large overhead staff to manage and
control all the business lines.
E. centralized structure that controls the coordination across the more diversified and
complex functions within the organization.
Answer:
Apple decides to reallocate resources by curtailing online ad budgets and investing
heavily in scratch-resistant Sapphire, the material that differentiates iPhone from
competitive brands. What is MOST LIKELY the reason for reallocation of resources?
A. Making critical value chain activities less effective
B. Supporting the new strategic initiative of the brand
C. Signalling commitment to online sales of the brand
D. Signalling commitment to offline sales of the brand
E. Impeding the efforts of rivals to hoard Sapphire
Answer:
Information regarding the four components of the Framework for Competitor Analysis
can NOT be:
A. gleaned from company press releases.
B. gathered from a rival’s internal proprietary strategic information.
C. assembled from website data.
D. observed from public information.
E. garnered from competitive intelligence departments.
Answer:
If one accepts the tenets of the school of ethical relativism, then which of the following
is NOT true?
A. There are multiple sets of ethical standards rather than a single universal set.
B. At least some ethical standards are governed by local norms, religious doctrines, and
social customs rather than by absolute standards of right and wrong.
C. What constitutes ethical or unethical behavior on the part of businesses must in some
cases be judged in the light of local customs and social mores.
D. It is inappropriate to hold businesses accountable for observing a universal set of
ethical standards.
E. Ethical standards for businesses are established on the basis of conceptions of right
and wrong that apply to all businesses.
Answer:
The spotlight in analyzing a company’s resources, internal circumstances, and
competitiveness includes such questions/concerns as:
A. whether the company is located all over the globe.
B. whether the company’s key success factors are more dominant than the key success
factors of close rivals.
C. whether the company has the industry’s most efficient and effective value chain.
D. what the company’s resource strengths and weaknesses are in relation to the market
opportunities and external threats.
E. what new acquisitions the company would be well advised to make in order to
strengthen its financial performance and overall balance sheet position.
Answer:
The task of stitching together a strategy:
A. entails addressing a series of hows: how to grow the business, how to please
customers, how to outcompete rivals, how to respond to changing market conditions,
and how to achieve strategic and financial objectives.
B. is primarily an exercise in deciding which of several freshly emerging market
opportunities to pursue.
C. is mainly an exercise that should be dictated by what is comfortable to management
from a risk perspective and what is acceptable in terms of capital requirements.
D. requires trying to copy the strategies of industry leaders as closely as possible.
E. is mainly an exercise in good planning.
Answer:
When are capabilities-motivated acquisitions essential?
A. When industry conditions, like technology advances are central to growth and rivalry
is intense
B. When first-mover advantages for products or services can be added to the portfolio
lineup
C. When the acquired firm can be purchased at a discount due to underperformance
D. When a market opportunity can slip by faster than a needed capability can be created
internally
E. When the capabilities involve tacit knowledge and complex routines
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a reason why a company decides to enter foreign
markets?
A. To spread business risk across a wider geographic market base
B. To capitalize on company competencies and capabilities
C. To achieve lower costs through economies of scale, experience, and increased
purchasing power
D. To impart technical knowledge to high-cost human resources in developing nations
E. To gain access to more buyers for the company’s products/services
Answer:
Changing circumstances and ongoing managerial efforts to improve the strategy:
A. account for Why a Companys Strategy Evolves over Time.
B. explain why a company’s strategic vision undergoes almost constant change.
C. make it very difficult for a company to have concrete strategic objectives.
D. make it very hard to know what a company’s strategy really is.
E. result in abandoned strategic visions.
Answer:
37.Short-termism is defined as:
A. making assessments of the moral character of a company’s managers.
B. the tendency for managers to focus on immediate performance objectives at the
expense of longer-term strategic objectives.
C. assessing the costs and damages to the company’s reputation as a result of ethical
violations.
D. weighing the short-term costs of regulatory compliance with the long-term costs of
noncompliance.
E. assessing the short-term costs of complying with government regulations.
Answer:
The place for management to begin in trying to change a problem culture is:
A. identifying facets of the present culture that are obstacles to executing the company’s
strategy and meeting performance targets.
B. spending heavily on programs to train employees in the ways and beliefs of the new
culture to be implanted.
C. visibly praising and rewarding people who exhibit traits and behaviors that
undermine the existing culture.
D. writing a new value statement and describing in highly motivating terms the kind of
culture that is needed.
E. instituting incentive compensation programs that generously reward employees for
adopting best practices.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT true of a company that succeeds in differentiating its
product offering from those of its rivals?
A. It can avoid having to compete on the basis of simply a low price.
B. It commands a premium price for its product.
C. It usually increases unit sales.
D. It gains buyer loyalty to its brand.
E. It attracts mainly price-conscious buyers.
Answer:
The best indicator of how well a company’s strategy is working is whether the
company:
A. is achieving its stated financial objectives, its financial performance equates to the
industry average, and market share gains reflect short-term preferences for capacity
maximization.
B. is attentive to its poor execution in functional areas, business goals are stretch, and
the value proposition has a product focus.
C. is geared to initiatives designed to build market share and to promote corporate
responsibility.
D. is achieving its stated financial and strategic objectives, its financial performance is
better than the industry average, and it is gaining customers and increasing its market
share.
E. is geared to initiatives to promote corporate social responsibility.
Answer:
In analyzing the strength of competition among rival firms, an important consideration
is:
A. the potential for buyers to exercise strong bargaining power.
B. the diversity of competitors in terms of long-term direction, objectives, strategies,
and countries of origin.
C. the number of firms pursuing differentiation strategies versus the number pursuing
low-cost leadership strategies and focus strategies.
D. the extent to which some rivals have more than two competitively valuable
competencies or capabilities.
E. whether the industry is characterized by a strong learning/experience curve and
whether the industry is composed of many or few strategic groups.
Answer:
Explain why a company’s strategy is really a collection of strategies.
Answer:
Why do a company’s core competencies matter in crafting strategy?
Answer:
For a company’s competitive strategy to succeed in delivering favorable performance
and the intended competitive edge over rivals, it has to be well-matched to a company’s
internal situation and underpinned by an appropriate set of resources, know-how, and
competitive capabilities. True or false? Explain your answer.
Answer:
An electronic chip manufacturer has a quarterly release of its products. What can you
say about its strategy?
Answer:
What are the two things involved in the leadership challenge to consistently achieve
good strategy execution?
Answer:
Why is sustainable competitive advantage so important to a winning business strategy?
Answer:
In creating a strategy-supportive reward structure, it is important to define jobs and
assignments in terms of the results to be accomplished not just in terms of the duties to
be performed. True or false? Explain and justify your answer.
Answer:
What market conditions and circumstances make a low-cost provider strategy
attractive? What are the pitfalls in pursuing a low-cost provider strategy? What can go
wrong?
Answer:
How do socially responsible actions and sustainable business practices lower costs
related to human resources in a company?
Answer:
What is the role of managerial leadership in changing a problem corporate culture?
Answer:
Identify and discuss the purpose and benefits of closely aligning corporate culture with
the requirements for proficient strategy execution.
Answer:
Assume a firm is at a cost disadvantage with rivals because its internal costs are higher
than rivals. Identify three strategic moves that it can make to restore cost parity.
Answer:
Why is it pertinent in evaluating a diversified company’s business lineup to rank a
diversified company’s businesses on the basis of their future performance prospects?
Answer:
What is the value of total quality management (TQM) and how does it differ from
business process reengineering?
Answer:
What are the merits of strategic alliances and collaborative partnerships for companies
racing to seize opportunities in an industry of the future? Under what circumstances do
they make sense? How do they contribute to competitive advantage?
Answer:
Identify and discuss the basic tenets, the chief advantages, and the chief disadvantages
of centralized organizational structures.
Answer:
A new entrant in a market dominated by established players introduces itself with
copycat products of another competitor. Would this strategy work in the long term for
the firm? Justify your answer.
Answer:
What are the distinctive features of a broad differentiation strategy? Under what
circumstances is a broad differentiation strategy appealing?
Answer:
Identify and briefly explain any three factors that intensify competitive pressures
stemming from the threat that new firms will enter the industry.
Answer:
What are the six key questions that form the framework of thinking strategically about a
company’s industry and competitive environment?
Answer: