Which of the following is LIKELY to be viewed as a pro-business government policy
from the perspective of companies competing on an international basis?
A. Argentina increases its interest rate on loans to foreign entrants from 15% to 19%.
B. The European Union imposes a 16% tariff on the import of agricultural produce.
C. Australia introduces a permanent employer-sponsored visa program for skilled
manpower.
D. Denmark levies a per metric ton carbon tax on electricity.
E. The Chinese government favors partial local ownership of foreign-owned companies.
What is the best technique for revealing the different market or competitive position
that rival firms occupy in the industry?
A. Strategic group mapping
B. PESTEL analysis
C. Five forces framework
D. The value net framework
E. Competitor analysis
Business strategy, as distinct from corporate strategy, is chiefly concerned with:
A. deciding what new businesses to enter, which existing businesses to get out of, and
which existing business to remain in.
B. deciding how to build competitive advantage and improve performance in a
particular line of business.
C. making sure the strategic intent of a particular business is in step with the company’s
overall strategic intent and strategy.
D. coordinating the competitive approaches of a company’s different business units.
E. what business model to employ in each of the company’s different businesses.
The managerial purpose of setting objectives includes all of the following EXCEPT:
A. converting the strategic vision into specific performance targets-results and
outcomes the organization wants to achieve.
B. using the objectives as yardsticks for tracking the company’s progress and
performance.
C. challenging and helping stretch the organization to perform at its full potential and
deliver the best possible results.
D. pushing company personnel to be more inventive and to exhibit more urgency in
improving the company’s financial performance and business position.
E. delineating management’s aspirations for the business and providing a panoramic
view of “where we are going.”
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.
Which of the following statements regarding multidomestic and global competition is
false?
A. In global competition, rivals vie for worldwide market leadership and the leading
competitors compete head-to-head in the markets of many different countries.
B. In globally competitive industries, a company’s competitive position in one country
both affects and is affected by its position in other countries.
C. In multidomestic competition, there is greater cross-country variation in market
conditions and the nature of the competitive contest among rivals than tends to be the
case in globally competitive markets.
D. With multidomestic competition, the competitive contest is localized, with rivals
battling for national market leadership; moreover, winning in one country market does
not necessarily signal that a company has the ability to fare well in the markets of other
countries.
E. In global competition, the size of a firm’s worldwide competitive advantage (or
disadvantage) equals the sum of the competitive advantages (or disadvantages) it has in
each country market where it competes.
A global strategy allows for:
A. the leading companies to compete for the biggest share of the world market, but only
occasionally compete head-to-head in different countries.
B. the markets in various countries to be part of the world market and competitive
conditions across country markets to be strongly linked.
C. a company’s overall market strength to be the sum of its market shares in each
country market where it has a presence.
D. the industry leaders to be foreign companies, while domestic companies are
relegated to runner-up status.
E. a firm’s overall competitive advantage to be determined by the size of the
competitive advantage it has in each of its profit sanctuaries.
Which of the following is NOT an accurate statement as concerns competing in the
markets of foreign countries?
A. Localizing a global company’s product offerings country-by-country leads to
low-cost advantage.
B. There are country-to-country differences in consumer buying habits and buyer tastes
and preferences.
C. A company must contend with fluctuating exchange rates and country-to-country
variations in host government restrictions and requirements.
D. Product designs suitable for one country are often inappropriate in another.
E. Market growth rates vary from country to country.
Functional-area strategies:
A. concern the actions, approaches, and practices to be employed in managing
particular functions within a business.
B. specify what actions a company should take to resolve specific strategic issues and
problems.
C. are normally crafted by operating-level managers.
D. are concerned with how to unify the firm’s several different operating strategies into
a cohesive whole.E. are normally crafted by the company’s CEO and other senior
executives.
A “balanced scorecard” for measuring company performance:
A. entails putting equal emphasis on financial and strategic objectives.
B. entails putting balanced emphasis on profit and non-profit objectives.
C. prevents the drive for achieving financial objectives from overwhelming the pursuit
of strategic objectives.
D. prevents the drive for achieving strategic objectives from overwhelming the pursuit
of financial objectives.
E. strikes a “balance” between financial and strategic objectives.
A firm pursuing a best-cost provider strategy:
A. seeks to be the low-cost provider in the largest and fastest growing (or best) market
segment.
B. tries to have the best cost (as compared to rivals) for each activity in the industry’s
value chain.
C. tries to outcompete a low-cost provider by attracting buyers on the basis of charging
the best price.
D. seeks to deliver superior value to buyers by satisfying their expectations on key
attributes and beating rivals in meeting customer expectations on price.E. seeks to
achieve the best costs by using the best operating practices and incorporating the best
features and attributes.
Which of the following statements about the match between a company’s culture and its
strategy is NOT true?
A. When a company’s present work climate promotes attitudes and behaviors that are
well suited to first-rate strategy execution, its culture functions as a valuable ally in the
strategy execution process.
B. A deeply embedded culture tightly matched to the strategy aids the cause of
competent strategy execution by steering company personnel to culturally approved
behaviors and work practices and thus makes it far simpler to root out operating
practices that are a misfit.
C. It is in management’s best interest to dedicate considerable effort to embedding a
corporate culture that encourages behaviors and work practices conducive to good
strategy execution.
D. A tight strategy-culture alignment facilitates building core competencies and
distinctive competencies that lead to low operating costs and a cost-based competitive
advantage.E. When a company’s culture is grounded in many of the needed
strategy-executing behaviors, employees feel genuinely better about their jobs and what
the company is trying to accomplish; as a consequence, greater numbers of company
personnel exert their best efforts to execute the strategy and achieve performance
targets.
Which of the following is an example of a modification in the company’s business
model to accommodate the unique local circumstances of developing countries?
A. Mahindra and Mahindra ranked number one in J. D. Power Asia Pacific’s
new-vehicle overall quality category.
B. Home Depot could rely on its value propositions only in some developing countries.
C. Unilever developed a low-cost detergent, named Wheel, for the Indian market.
D. Japan is known for its competitive strength in consumer electronics.
E. In China, Dell moved from its traditional Internet-based orders to orders over phone
and fax.
Which of the following is NOT a factor that makes an alliance ‘strategic” as opposed to
just a convenient business arrangement?
A. The alliance is critical to the company’s achievement of an important objective.
B. The alliance helps block a competitive threat.
C. The alliance helps open up important new market opportunities.
D. The alliance helps build, enhance, or sustain a core competence or competitive
advantage.
E. The alliance helps the company obtain additional financing on better credit terms.
The big danger or risk of a best-cost provider strategy is:
A. that buyers will be highly skeptical about paying a relatively low price for upscale
attributes/features.
B. not establishing strong alliances and partnerships with key suppliers.
C. that rivals with low-cost provider strategies will be able to steal away some
customers on the basis of a lower price, and high-end differentiators will be able to steal
away customers with the appeal of better product attributes.
D. that it will be unable to achieve top-notch quality at a rock-bottom cost.
E. becoming too highly integrated and not relying enough on outsourcing.
An automotive manufacturer sells a limited number of high-end, custom-built cars,
using technologically advanced power systems. What strategy is the manufacturer using
to gain competitive advantage?
A. A low-cost provider strategy
B. A broad differentiation strategy
C. A focused low-cost strategy
D. A focused differentiation strategy
E. A best-cost provider strategy