Which of the following is NOT true about why codes of conduct based on ethical
relativism are ethically dangerous for multinational companies?
A. They create a maze of conflicting ethical standards.
B. They justify conflicting ethical standards for operating in different countries.
C. They establish little moral basis for establishing ethical standards for a company
worldwide.
D. They restrict enforcement of ethical standards worldwide.E. They create standards
that mostly relate to ethical codes in a company’s home market, which might trigger
compliance issues in the local market.
The strategic importance of deliberately trying to develop organizational competencies
and capabilities is:
A. lower costs for employee training.
B. improved strategy execution and a potential for competitive advantage.
C. an increased ability to reduce total operating costs.
D. the added ease with which strategic fit and resource fit benefits can be captured.
E. the enhanced ability to avoid the perils of outsourcing.
Opportunities to differentiate a company’s product offering:
A. are most reliably found in the R&D portion of the value chain.
B. are typically located in the sales and marketing portion of the value chain.
C. can exist in activities all along an industry’s value chain.
D. usually are tied to product quality and customer service.E. are most frequently
attached to a company’s manufacturing expertise and to its ability to achieve economies
of scale in production.
Which of the following is NOT a reasonable option for deploying a diversified
company’s financial resources?
A. Making acquisitions to establish positions in new businesses or to complement
existing businesses
B. Investing financial resources in cash cow businesses until they show enough strength
to generate positive cash flows
C. Funding long-range R&D ventures aimed at opening market opportunities in new or
existing businesses
D. Paying down existing debt, increasing dividends, or repurchasing shares of the
company’s stock
E. Investing in ways to strengthen or grow existing businesses
Which of the following statements about a strong-culture company is NOT true?
A. In a strong-culture company, culturally approved behaviors and ways of doing things
are nurtured while culturally disapproved behaviors and work practices get squashed.
B. In a strong-culture company, senior managers make a point of reiterating key
principles and core values to organization members; more importantly, they make a
conscious effort to display these principles and values in their own actions and behavior
and they insist that company values and business principles be reflected in the decisions
and actions taken by all company personnel.
C. Continuity of leadership, small group size, stable group membership, geographic
concentration, and considerable organizational success all contribute to the emergence
and sustainability of a strong culture.
D. Centralized decision making, strict enforcement of company policies, diligent
pursuit of a distinctive competence, and a bold strategic intent are the hallmarks of a
strong-culture company.
E. In a strong-culture company, values and behavioral norms are like crabgrass: deeply
rooted and hard to weed out.
An engaging and convincing strategic vision:
A. ought to put “who we were and what we are doing” in writing rather than orally so as
to leave no room for company personnel to misinterpret what the strategic vision really
is.
B. should be done in language that inspires and motivates company personnel to unite
behind executive efforts to get the company moving in the intended direction.
C. tends to be more effective when top management avoids trying to capture the
essence of the strategic vision in a catchy slogan.
D. is most efficiently and effectively done by posting the strategic vision prominently
on the company’s website and encouraging employees to read it.
E. should be explained after the company’s strategic intent, strategy, and business model
have been conveyed to company personnel.
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
Which of the following builds a moral case for corporate social responsibility and
environmentally sustainable business practices?
A. Socially responsible actions and sustainable business practices can lower costs and
enhance employee recruiting and workforce retention.
B. Opportunities for revenue enhancement may also come from CSR and
environmental sustainability strategies.
C. C.Well-conceived CSR strategies and sustainable business practices are in the best
long-term interest of shareholders.
D. A business engages in ordinary decency and civic-mindedness, and contributes to
society’s wellbeing.
E. A strong commitment to socially responsible behavior reduces the risk of
reputation-damaging incidents.
A competitive environment where there is strong rivalry among sellers, low entry
barriers, strong competition from substitute products, and considerable bargaining
leverage on the part of both suppliers and customers:
A. is competitively unattractive from the standpoint of earning good profits.
B. offers little ability to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
C. is highly conducive to achieving strong product differentiation and high customer
loyalty to the company’s brand.
D. offers moderate to good prospects for making a reasonable profit and building a
sustainable competitive advantage.E. requires that industry members have a strongly
differentiated product offering in order to be profitable.
Acquisition is an effective way to hurdle all of the following entry barriers EXCEPT:
A. building brand awareness.
B. avoiding the costs of doing due diligence.
C. achieving scale economies.
D. establishing supplier relationships.
E. acquiring technical know-how.
Checking the competitive advantage potential of cross-business strategic fits in a
diversified company involves evaluating the extent to which sister businesses present
opportunities:
A. to combine the performance of certain cross-business activities and thereby reduce
costs.
B. to transfer skills, technology, or intellectual capital from one business to another.
C. for the company’s different businesses to share use of a well-respected brand name.
D. for sister businesses to collaborate in creating valuable new competitive capabilities.
E. to create a positive image in the industry irrespective of the financial performance of
its businesses.
What is the hallmark of an adaptive corporate culture?
A. A shared willingness to adapt core values to fit the changing requirements of an
evolving strategy
B. A conservative strategy, prudent risk-taking, and strong peer pressures to observe
cultural norms
C. A clear willingness on the part of organizational members to accept change and take
on the challenge of introducing and executing new strategies
D. A commitment to the types of core values and ethical standards that make a company
a great place to work
E. A strong preference for performance-based compensation systems-especially the
payment of bonuses and stock options
Which of the following is NOT a part of the business case for why companies should
act in a socially responsible manner?
A. Every business has a moral duty to be a good corporate citizen.
B. Acting in a socially responsible manner reduces the risk of reputation-damaging
incidents.
C. Acting in a socially responsible manner is in the overall best interest of shareholders.
D. To the extent that a company’s socially responsible behavior wins applause from
consumers and fortifies its reputation, a company may win additional patronage.E.
Acting in a socially responsible manner can generate internal benefits (as concerns
employee recruiting, workforce retention, employee morale, and training costs).
What supports competitive offensives in one market with resources and profits diverted
from operations in another market?
A. Cross-market subsidization
B. A foreign market strategy
C. A domestic-only company
D. A home market offensive
E. A multidomestic company
For every emerging opportunity there exists:
A. a market penetration curve, and this typically has an inflection point where the
business model falls into place.
B. an opportunity to achieve first-mover status, which depends on analyzing the
competitive status curve where all the potential rivals are encoded.
C. an emerging pitfall that is a counterpoint to the intended growth.
D. a normal curve scenario which signifies the average growth curve will be
opportunistic.
E. an intense competition that constrains the company’s prospects for rapid growth and
superior profitability.
Companies operating in an international marketplace have to respond to all of the
following, EXCEPT:
A. whether to customize their offerings in each different country market to match the
tastes and preferences of local buyers.
B. whether to pursue a strategy of offering a mostly standardized product worldwide.
C. how much to customize their offerings in each different country market to match the
tastes and preferences of local buyers.
D. the tensions between market pressures to localize a company’s product offerings
country by country and the competitive pressures to lower costs through greater product
customization.
E. whether to buy a struggling competitor at a bargain price or pay a premium to gain
entry to the local market.
Companies that compete internationally can pursue competitive advantage in world
markets(or offset domestic disadvantages) by:
A. using a differentiation-based competitive strategy in those country markets with
superior resources.
B. choosing not to compete in countries with high tariffs and high taxes (which then
have to be passed along to buyers in the form of higher prices), thus keeping costs and
prices lower than rivals.
C. using an export strategy to circumvent the risks of adverse exchange rate
fluctuations.
D. locating value chain activities in whatever nations prove most advantageous in a
manner that uses location to lower costs or achieve greater product differentiation,
allow for the transfer of competitively valuable competencies and capabilities from one
country to another, and allow for cross-border coordination.
E. employing a multidomestic strategy instead of a global strategy.
An established company in a market decides to donate a part of its profits to a children’s
charity to improve its market image. Soon after it launched a website that offers new
clothes, accessories, and books that could be donated to various children’s charities by
interested parties. The company gained positive publicity and its sales went up. What
would you say about this strategy?
Give any three nonmonetary examples of motivation and rewards practices that have
the capability to foster good strategy execution and explain how they act to produce
such a result.
Why is it appropriate to argue that good strategy-making combined with good strategy
execution are valid signs of good management?
Why does a company’s strategy tend to evolve over time?
Identify at least three factors that can aid companies in forming a successful strategic
alliance.
Identify and briefly describe the six steps involved in evaluating a diversified
company’s business lineup and diversification strategy.
What are the strategic advantages of a forward vertical integration strategy?
Identify at least five common driving forces and briefly explain how each one can
produce important changes in industry and competitive conditions.
Name the five broad areas that information systems need to cover and explain the
significance of real-time tracking and reporting.
Identify and discuss the purpose and benefits of closely aligning corporate culture with
the requirements for proficient strategy execution.