Chapter 06 – Internal Analysis
49. (p. 164) Core competencies that differ from those found in competing firms would be
considered
50. (p. 164) _______ become the basis for a lasting competitive advantage.
51. (p. 164) The most easily identified assets, often found on a firm’s balance sheet, are called:
52. (p. 164) Patents and trademarks are examples of
53. (p. 164) Which of the following is NOT an example of an intangible asset?
54. (p. 164) Company reputation is an example of a
55. (p. 164) Company reputation is an example of a
56. (p. 166) Which of the following is NOT one of the RBV guidelines?
57. (p. 166) Consider Company A, a financial services company specializing in small business
issues, whose location is in a shopping mall in the suburbs and Company B, a similar
business, whose location is downtown between a successful law firm and a courthouse.
Company A’s comparative success can be best attributed to which RBV guideline?
58. (p. 166) The availability of substitutes affects which of the RBV guidelines?
59. (p. 167) _______ help the firm create resource scarcity by making resources hard to imitate.
60. (p. 167) Which of the following is NOT an example of an isolating mechanism?
61. (p. 167) ________ are very difficult to imitate because of the difficult, sometimes
complicated path another firm must follow to create the resource.
62. (p. 168) Which of the following involves large capital investments in capacity to provide
products or services in a given market that are scale sensitive?
63. (p. 168) Brand loyalty, employee satisfaction and a reputation for fairness are items that:
64. (p. 169) Which of the following statements is true?
65. (p. 169) In the increasingly hypercompetitive global economy today, distinctive
competencies and competitive advantages:
66. (p. 169) Which of the following illustrates what it means to utilize a functional perspective?
67. (p. 169) Which of the following combinations provides the best sources of competitive
advantage?
68. (p. 172) When a strategist uses the firm’s historical experience as a basis for evaluating
internal factors, he or she is performing a:
69. (p. 172) A manager’s assessment of whether a certain internal factor—like financial capacity—
is a strength or weakness will be most strongly influenced by:
70. (p. 172) Using historical experience as a basis for identifying strengths and weaknesses can
be likened to:
71. (p. 172) The differences in internal resources among companies in the same industry:
72. (p. 174) _______ is a method of comparing the way a company performs a specific activity
with a competitor, potential competitor or company doing the same thing.
73. (p. 174) Company X’s principal strength is its inbound and outbound logistics system; its
relative weakness, however is after-sales service. Its competitor, Company Y, however is
often plagued with lagging shipments and an inflexible distribution setup. Company Y
remains successful because it maintains a fully staffed service department and as a result the
company is known for its dependable service. _______ allows them to identify ways to build
on relative strengths and avoid dependence on capabilities at which the other firm excels.
74. (p. 174) _______ involve(s) identifying the factors associate with successful participation in
a given industry.
75. (p. 175) Which of the following is a useful framework against which to examine a firm’s
potential strengths and weaknesses in a given industry?
76. (p. 176) A company producing toilet paper, tissues and other consumer paper goods can
work to establish the right product lines, with reasonable sales volumes, profit margins and
growth potential in order to generate:
77. (p. 176) ________ is one way to identify success factors against which executives can
evaluate their firm’s competencies relative to its key product or products.
Chapter 06 – Internal Analysis
Essay Questions
78. Describe the elements of SWOT analysis.
Learning Objective: 1
79. How is SWOT analysis used in strategic analysis?
Learning Objective: 1
80. What are the limitations of SWOT analysis?
Learning Objective: 1
81. Explain the difference between primary activities and support activities and give examples
of both.
82. Describe the steps in conducting a value chain analysis.
Learning Objective: 2
83. What are the problems created by using activity-based cost accounting?
Learning Objective: 2
84. Explain the premise for the resource-based view of the firm. How is this different from
other perspectives?
Learning Objective: 3
85. Describe the elements of the resource-based view. Give examples of each type.
Please refer to the discussion titled “Three Basic Resources: Tangible Assets, Intangible
Learning Objective: 3
86. What are core competencies? How are they different from distinctive competencies?
How do distinctive competencies lead to competitive advantage?
87. Cite the guidelines to the resource-based view and briefly describe their meaning.
Learning Objective: 3
88. When using the RBV, what four steps can help a firm gauge which resources truly have
strategic value?
Learning Objective: 3
89. What are isolating mechanisms? What role do they play in the resource-based view?
Learning Objective: 3
90. How can the resource-based view be used in internal analysis?
Learning Objective: 3
91. What is three circles analysis?
92. If a firm wants to chart its progress internally, what method of comparison is appropriate?
Describe how this works.
Learning Objective: 4
93. What is the purpose of benchmarking? How else can a firm evaluate itself against its
industry?
Learning Objective: 4
94. How can a firm compare itself with success factors in the industry?
Learning Objective: 4
95. What is the product life cycle? What are its different stages?
Learning Objective: 4
96. Describe what liquidity ratios measure? What are the important liquidity ratios?
Learning Objective: 5
97. What does the term “leverage” mean? What are the important leverage ratios?
98. What do activity ratios measure? What are the key activity ratios?
Learning Objective: 5
99. Describe the principal profitability ratios and indicate what each measures.
Learning Objective: 5
100. What does an analysis of the sources and uses of funds do? How is this analysis done?