Organizations inhibit __________ by insisting that communication flow upward.
A. Corporate slack
B. Cross-functional interaction
C. Freedom from turfness
D. Cross-fertilization
The results that an organization seeks over a multiyear period are its
A. Generic strategies
B. Grand strategies
C. Mission statements
D. Long-term objectives
In general terms, which of the following questions is addressed by the mission
statement?
A. How should we price our products?
B. What are our economic goals?
C. Which employees should we hire?
D. What leverage structure should we follow?
Which one of the following is NOT a tactic used by competitors when they jockey for
position?
A. Price competition
B. Reduced advertising
C. Advertising price-cuts
D. Product introduction
Skills in achieving differentiation in product design, branding expertise, innovation,
first-mover and sometimes scale characterize winners in:
A. Stalemate businesses
B. Specialization businesses
C. Volume businesses
D. Fragmented businesses
Which of the following is NOT a geographic factor in choosing a foreign
manufacturing site?
A. Efficiency of transport
B. Proximity of site to export markets
C. Availability of local raw materials
D. Availability of tariff protection
The differences in internal resources among companies in the same industry:
A. Can become relative strengths or weaknesses depending on the strategy a firm
chooses
B. Almost always result in competitive advantages based on relative strengths or
weaknesses
C. Arise from benchmarking
D. Are easily observed and relative strengths are easily imitated
The state of competition is an industry, according to Porter, depends on ______ basic
forces.
A. 3
B. 5
C. 8
D. 2
_______ are businesses whose high growth rate gives them considerable appeal, but
whose low market share makes their profit potential uncertain.
A. Dogs
B. Stars
C. Question marks
D. Cash cows
_________ has few sources of advantage, with most of them small. This results in very
competitive situations.
A. Fragmented businesses
B. Volume businesses
C. Stalemate businesses
D. Specialization businesses
_________ is the main force behind the outsourcing trend.
A. Relentless cost cutting
B. Achieving internal synergies
C. Better capital budgeting
D. Keeping control internal
_______ are arrangements between two or more companies in which they both
contribute capabilities, resources or expertise to a joint undertaking, usually with an
identity of its own, with each firm giving up overall control in return for the potential to
participate in and benefit from the relationship.
A. Joint ventures
B. Strategic alliances
C. Outsourcing agreements
D. Contractual diversification
________ is targeting a particular segment of the industry for competition on a
worldwide basis.
A. Licensing
B. National focus strategy
C. Global focus strategy
D. Protected niche strategy
Which of the following is NOT a strategic advantage of a divisional organizational
structure?
A. Forces coordination and necessary authority down to the appropriate level for rapid
response
B. Sharply focuses accountability for performance
C. Increases focus on products, markets and quick response to change
D. Eliminates functional specialization within each division
Rivalry among existing competitors takes the familiar form of:
A. Substitute products
B. Jockeying for position
C. Positioning the company
D. Influencing the balance
A(n) _____________ is the thorough and often rapid, reconsideration of the firm’s
strategy because of a sudden, unexpected event.
A. Special alert control
B. Implementation control
C. Milestone control
D. Premise control
The term ______ refers to the relationships among human beings and other living
things and the air, soil and water that supports them.
A. Pollution
B. Ecology
C. Operating environment
D. Remote environment
Most _____ are so platitudinous that they read more like public relations handouts.
A. Philosophies
B. Mission statements
C. Goals
D. Vision statements
A ______ is one in which competition is essentially segmented from country to country.
A. Stakeholder activism
B. Multidomestic industry
C. Globalized economy
D. Polycentric environment
Improving the way a detergent smells is an example of:
A. Market expansion
B. Product development
C. Product innovation
D. Product extinction
Business is now being held responsible for:
A. Using only underground dumping sites
B. Cleaning up its previous environmental damage
C. Municipal sewer systems
D. Ensuring that a “thermal blanket” is created
______ dilute shareholders’ equity when they are exercised
A. Golden handcuffs
B. Stock options
C. Golden parachutes
D. Restricted stock plans
The expanding list of global industries include all of these EXCEPT
A. Automobiles
B. Mainframe computers
C. Insurance
D. Commercial aircraft
____________ is the process of bringing together creative and innovative ideas and
actions with the management and organizational skills necessary to mobilize the
appropriate people, money and operating resources to meet an identifiable need and
create wealth in the process.
A. Entrepreneurship
B. Market speculation
C. Venture capitalism
D. Franchising
Brand identity is a determinant of which of these forces driving industry competition?
A. Entry
B. Rivalry
C. Buyer power
D. Supplier power
The divisions in a _______ operate autonomously.
A. Simple organization
B. Holding company
C. Strategic business unit
D. Matrix organization
Strategic surveillance must be kept:
A. As focused as possible
B. As unfocused as possible
C. As fast as possible
D. Internal
Skill in quality and new feature development; ability to start developing successor
product represent engineering and R&D capabilities at which stage of the industry
evolution?
A. Decline
B. Introduction
C. Growth
D. Maturity
Quadrant I of the Grand Strategy Selection Matrix suggests which of these strategies
when the basic idea underlying the matrix is the choice of an internal or external
emphasis for growth or profitability?
A. Horizontal integration
B. Conglomerate diversification
C. Market development
D. Retrenchment
Lengthy product life cycles can lead to over reliance on old products. This is an
example of:
A. External relations
B. Linkage
C. Predictable error
D. Specialized expertise
Substitute products that deserve the most attention strategically are those that are:
A. Subject to trends
B. Produced by industries earning low profits
C. Most expensive to produce
D. Slow coming into play
Ace Tools Company performs an extensive evaluation of its competitive strengths and
weaknesses. This effort is directed towards determining its
A. Vision
B. Economic goals
C. Public image
D. Self-concept
Firms that ___________ facilitate innovation.
A. Use the “home run” philosophy
B. Vastly limit corporate ‘slack”
C. Eliminate corporate ‘slack”
D. Set aside corporate ‘slack”
A divisional structure allows corporate management to ________ for the strategic
management of distinct business entities.
A. Delegate responsibility
B. Delegate authority
C. Increase the number of managers
D. Be eliminated
A good fit maximizes a firm’s _________ and minimizes its ________.
A. strengths and weaknesses; opportunities and threats
B. strengths and opportunities; weaknesses and threats
C. strengths and threats; weaknesses and opportunities
D. strengths and opportunities; opportunities and threats