Chapter 4 Developing Competitive Advantage and Strategic Focus
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. All of the following are benefits of SWOT analysis EXCEPT:
a.
It is simple to use.
b.
Its structured nature ensures that data and information are correctly categorized.
c.
It promotes managerial collaboration.
d.
It can synthesize and integrate diverse information.
e.
It can reduce costs.
2. With respect to the text’s advice in conducting a SWOT analysis, which of the following best
describes “Look for Causes, Not Characteristics”?
a.
Break down clichés into meaningful customer-oriented issues.
b.
Refrain from conducting a single generic analysis for the entire organization.
c.
Gauge the actual perceptions of customers that give rise to the firm’s strengths and
weaknesses.
d.
Focus on the resources possessed by the firm and/or its competitors that are the true causes
for the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
e.
Clearly differentiate internal issues from external issues.
3. The failure to understand the difference between internal and external issues is one of the major
reasons for a poorly conducted SWOT analysis. This happens because managers:
a.
see opportunities and threats as being the same thing.
b.
confuse weaknesses with threats.
c.
see strengths as the only meaningful issue in a SWOT analysis.
d.
confuse strengths with opportunities.
e.
list their marketing options or strategies as opportunities.
4. Strengths are typically based on the existence and nature of the __________ possessed by the firm.
Weaknesses stem from a lack of these important factors.
a.
patents and capital
d.
products and customers
b.
resources and relationships
e.
customers and resources
c.
customers and partnerships
5. In terms of SWOT analysis, when does a strength become a capability of the firm?
a.
when the strength can be tied to satisfying a customer need
b.
when the strength cannot be copied by competitors
c.
when the strength stands alone without any corresponding weaknesses
d.
when the strength can be connected to a second strength
e.
when the strength can be supported by sufficient resources
6. __________ typically occur within the competitive, customer, economic, political/legal, technological,
and/or sociocultural environments of the firm.
a.
Strengths and weaknesses
d.
Weaknesses and threats
b.
Strengths and opportunities
e.
Opportunities and weaknesses
c.
Opportunities and threats
7. To successfully utilize SWOT analysis as a catalyst for strategic planning, the marketing manager
must focus on several important issues. Which of the following IS NOT one of these issues?
a.
The manager must look beyond the firm’s current product offerings.
b.
The manager must find ways to connect the firm’s strengths to its opportunities.
c.
The manager must strive to convert weaknesses into strengths.
d.
The manager must attempt to minimize the firm’s limitations.
e.
The manager must find ways to transform key threats into strengths.
8. By focusing on efficiency of operations and processes, lower costs, and delivering good value,
Southwest Airlines attempts to build a competitive advantage based on:
a.
production orientation.
d.
operational excellence.
b.
customer intimacy.
e.
strategic efficiency.
c.
process improvement.
9. Microsoft’s Windows platform dominates the market for personal computer operating systems. By
continuously upgrading and stretching the technology underlying its Windows system, Microsoft is
pursuing a strategy of:
a.
customer intimacy.
d.
total quality management.
b.
product leadership.
e.
technological leadership.
c.
operational excellence.
10. Firms possessing certain core competencies are more likely to create competitive advantages based on
these competencies. However, before a competitive advantage can be translated into specific customer
benefits, the firm’s __________ must recognize that its competencies give it an advantage over the
competition.
a.
management
d.
employees
b.
target markets
e.
strategic partners
c.
shareholders
11. The overall concept or model that guides the firm as it weaves various marketing elements together
into a coherent strategy is called its:
a.
marketing strategy.
d.
marketing thrust.
b.
operational focus.
e.
strategic focus.
c.
strategic posture.
12. Expansion and growth, with new products and new markets, are the keys to Google’s __________
approach to marketing strategy. Google uses this approach because it possesses many different
strengths that coincide with key market opportunities.
a.
defensive
d.
proactive
b.
focused
e.
diversified
c.
aggressive
13. May firms, like the Altria Group, focus on diversification in their marketing strategies because they
possess:
a.
many internal strengths and many external opportunities.
b.
many internal weaknesses and many external opportunities.
c.
many internal strengths and few external opportunities.
d.
many internal strengths and many external threats.
e.
many internal weaknesses and many external threats.
14. As a tool of Blue Ocean Strategy, the strategy canvas provides a way to visualize the firm’s strategy
relative to other firms in the industry. The central portion of the strategy canvas is the __________, or
the graphic representation of the firm’s relative performance across its industry’s factors.
a.
value curve
d.
divergence curve
b.
strategy line
e.
action diagram
c.
strategic focus
15. With regard to Blue Ocean Strategy, the Four-Actions Framework is designed to challenge traditional
assumptions about marketing strategy by asking four key questions. Which of the following IS NOT
one of these questions?
a.
Which factors should be reduced well below the industry’s standard?
b.
Which factors should be raised well above the industry’s standard?
c.
Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?
d.
Which factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?
e.
Which factors used throughout the industry should be copied?
16. Marketing goals can be defined as:
a.
quantitative guidelines that help firms achieve desired results.
b.
broad, qualitative statements of desired accomplishments.
c.
performance process controls.
d.
specifications by which performance will be assessed.
e.
precise statements of desired accomplishments.
17. Why is it important that marketing goals involve some degree of intangibility?
a.
It makes it more difficult for competitors to determine the firm’s marketing strategy.
b.
It makes goals more consistent with the objectives that follow.
c.
It makes goals easier to achieve.
d.
It promotes learning by forcing employees to ask questions about the strategy.
e.
It makes the goal more motivational and promotes continuous improvement
18. Your supervisor repeatedly informs you that “Goals without objectives are essentially meaningless.”
What is the rationale for such a philosophy?
a.
Goals are necessary to provide specific benchmarks that are used to gauge performance.
b.
Objectives provide a theoretical benchmark rather than a practical benchmark.
c.
A goal is not a goal unless it contains one or more objectives.
d.
Progress is impossible to track without measurable performance targets.
e.
Objectives are necessary to provide qualitative benchmarks that are used to gauge
performance.
19. In the marketing strategy for Amazon, the following statement appears: Our strategy is designed to
increase the percentage of repeat customers from 80 percent to 85 percent in the next 12 months. This
statement is an example of a:
a.
quantitative goal.
d.
qualitative objective.
b.
continuous objective.
e.
discontinuous objective.
c.
procedural objective.
20. In terms of setting goals and objectives, what is considered to be one of the major benefits gained from
applying for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award?
a.
It promotes the development of discontinuous objectives.
b.
It helps the firm to set objectives that are difficult for competitors to copy.
c.
It helps the firm to focus solely on customer requirements.
d.
It promotes the development of goals that are consistent with the firm’s mission.
e.
It allows the firm the freedom to pursue other strategic initiatives.
ESSAY
1. Identify and explain the directives for the productive use of SWOT analysis. Which directive do you
think is the most important? Why?
2. Discuss each of the three competitive advantage strategies (operational excellence, product leadership,
customer intimacy) and explain why most firms pursue only one of these strategies.
3. Discuss the role of the strategy canvas and the four-actions framework in establishing a strategic focus
for the firm’s marketing strategy. Why are these approaches invaluable in today’s highly competitive
environment?
4. Identify and explain the major characteristics of marketing goals.
5. Identify and explain the major characteristics of marketing objectives.
