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A) It restricts initiative at lower levels of the organization.
B) It shows some insensitivity to local conditions, particularly when a company’s top
management team exhibits ethnocentric tendencies.
C) There is no guarantee that the sum total of all the affiliates’ goals will coincide with
those of headquarters.
D) Subsidiary directors’ hands-on perspective may allow them to recognize potentially
innovative opportunities.
85) The planning method that appears to be becoming more popular is
A) top-down.
B) bottom-up.
C) sequential.
D) iterative.
86) Camille is frustrated at work. The company headquarters is based in the UK and she
works in the New York office. Headquarters is constantly changing the directives the company is
taking and isn’t interested in her thoughts on what’s happening in the U.S. market. She knows
that the new directives won’t help in the U.S. market, but no one will listen to her. Which method
of planning does her company use?
A) bottom-up
B) scenario
C) iterative
D) top-down
87) What is a characteristic of a traditional strategic planning approach?
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A) The CEO and the head of planning get together to devise a corporate plan, which is
then handed to the operating people for execution.
B) Interaction with important customers and suppliers is included.
C) Governments and other stakeholder activities are direct participants.
D) There is a strong and effective responsiveness to differences that occur in local
markets.
88) Compared to the traditional process, in the new strategic planning process
A) top management is assigning strategic planning to teams of line and staff managers
from the same business.
B) interaction with important customers and suppliers is included.
C) governments and other stakeholder activities are direct participants.
D) strategic planning is done by the implementers within the local subsidiaries.
89) How have the new directions in planning affected companies?
A) They have made strategic planners dominant in the planning process.
B) They have brought operating managers into the planning process.
C) They have relieved the firm’s chief executive officer of the responsibility for strategic
planning.
D) They have made strategic planning longer term in orientation, typically planning 5 to
10 years into the future.
90) Changes in the way corporate planning is done today include
A) greater use of structured formats to planning.
B) the use of advanced computing techniques to make detailed five-year forecasts.
C) heavy emphasis on the use of specialized headquarters staff.
D) interaction with important customers, distributors, and suppliers.
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91) In regard to strategic planning, there has recently been a decided move among many
firms
A) to use advanced statistical techniques to help produce voluminous and detailed
strategic plans.
B) toward a less-structured format and a shorter plan.
C) to concentrate on factors that can be easily quantified.
D) to avoid including issues that are vague and uncertain.
FILL IN THE BLANK. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or
answers the question.
92) ________ is a plan that guides the way firms make fundamental choices about
developing and deploying scarce resources internationally, including what products or services to
offer, which markets to enter, and ways to compete.
93) ________ is the ability of a company to achieve and maintain a unique and valuable
competitive position both within a nation and globally, generating higher rates of profit than its
competitors.
94) ________ is the process by which an organization determines where it is going in the
future, how it will get there, and how it will assess whether and to what extent it has achieved its
goals.
95) The first step in the process of strategic planning is to analyze the company’s ________
environment.
96) A ________ is a set of interlinked activities that adds value to the final product or
service.
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97) Knowledge that an individual has but that is difficult to express clearly in words, pictures,
or formulas and is therefore difficult to transmit to others is known as ________ knowledge.
98) Knowledge that is easy to communicate to others via words, pictures, formulas, or other
means is known as ________ knowledge.
99) A broad statement that defines the purpose for a company’s existence, including its
business, objectives, and approach for reaching those objectives is known as a ________
statement.
100) ________ direct the firm’s course of action, maintain it within the boundaries of the
stated mission and vision, and ensure its continuing existence.
101) Action plans to enable organizations to reach their objectives are known as ________.
102) Companies pursuing a ________ strategy typically centralize product development
functions in their home country and then transfer innovations to foreign markets in order to
capture additional value.
103) A company may adopt a ________ when confronting simultaneous pressures for cost-
effectiveness and local adaptation.
104) A ________ tends to be used when a company faces strong pressures for reducing costs
and limited pressure to adapt products for local markets.
105) A ________ strategy is effective when the pressure to adapt products or services for local
markets is strong, and decision making tends to be more decentralized.
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106) ________ are multiple, plausible stories a company uses when assessing probable
futures.
107) ________ are plans for the best- or worst-case scenarios or for critical events that could
have a severe impact on the firm.
108) Because strategic plans are fairly broad, ________ (also called operational) plans are a
requisite for spelling out in detail how the objectives will be reached.
109) ________ are an itemized projection of revenues and expenses for a future time period.
110) ________ are broad guidelines issued by upper management for the purpose of assisting
lower-level managers in handling recurring problems.
111) ________ are guides that specify the way certain tasks or activities will be carried out,
thereby ensuring uniform action on the part of all corporate members.
112) A planning process that begins at the lowest level in the organization and continues
upward is known as ________ planning.
113) ________ planning consists of repetition of the bottom-up or top-down planning process
until all differences have been reconciled.
ESSAY. Write your answer in the space provided or on a separate sheet of paper.
114) What is international strategy and why it is important?
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115) Discuss the seven steps in global strategic planning process.
116) Compare and contrast a mission statement, a vision statement, a values statement, and
objectives.
117) Describe the primary differences between global, multidomestic, and transnational
strategies.When would companies elect to use these strategies?
118) Compare new directions in the strategic planning process with actions used in traditional
strategic planning.
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Answer Key
Test name: Module 9
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