What is the foremost strategic issue that must be addressed by firms when operating in
two or more foreign markets?
A. Deciding on the degree to vary its competitive approach to fit the specific market
conditions and buyer preferences in each host country
B. Deciding on the appropriate level of sustainable profitability
C. Deciding on the relative cost competitiveness of the home country
D. Deciding on the degree of globalization to maintain expansion capabilities
E. Deciding on the resources and capabilities of allies
The spotlight in analyzing a company’s resources, internal circumstances, and
competitiveness includes such questions/concerns as:
A. whether the company is located all over the globe.
B. whether the company’s key success factors are more dominant than the key success
factors of close rivals.
C. whether the company has the industry’s most efficient and effective value chain.
D. what the company’s resource strengths and weaknesses are in relation to the market
opportunities and external threats.
E. what new acquisitions the company would be well advised to make in order to
strengthen its financial performance and overall balance sheet position.
Who is most likely to have strong strategy implementation capabilities?
A. Michael has a talent for asking tough, incisive questions.
B. Samantha is often sympathetic to her team members’ failures.
C. Carl can complete a job in half the time as his colleagues.
D. Lily prefers completing a task by herself.
E. Rodrigo advocates promoting qualified people from within the firm.
Which one of the following is NOT a key element of integrated social contracts theory?
A. Universal ethical principles apply in those situations where most all
societies-endowed with rationality and moral knowledge-have common moral
agreement on what is wrong and thereby put limits on what actions and behaviors fall
inside the boundaries of what is right, and which ones fall outside.
B. Commonly held views about what is morally right and wrong form a ‘social
contract” (contract with society) that is binding on all individuals, groups,
organizations, and businesses in terms of establishing the line between ethical and
unethical behaviors.
C. Universal ethical principles or norms leave some “moral free space” for the people in
a particular country (or local culture or even a company) to make specific
interpretations of what other actions may or may not be permissible within the bounds
defined by universal ethical principles.
D. Universal ethical norms always take precedence over local ethical norms.
E. Integrated social contracts theory rejects the slippery slope of ethical relativism and
embraces ethical universalism.
The classic way to coordinate the work efforts of internal organization units is to:
A. establish a corporate culture where teamwork is a core value and decisions are made
by general consensus among team leaders in the affected work units.
B. have closely related activities report to a single executive who has the authority and
organizational clout to coordinate, integrate, and arrange for the cooperation of units
under their supervision.
C. have the heads of support activities report to the heads of primary, strategy-critical
activities.
D. establish monetary incentives that reward people for being cooperative team players.
E. have frequent meetings among the heads of closely related activities and work units
to establish mutually agreeable deadlines.
The production emphasis of a company pursuing a broad differentiation strategy usually
involves:
A. eliminating cost reduction and decreasing quality and essential features to boost
profitability.
B. strong efforts to be a leader in manufacturing process innovation.
C. emphasis on building differentiating features that buyers are willing to pay for and
includes wide selection and many product variations.
D. the aggressive pursuit of economies of scale and experience-curve effects.
E. developing a distinctive competence in zero-defect manufacturing techniques.
Competing in the markets of foreign countries generally does NOT involve which of
the following?
A. Country-to-country differences in consumer buying habits and buyer tastes and
preferences
B. Country-to-country variations in host government restrictions and requirements and
fluctuating exchange rates
C. Whether to customize the company’s offerings in each different country market or
whether to offer a mostly standardized product worldwide
D. In which countries to locate company operations for maximum locational advantage,
given country-to-country variations in wage rates, worker productivity, energy costs,
tax rates, and the like
E. Crafting a multidomestic strategy that works just as well in one country as in another
and that also has the appeal of turning the world market into a mostly homogeneous
market
Kimberly-Clark, the manufacturer of Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers, streamlines
its healthcare business by listing Halyard Health as a separately traded company. The
company’s move is likely to:
A. promote healthcare wings of rival companies.
B. increase the cost of manufacturing medical devices.
C. curtail the cost of manufacturing medical devices.
D. enhance the strategy execution capabilities of the company.
E. increase the demand for personal protective equipment.
Which of the following is NOT an example of a threat to a company’s future
profitability and well-being?
A. The likely entry of potent new competitors
B. The lack of a well-known brand name with which to attract new customers and help
retain existing customers
C. Shifts in buyer needs and tastes away from the industry’s product
D. Costly new regulatory requirements
E. Growing bargaining power on the part of the company’s major customers and major
suppliers
Bypassing regular wholesale/retail channels in favor of direct sales and Internet
retailing can have appeal if it:
A. reinforces the brand, enhances consumer satisfaction, and results in lower prices to
end users.
B. can result in better coordination of the firm’s direct sales activity to wholesalers and
distributors
C. can establish a retail frontal attack while efficiently managing its backward
(defensive) sales orientation.
D. combines the best of all sales channels and provides financial support to distribution
allies.
E. creates a channel conflict, thereby providing competitive improvisation.
Which of the following is NOT a purpose of a defensive strategy?
A. To increase the risk of having to defend an attack
B. To weaken the impact of any attack that occurs
C. To pressure challengers to aim their efforts at other rivals
D. To help protect a competitive advantage
E. To decrease the risk of being attacked
Initiating actions to boost the combined performance of the corporation’s collection of
businesses includes all of the following strategic options, EXCEPT:
A. sticking closely with the existing business lineup and pursuing available
opportunities.
B. broadening the scope of diversification by entering additional industries.
C. divesting some businesses and retrenching to a narrower collection of businesses.
D. restructuring the entire company by adding and removing businesses to improve
overall performance.E. refocusing the existing businesses on new substitute
product-line opportunities outside the existing industry framework.
In a weighted competitive strength assessment, the sum of importance weights should
add up to:
A. 100%.
B. 1.00.
C. 10.
D. 100.
E. 1000.
Management’s most powerful tool for winning employee commitment to good strategy
execution is:
A. the establishment of strategy-supportive policies and procedures.
B. empowering employees and encouraging them to adopt best practices.
C. setting stretch objectives.
D. a structure of rewards and incentives tied tightly to the achievement of the
organization’s strategic priorities.
E. aggressive use of TQM and Six Sigma quality control programs.
The basic strategy options for local companies in competing against global challengers
include:
A. best-cost provider and focused low-cost provider and low-cost leadership strategies.
B. export strategies, licensing strategies, and cross-border transfer strategies.
C. utilizing understanding of local customer needs and preferences to create customized
products or services, developing business models to exploit shortcoming in local
infrastructure, and using acquisitions and rapid growth to defend against
expansion-minded multinationals.
D. franchising strategies, multidomestic strategies keyed to product superiority, global
low-cost leadership strategies, and cross-border coordination strategies.
E. focused differentiation and broad differentiation strategies.