Booz & Company found that companies that are most successful at avoiding surprises
had a well-defined system that integrated planning, budgeting, and business reviews.
Answer:
The corporate culture generally reflects the values of the founder(s) and the mission of
the firm.
Answer:
Executive leadership is the directing of activities toward the accomplishment of
corporate objectives.
Answer:
A broad mission statement may limit the scope of a firm’s activities in terms of the
product or service offered.
Answer:
A crisis of control may develop in the Stage III divisional structure.
Answer:
Core competencies may mature and become core deficiencies.
Answer:
The SEC requires that the audit, nominating and compensation committees are staffed
entirely by outside directors.
Answer:
Management audits have been developed to evaluate activities such as corporate social
responsibility, functional areas such as the marketing department, and divisions such as
the international division.
Answer:
The goal is to find a propitious niche so well suited to the firm’s internal and external
environment that other corporations are not likely to challenge or dislodge it.
Answer:
Cases present actual business situations and enable you to examine ONLY successful
corporations.
Answer:
According to the BCG Growth Share Matrix, dogs should be either sold off or managed
carefully for the small amounts of cash they can generate.
Answer:
A good retrenchment strategy can be implemented well in terms of organizing, but
poorly in terms of staffing.
Answer:
The only way to gain competitive advantage within an industry is to use a competitive
strategy.
Answer:
A hierarchy of strategy emphasizes the need for the three levels of strategy to
complement and support one another.
Answer:
The corporation’s task environment
A) encompasses the physical working areas of the organization.
B) includes those elements or groups within an organization’s industry.
C) is an advisory committee to top management.
D) is an accounting of the many jobs within an organization.
E) is the job requirement specification listing necessary skills and abilities.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT true of a Stage I corporation?
A) It is typified by the entrepreneur.
B) The entrepreneur tends to make all the important decisions personally.
C) The Stage I corporation has little formal structure.
D) Planning tends to be long range and progressive.
E) The greatest strength of a Stage I corporation is its flexibility and dynamism.
Answer:
On the continuum of resource sustainability, where would streaming movies be placed?
A) slow-cycle resources
B) sustainable resources
C) standard-cycle resources
D) fast-cycle resources
E) down-cycle resources
Answer:
There are three distinct phases in the development of a matrix structure. Which is the
first phase to occur usually when a new product line is being introduced?
A) temporary cross-functional task forces
B) true dual-authority structure
C) product/brand management
D) immature matrix
E) mature matrix
Answer:
A type of responsibility center which is typically established whenever an
organizational unit has control over both its resources and its products or services is
a(n)
A) investment center.
B) revenue center.
C) expense center.
D) profit center.
E) standard cost center.
Answer:
The integrated internationalization of markets and corporations is called
A) normalization.
B) economic integration.
C) globalization.
D) nationalization.
E) regionalization.
Answer:
The impact of a specific change in sales volume on net operating income is referred to
as the
A) continuous system.
B) chronological processing.
C) debt capacity.
D) operating leverage.
E) intermittent system.
Answer:
The strategy that deals with product and process innovation and improvement is known
as a(n) ________ strategy.
A) marketing
B) R&D
C) operations
D) financial
E) human resource management
Answer:
The two factors that tend to determine whether an industry will be primarily
multidomestic or primarily global are (1) the pressure for coordination within the
MNCs operating in that industry and (2)
A) the pressure for local responsiveness on the part of individual country markets.
B) the power of the local country governments to restrict MNC actions.
C) the need for brand management in the various MNCs operating within that industry.
D) the importance of differentiating with integrating mechanisms in regional
cooperatives.
E) the likelihood of terrorist activity impacting that industry.
Answer:
Providing daycare centers to employees is an example of which of Carroll’s
responsibilities?
A) economic
B) legal
C) justice
D) ethical
E) discretionary
Answer:
Which of Porter’s competitive strategies concentrates on seeking differentiation in a
particular buyer group, product line segment, or geographic market?
A) differentiation
B) cost leadership
C) differentiation focus
D) competitive advantage
E) cost focus
Answer:
The ratio of total debt to total assets is known as
A) budgeting leverage.
B) capital finance.
C) capital budgeting.
D) financial leverage.
E) financial budgeting.
Answer:
Which of the following practices was NOT identified by a study of 750 U.S., Japanese,
and European companies that do a good job of managing foreign assignments?
A) When making international assignments they focus on transferring knowledge and
developing global leadership.
B) They offer foreign assignments to people whose technical skills are matched or
exceeded by their cross-cultural abilities.
C) They offer assignments to those who want to return home early to share their
experiences.
D) They end foreign assignments with a deliberate repatriations process with career
guidance.
E) They end foreign assignments with a deliberate repatriation process with jobs where
the employees can apply what they learned in their assignments.
Answer:
Which type of structure was used by American Cyanamid to introduce and manage a
similar line of products throughout the world?
A) geographic-area structure
B) network structure
C) product-group structure
D) international structure
E) functional structure
Answer:
According to the research, in turbulent environments, the best type of planning is
A) top-down strategic planning.
B) bottom-up strategic planning.
C) horizontal strategic planning.
D) concurrent strategic planning.
E) composite strategic planning.
Answer:
Purchasing a product or service from an outside contractor that had been previously
provided internally is called
A) vertical integration.
B) horizontal integration.
C) transaction costing.
D) outsourcing.
E) geographic integration.
Answer:
The ISO 9000 and 14000 Standards Series as a way to objectively document a
company’s high level of quality operations are examples of
A) tactical control.
B) strategic control.
C) output control.
D) functional control.
E) behavior control.
Answer:
Objectives which are personal and subjective and are typified by an entrepreneurial
spirit describe what stage of corporate development?
A) Stage I company
B) Stage II company
C) Stage III company
D) Stage IV company
E) Stage V company
Answer:
A survey of 93 Fortune 500 firms found ten major problems that over half of the group
experienced when they attempted to implement a strategic change. Which of the
following is NOT one of the implementation problems?
A) ineffective coordination of activities
B) uncontrollable external environmental factors
C) time allocated for implementation was adequate, but was used inappropriately
D) poor definition of key implementation tasks and activities
E) crises that distracted attention away from implementation
Answer:
In implementing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the SEC required in 2003 that a company
disclose
A) the number of insiders on their PR committee.
B) if it has adopted a code of ethics that applied to the CEO and the CFO.
C) the CEO’s pay.
D) the CFO’s pay.
E) all of the above
Answer:
Strategic planning within a small organization
A) may be informal and irregular.
B) must be elaborate to allow for future growth.
C) should always be formalized and explicitly stated.
D) should be done by the president only.
E) is unnecessary and a waste of time.
Answer:
Which strategy did Delta choose when it acquired Northwest Airlines to obtain access
to Northwest’s Asian markets?
A) a retrenchment strategy using horizontal integration through internal means
B) a horizontal integration strategy
C) a stability strategy using concentric diversification
D) a growth strategy using vertical integration through external means
E) a retrenchment strategy using a concentration method
Answer:
A staggered board
A) increases the chances of a hostile takeover.
B) has only a portion of the board stand for election each year.
C) makes it easier for shareholders to curb a CEO’s power.
D) is seen in less than 50% of U.S. boards.
E) all of the above
Answer:
All of the following ratios reflect leverage ratios EXCEPT
A) debt to asset ratio.
B) times interest earned.
C) coverage of fixed charges.
D) price/earnings ratio.
E) debt to equity ratio.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a reason companies or business units may form a
strategic alliance?
A) to obtain access to specific markets
B) to reduce financial risk
C) to reduce political risk
D) to set prices in the industry
E) to learn new capabilities
Answer:
Using the Golden Rule and never treating another human being simply as a means but
always as an end are the categorical imperatives of
A) Archie Carroll.
B) L. Kohlberg.
C) Joseph Badaracco.
D) Immanuel Kant.
E) Milton Friedman.
Answer:
Nations like Greece and Japan whose people want career stability, formal rules, and
clear-cut measures of performance would score high on which of Hofstede’s cultural
dimensions?
A) uncertainty avoidance
B) masculinity-femininity
C) individualism-collectivism
D) power distance
E) long-term orientation
Answer:
Inventory turnover and asset turnover are both examples of which type of financial
ratio?
A) liquidity ratio
B) profitability ratio
C) activity ratio
D) leverage ratio
E) revenue ratio
Answer:
Dollars adjusted for inflation to make them comparable over various years are known as
A) consumer dollars.
B) constant dollars.
C) consumer inflation.
D) constant inflation.
E) earning dollars.
Answer:
The technique that illustrates how management can match the external opportunities
and threats with its strengths and weaknesses to yield four sets of strategic alternatives
is called a(n)
A) IFAS Table.
B) EFAS Table.
C) SFAS Table.
D) TOWS Matrix.
E) Issues Priority Matrix.
Answer:
Outside directors are defined as
A) those individuals who scan the external environment.
B) individuals on the board who are not employed by the board’s corporation.
C) those individuals with public relations responsibilities.
D) board members who are also officers or executives employed by the corporation.
E) individuals who organize and coordinate politically focused activities.
Answer:
A popular financial strategy in which a company is acquired in a transaction financed
largely by debt and eventually paid with money generated from the acquired company’s
operations or by sale of its assets is
A) illegal in most countries.
B) a good way to build a core competency.
C) an application of the capital asset pricing model.
D) the leveraged buyout.
E) an example of internal financing.
Answer:
The most commonly used political strategies include which of the following?
A) constituency building
B) political action committee contributions
C) advocacy advertising
D) lobbying
E) all of the above
Answer:
Successful prospector firms tend to be headed by CEOs with backgrounds in the areas
of
A) research/engineering and general management.
B) accounting/finance, manufacturing/production, and general management.
C) marketing/sales.
D) human resources and strategy.
E) purchasing and logistics.
Answer: