What is a primary drawback of a localized multidomestic strategy?
A. It hinders the use of cross-border coordination of a company’s activities and
increases a company’s vulnerability to adverse shifts in currency exchange rates.
B. It makes it very difficult to take into account significant country-to-country
differences in distribution channels and marketing methods.
C. It makes it difficult and costly to be responsive to country-to-country differences in
customer needs, buying habits, cultural traditions, and market conditions.
D. It hinders the transfer of a company’s competencies and resources across country
boundaries and hinders the pursuit of a single, uniform competitive advantage in all
country markets where a company operates.
E. It is unsuitable for competing in the markets of emerging countries and posing added
difficulty in modifying a company’s business model to compete on the basis of low
price.
Answer:
In which of the following steps does updating the company’s capabilities to match
changing market conditions and customer expectations take place?
A. Staffing the organization
B. Recruiting and retaining talented employees
C. Acquiring, developing, and strengthening key resources and capabilities
D. Organizing value chain activities and business processes
E. Structuring the organization and work effort
Answer:
The strength of a “think local, act local” multidomestic strategy is that:
A. it matches a company’s competitive approach to prevailing market and competitive
conditions in each country market, country by country.
B. it employs strategies that are almost totally different from and also unrelated to its
strategies in other countries.
C. it operates independent plants, located in different countries, thus promoting greater
achievement of scale economies.
D. it avoids host country ownership requirements and import quotas.
E. it eliminates the costs and burdens of trying to coordinate the strategic moves
undertaken in one country with the moves undertaken in the other countries.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT an option for remedying a supplier-related cost
disadvantage?
A. Integrate backward into the business of high-cost suppliers in an effort to reduce the
costs of the items being purchased.
B. Negotiate more favorable prices with suppliers.
C. Collaborate closely with suppliers to identify mutual cost-saving opportunities.
D. Switch to lower-priced substitute inputs.
E. Persuade forward channel allies to implement best practices.
Answer:
Business strategy concerns:
A. how to gain and sustain a competitive advantage for a single line of business.
B. defining what set of businesses to be in and why.
C. selecting a business model to use in pursuing business objectives.
D. selecting a set of stretch financial and strategic objectives for a particular line of
business.
E. choosing the most appropriate strategic intent for a specific line of business.
Answer:
Tangible resources do not include:
A. physical resources.
B. financial resources.
C. human assets.
D. technological assets.
E. organizational resources.
Answer:
A hallmark of a strong-culture company is:
A. strictly enforced policies and procedures.
B. a strongly entrenched competitive strategy.
C. the dominating presence of certain deeply rooted values and norms of behavior that
are widely shared.
D. decentralized decision-making and empowered employees.
E. a deep commitment to benchmarking, best practices, and operating excellence.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a viable strategy option for a local company in
competing against global challengers?
A. Using cross-market transfer strategies to hedge against the risks of exchange rate
fluctuations and adverse political developments
B. Developing business models to exploit shortcomings in local distribution networks
or infrastructures
C. Taking advantage of low-cost labor and other competitively important local
workforce qualities
D. Transferring a company’s expertise to cross-border markets and initiating actions to
contend on a global scale
E. Using acquisitions and rapid growth strategies to defend against expansion-minded
multinationals
Answer:
In terms of strategy making, what is the difference between a one-business company
and a diversified company?
A. The first uses a business-level strategy, while the second uses a set of business
strategies and a corporate strategy.
B. The first uses a business-level strategy, while the second uses a corporate-wide
strategy.
C. The first uses an operating strategy, while the second uses a business-line strategy.
D. The first uses a functional strategy, while the second uses a business-line strategy.
E. The first uses a single-line strategy, while the second uses a multi-line strategy.
Answer:
Which one of the following does NOT account for WHY a company’s strategy evolves
from one version to another?
A. A need to promote stability and retain the status quo
B. The need to abandon some strategy elements that are no longer working well
C. A need to respond to changing customer requirements and expectations
D. A need to react to fresh strategic maneuvers on the part of rival firms
E. The proactive efforts of company managers to improve obsolete aspects of the
strategy
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a factor that causes buyer bargaining power to be
stronger?
A. Some buyers are a threat to integrate backward into the business of sellers and
become an important competitor.
B. Buyers are small and numerous relative to sellers.
C. Buyers have considerable discretion over whether and when they purchase the
product.
D. Buyers purchase the item frequently and are well-informed about sellers’ products,
prices, and costs.
E. The costs incurred by buyers in switching to competing brands or to substitute
products are relatively low.
Answer:
One important indicator of how well a company’s present strategy is working is
whether:
A. it has more core competencies than close rivals.
B. its strategy is built around at least two of the industry’s key success factors.
C. the company is achieving its financial and strategic objectives and whether it is an
above-average industry performer.
D. it is customarily a first-mover in introducing new or improved products (a good sign)
or a late-mover (a bad sign).
E. it is subject to weaker competitive forces and pressures than close rivals (a good
sign) or stronger competitive forces and pressures (a bad sign).
Answer:
Strategic group mapping is a visual technique for displaying:
A. how many rivals are pursuing each type of strategy.
B. which companies have the biggest market share and who the industry leader really
is.
C. the different market or competitive positions that rival firms occupy in an industry
and for identifying each rival’s closest competitors.
D. which companies have the highest degrees of brand loyalty.
E. which companies have failing business models.
Answer:
The managerial task of developing a strategic vision for a company:
A. concerns deciding what approach the company should take to implement and
execute its business model.
B. entails coming up with a fairly specific answer to “who are we, what do we do, and
why are we here?”
C. is chiefly concerned with addressing what a company needs to do to successfully
outcompete rivals in the marketplace.
D. involves deciding upon what strategic course a company should pursue in preparing
for the future and why this directional path makes good business sense.
E. entails coming up with a concrete plan for how the company intends to make money.
Answer:
What is the name of the process for developing new businesses as an outgrowth of a
company’s established business operations?
A. Corporate venturing
B. Value chain integration
C. Resource capability process
D. Diversification activity capabilities
E. Business launch
Answer:
Relative market share is:
A. calculated by dividing a company’s percentage share of total industry sales volume
by the percentage share held by its largest rival.
B. calculated by adjusting a company’s revenue share up or down by a factor
proportional to whether their quality/customer service factors are above/below industry
averages.
C. calculated by dividing a company’s market share (based on dollar volume) by the
industry-average market share.
D. particularly useful in identifying cash cows, which have big relative market shares
(above 1.0), and cash hogs, which have low relative market shares (below 0.5).
E. calculated by subtracting the industry-average market share (based on revenue) from
the company’s market share to highlight relative share above/below the industry
average. This amount is a better indicator of a business’s competitive strength than is
just looking at the firm’s market share percentage.
Answer:
Strategic fit between two or more businesses exists when one or more activities
comprising their respective value chains present opportunities:
A. to prevent the transfer of expertise or technology or capabilities from one business to
another.
B. to independently preserve common brand names from cross-business usage.
C. to increase costs by combining the performance of the related value chain activities
of different businesses.
D. for cross-business collaboration to build valuable new resource strengths and
competitive capabilities.
E. to maintain business value chain activities separate and apart from one business to
another to protect company independence.
Answer:
For a best-cost provider strategy to be successful, a company must have:
A. excellent marketing and sales skills in convincing buyers to pay a premium price for
the attributes/features incorporated in its product.
B. resource strengths and competitive capabilities that allow it to incorporate upscale
attributes at lower costs than rivals whose products have similar upscale attributes.
C. access to greater learning/experience curve effects and scale economies than rivals.
D. one of the best-known and most respected brand names in the industry.
E. a short, low-cost value chain.
Answer:
For a particular company resource/capability to have real competitive power and
perhaps qualify as a basis for competitive advantage, it should:
A. be hard to copy, be rare and something rivals lack, be competitively valuable, and
not be easily trumped by substitute resource strengths possessed by rivals.
B. be something that a company does internally rather than in collaborative
arrangements with outsiders.
C. be patentable.
D. bean industry key success factor and occupy a prime position in the company’s value
chain.
E. have the potential for lowering the firm’s unit costs.
Answer:
Which of the following is a benefit of closely aligning the corporate culture with the
requirements for proficient strategy execution?
A. A good strategy-culture alignment makes it possible to establish a much bolder
strategic vision and strategic intent.
B. A good strategy-culture alignment enhances a company’s cost competitiveness.
C. A tight strategy-culture fit steers company personnel into displaying behaviors and
adopting operating practices that promote good strategy execution.
D. A tight strategy-culture alignment enhances the creation of core competencies and
distinctive competencies.
E. A tight strategy-culture alignment makes it easier to change a company’s culture over
timeas a company’s strategy evolves, the culture automatically evolves too.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT an integral part of driving-forces analysis?
A. Determining whether forces are acting to cause fundamental changes in industry
conditions and/or the industry’s competitiveness
B. Determining whether forces are acting to cause industry rivals to shift to a different
strategic group
C. Determining whether forces are acting to strengthen or weaken market demand
D. Determining whether forces are acting to make competition more or less intense
E. Determining whether forces are acting to raise or lower industry profitability
Answer:
A sound, well-communicated strategic vision matters, and the related payoffs occur in
several respects, EXCEPT in connection with:
A. reducing the risks of rudderless decision-making.
B. helping the organization prepare for the future.
C. avoiding strategic inflection points and management’s reaction in aligning decision
choices.
D. helping to crystallize top management’s own view about the firm’s long-term
direction.
E. providing a tool for winning the support of organizational members for internal
changes that will help make the vision a reality.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a common shortcoming when wording a company’s
vision statement? When the statement is somewhat:
A. vague or incompleteshort on specifics.
B. flexibleis adjusted according to changing circumstances.
C. bland or uninspiringshort on inspiration.
D. genericcould apply to almost any company (or at least several others in the same
industry).
E. reliant on superlatives (best, most successful, recognized leader, global or worldwide
leader, first choice of customers).
Answer:
Which of the following is true of ethical relativism?
A. Concepts of ethically right and ethically wrong are relative across countries and
cultures but are universal within countries or cultures.
B. Individuals and businesses have a basic right to “moral free space” and it is
inappropriate to specify ethically permissible and ethically impermissible actions and
behaviors.
C. There are important occasions when local cultural norms and morality and the
circumstances of the situation determine whether certain behaviors are right or wrong,
for there are no absolutes when it comes to business ethics.
D. Concepts of right and wrong as applied to business situations are always a function
of each company’s own set of values, beliefs, and ethical convictions (as stated in the
company’s code of ethical conduct).
E. Standards of what is ethically right and ethically wrong as applied to business
behavior are determined solely by whatever business norms prevail in a particular
company’s home country and are applicable to its operations in all other countries.
Answer:
An outsourcing strategy:
A. is nearly always a more attractive strategic option than merger and acquisition
strategies.
B. carries the substantial risk of raising a company’s costs.
C. carries the substantial risk of making a company overly dependent on its suppliers.
D. increases a company’s risk exposure to changing technology and/or changing buyer
preferences.
E. involves farming out certain value chain activities presently performed in-house to
outside vendors.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT one of the objectives of benchmarking?
A. To identify the best practices in performing various value chain activities
B. To learn how best practice companies achieve lower costs or better results in
performing benchmarked activities
C. To help construct a company value chain and identify which activities are primary
and which are support activities
D. To develop cross-company comparisons of the costs of performing specific value
chain activities
E. To take actions to improve a company’s cost competitiveness when benchmarking
reveals that its costs and results of performing an activity are not as good as what other
companies have achieved
Answer:
Correctly diagnosing an industry’s key success factors:
A. points to those things that every firm in the industry needs to attend to in order to
develop product propositions.
B. hints at the firm’s ability to generate above-average profitability.
C. reveals that the firm’s capabilities and resources are aligned with operating practices
of industry participants.
D. raises a company’s chances of crafting a sound strategy.
E. raises a company’s sustainability dimensions and market characteristics in line with
industry dynamics.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT one of the factors that affects whether a strategic
alliance will be successful and realize its intended benefits?
A. Picking a good partner
B. Recognizing that the alliance must benefit both sides
C. Minimizing the amount of resources that the partners commit to the alliance
D. Ensuring that both parties live up to their commitments
E. Structuring the decision-making process so actions can be taken swiftly when needed
Answer:
The competitive advantage of a best-cost provider is:
A. having the best value chain in the industry.
B. its brand name reputation.
C. its capability to incorporate upscale or attractive attributes into its product offering at
lower costs than rivals.
D. a distinctive competence in delivering top-notch quality and customer service.
E. a distinctive competence in supply chain management.
Answer:
Which of the following is part of a company’s macro-environment?
A. Conditions outside the market
B. European culture, values, and lifestyles
C. The pace of technological change factors and legal and regulatory conditions
D. The industry and competitive environment arena outside the company’s operating
territory
E. The company’s resource strengths, resource weaknesses, and competitive capabilities
Answer:
The school of ethical universalism holds that:
A. concepts of right and wrong are not absolute and leave room for deviation from
country to country or circumstance to circumstance.
B. concepts of right and wrong are universal within countries but not across countries
and cultures.
C. concepts of right and wrong are governed by the Global Code of Ethical and Social
Morality.
D. the most fundamental conceptions of right and wrong are universal and apply to
members of all societies, all companies, and all businesspeople.
E. there are multiple sets of standards concerning what is ethically right or wrong that
are universally applicable to citizens of a country.
Answer:
In the course of crafting a strategy, which of the following is NOT a common
management function?
A. Abandoning certain strategy elements that have grown stale or become obsolete
B. Modifying the current strategy when market and competitive conditions take an
unexpected turn or some aspects of the company’s strategy hit a stone wall
C. Modifying the current strategy in response to the fresh strategic maneuvers of rival
firms
D. Taking proactive actions to improve this or that piece of the strategy
E. Sharing the strategy with the public to gain additional customer and shareholder
support
Answer:
The principal offensive strategy options include all of the following EXCEPT:
A. using a cost advantage to attack competitors on the basis of lower price or better
product value.
B. using hit-and-run or guerrilla warfare tactics to grab sales and market share from
complacent or distracted rivals.
C. launching a preemptive strike to secure an advantageous position that rivals are
prevented or discouraged from duplicating.
D. pursuing continuous product innovation to draw sales and market share away from
less innovative rivals.
E. initiating a market threat and counterattack simultaneously to effect a distraction.
Answer:
BloomsJay Resorts Inc. has multiple tropical resorts in various locations. In a crowded
market that caters to all kinds of consumers, this resort caters mainly to gays with
guaranteed hassle-free holiday experience at a premium price. What strategy is
BloomsJay using to gain competitive advantage?
A. A low-cost provider strategy
B. A broad differentiation strategy
C. A focused low-cost strategy
D. A focused differentiation strategy
E. A best-cost provider strategy
Answer:
What strategy would you recommend for a small-sized company entering a highly
segmented market, each segment with a complex set of needs and spending power?
Answer:
Describe the strategy of striving to be the industry’s overall low-cost provider. What
does a company have to do to achieve low-cost provider status?
Answer:
Which of the five generic competitive strategies are most likely to be best suited for an
industry whose product may be customized to create a cheaper version? Explain.
Answer:
Briefly identify three types of unhealthy corporate cultures.
Answer:
What is meant by the term strategic fit? What are the advantages of pursuing strategic
fit and matchups in choosing which industries to diversify into?
Answer:
Identify and explain at least two drawbacks to forming a strategic alliance.
Answer:
Draw a typical company value chain and briefly explain why the proficiency with
which a firm performs the activities comprising its value chain matters.
Answer:
Identify and briefly describe the strategic options for tailoring a company’s strategy to
compete in emerging country markets.
Answer:
Explain what Six Sigma quality control programs are and the two types of programs
that they include.
Answer:
Identify and briefly describe a local company’s strategic options in competing against
global challengers.
Answer:
Describe the two basic cost-reducing approaches a company can take to become a
low-cost provider in its industry.
Answer:
A laptop manufacturing company acquires a microprocessors manufacturing company
to gain a strong market position. Which of the five generic strategies has the laptop
manufacturer used to gain competitive advantage?
Answer:
Explain the differences between a “think global, act global” strategy and a “think
global, act local” strategy.
Answer:
Assume a firm is at a cost disadvantage with rivals because of higher supplier-related
costs than key rivals. Identify three strategic moves that it can make to restore cost
parity.
Answer:
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the thesis that ethical standards are (or should
be) universal?
Answer:
Identify and briefly discuss/explain three components of structuring a company’s work
effort to promote successful strategy execution.
Answer: