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.
Answer:
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
Answer:
The advantages of using a franchising strategy to pursue opportunities in foreign
markets include:
A. having franchisees bear most of the costs and risks of establishing foreign locations
and requiring the franchisor to expend only the resources to recruit, train, and support
and monitor franchisees.
B. being particularly well-suited to the global expansion efforts of companies with
multidomestic strategies.
C. allowing a company to achieve scale economies.
D. being well suited to companies who employ cross-border transfer strategies.
E. being well suited to the global expansion efforts of manufacturers.
Answer:
Assigning a weight to each measure of competitive strength assessment is generally
analytically superior because:
A. a weighted ranking identifies which competitive advantages are most powerful.
B. an unweighted ranking doesn’t discriminate between companies with high and low
market shares.
C. it singles out which competitor has the most competitively potent core competencies.
D. weighting each company’s overall competitive strength by its percentage share of
total industry profits produces a more accurate measure of its true competitive strength.
E. all of the various measures of competitive strength are not equally important.
Answer:
A “think-local, act local” multidomestic strategy entails:
A. offering a narrow product line aimed at serving buyers in the same segments of
country markets worldwide.
B. giving local managers considerable strategy-making latitude and often producing
different product versions for different countries.
C. adopting aggressive efforts to locate facilities in those country markets that have
superior resources.
D. pursuing strong product differentiation and competing in many buyer segments.
E. extensive efforts to transfer a company’s competencies and resource strengths from
one country to another so as to keep entry costs into new country markets low.
Answer:
Identifying the strategic issues and problems that merit front-burner managerial
attention:
A. is accomplished solely by analyzing the company’s internal working environment.
B. helps set management’s agenda for taking actions to improve the company’s
performance and business outlook.
C. is done solely by evaluating the company’s own internal situationits resources and
competitive positionto help come up with a “worry list” of “how to…,” “whether to…,”
and “what to do about…”
D. is done solely as a basis for drawing conclusions about whether to stick with a
company’s present strategy or to modify it.
E. is accomplished solely by analyzing the company’s external environment.
Answer:
To profitably employ a best-cost provider strategy, a company must have the resources
and capabilities to:
A. sell a product with the best cost at the best price.
B. have the best cost (as compared to rivals) for each activity in the industry’s value
chain.
C. provide buyers with the best attributes at the best cost.
D. incorporate attractive or upscale attributes into its product offering at a lower cost
than rivals.
E. do a better job than rivals of adopting the best operating practices.
Answer:
The pattern of actions and business approaches that would NOT define a company’s
strategy include actions to:
A. strengthen market standing and competitiveness by acquiring or merging with other
companies.
B. strengthen competitiveness via strategic coalitions and partnerships.
C. upgrade competitively important resources and capabilities.
D. gain sales and market share with lower prices despite increased costs.
E. strengthen the firm’s bargaining position with suppliers and distributors.
Answer:
A ketchup manufacturer convinces a supplier who makes vinegar to set up a nearby
plant. Which of the following benefits will the ketchup manufacturer be least assured
of?
A. Improved value chain system
B. Improved overall quality control
C. Lower incoming shipping costs
D. Just-in-time deliveries
E. Reduced storage needs
Answer:
Total quality management (TQM):
A. entails creating a total quality culture that strives for continuously improving the
performance of every value chain activity and is driven by a philosophy of managing a
set of business practices: 100 percent accuracy in performing tasks (zero defects),
involvement and empowerment of employees at all levels, team-based work design,
benchmarking, and total customer satisfaction.
B. is a valuable tool for helping company managers identify what the best practice is for
performing a particular activity at a high level of quality.
C. works best when used in conjunction with Six Sigma quality control techniques.
D. is an excellent tool for reengineering business processes and making quantum gains
in the efficiency and effectiveness with which the processes are performed.
E. is a philosophy of doing things that aims at mistake-free management of a company’s
entire business.
Answer:
Which of the following statements about outsourcing the performance of value chain
activities to outside specialists is FALSE?
A. Outsourcing support services often has the disadvantage of raising fixed and variable
costs.
B. Outsourcing critics contend that shifting responsibility for performing value chain
activities to outside specialists can hollow out a company’s knowledge base and
capabilities, leaving it at the mercy of outsider suppliers, and short of the resource
strengths to be a master of its own destiny.
C. Outsourcing the performance of certain value chain activities to able supplierscan
add to a company’s arsenal of capabilities and contribute to better strategy execution.
D. The real debate surrounding outsourcing is not about whether too much outsourcing
risks loss of control but about how to use outsourcing in a manner that produces greater
competitiveness.
E. Outsourcing can enable a company to heighten its strategic focus and concentrate its
full energies and resources on even more competently performing those value chain
activities that are at the core of its strategy and for which it can create unique value.
Answer:
Which of the following does NOT facilitate strategy execution?
A. Hyundai service centers follow same routines when receiving vehicles for servicing.
B. Ford encourages staff to skip practices out of sync with the company’s mission.
C. General Motors showrooms have similar operating practices across regions.
D. Chevrolet Service center replicates the caliber of customer service across locations.
E. Renault is averse to standardization of the way activities are performed at its service
centers.
Answer:
According to the ethical relativism school of thinking:
A. there can be no one-size-fits-all template (set of authentic ethical norms) against
which to gauge the conduct of company personnel, due to cross-cultural differences in
ethical standards.
B. a company should have a different set of ethical standards for each country in which
it operates.
C. only respected religious experts can provide companies with a higher order moral
compass.
D. the best source of ethical standards in each country where the company operates is
that country’s adopted Code of Required Ethical Conduct.
E. since there can be no one-size-fits-all set of authentic ethical norms, it is appropriate
for each company to hold company personnel to observing the company’s code of
ethical conduct.
Answer:
Domino’s Pizza has a well-known slogan: “We’ll deliver in 30 minutes or less, or it’s
free!” With it what has the pizza maker achieved?
A. Built a unique customer value proposition
B. Created a new delivery system
C. Given a sense of exclusivity to its customers
D. Coordinated with suppliers to better address customer needs
E. Emphasized human resource management activities
Answer:
Once a company has diversified into a collection of related or unrelated businesses and
concludes that some strategy adjustments are needed, which one of the following is
NOT one of the main strategy options that a company can pursue?
A. Multinational diversification
B. Restructure the company’s business lineup with a combination of divestitures and
new acquisitions
C. Craft new initiatives designed to build/enhance the reputation and image of the
company
D. Divest some businesses and retrench to a narrower diversification base
E. Broaden the diversification base
Answer:
Benchmarking provides a company with which of the following?
A. Hard evidence of cost competitiveness
B. Proof of resource availability
C. A company strategy
D. Verification of total cost ownership
E. Improvements to internal processes
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT one of the elements of crafting corporate strategy for a
diversified company?
A. Picking new industries to enter and deciding on the means of entry
B. Choosing the appropriate value chain for each business the company has entered
C. Pursuing opportunities to leverage cross-business value chain relationships and
strategic fit into competitive advantage
D. Establishing investment priorities and steering corporate resources into the most
attractive business units
E. Initiating actions to boost the combined performance of the businesses the firm has
entered
Answer:
Symbolic culture changing actions include all of the following EXCEPT:
A. leading by example.
B. reinforcing and celebrating culture-change successes.
C. praising individuals and groups that exemplify the new desired behavior.
D. ensuring top executives’ actions match their rhetoric.
E. revising policies and procedures in ways that will help drive cultural change.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a contributing reason for businesses with strategic fit in
R&D or technology activities to perform better together?
A. The ability to continue using existing processes
B. Cost savings in research and development areas
C. Shorter times in getting new products to market
D. Increased sales in both the parent company and the diversified businesses
E. A greater number of innovative products or processes
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT an appropriate guideline for developing a strategic
group map for a given industry?
A. The variables chosen as axes for the map should indicate important differences
among rival approaches.
B. The variables chosen as axes for the map don’t have to be either quantitative or
continuous. They can be discrete variables.
C. The variables chosen as axes for the map should be highly correlated.
D. Several maps should be drawn if more than one pair of variables give different
exposures to the competitive positioning relationships present in the industry structure.
E. The sizes of the circles on the map should be drawn proportional to the combined
sales of the firms in each strategic group.
Answer:
A fast-food restaurant stocks bread, meat, sauces, and other main ingredients, but does
not assemble and cook its burgers and sandwiches until a customer places an order.
Which cost driver is the restaurant efficiently using to cut costs?
A. Supply chain efficiencies
B. Economies of scale
C. Incentive systems and culture
D. Bargaining power
E. Capacity utilization
Answer:
Which of the following takes the route of business process reengineering to attain
operational excellence?
A. AT&T works toward creating a total quality culture by continuously reviewing the
performance of every value chain activity.
B. Acer Phones uses advanced statistical methods to remove the causes of defects at its
manufacturing units.
C. Ericsson introduces continuous-improvement business philosophy at its customer
care centers.
D. Cellkon pulls the pieces of an activity out of different departments to create a
cross-functional work group.
E. Honeywell strives to incrementally reduce defects through an ongoing assessment
process.
Answer:
What is the function of the Global Reporting Initiative?
A. It promotes greater transparency and facilitates benchmarking CSR efforts across
firms and industries.
B. It promotes and establishes mutual funds investment opportunities comprised of
companies that excel on the basis of the triple bottom line.
C. It promotes greater awareness of the Dow Jones World Index, which comprises
companies that are engaged in environment sustainability.
D. It promotes corporate governance, climate change, and labor practices.
E. It is a nonprofit reporting organization that ranks companies on habitat protection.
Answer:
Activity-based costing is used to evaluate a company’s cost-competitiveness and:
A. determine whether the value chains of rival companies are similar or different.
B. benchmark the costs of primary value chain activities against the costs of the support
value chain activities.
C. determine the costs of each primary and support activity comprising a company’s
value chain and thereby reveal the nature and makeup of a company’s internal cost
structure.
D. determine the costs of each strategic action a company initiates.
E. analyze the costs of each primary activity.
Answer:
The payoff of good scouting reports on rivals is an improved ability to:
A. anticipate what moves rivals are likely to make next.
B. determine which rivals are in the best strategic group.
C. figure out how many key success factors a rival has.
D. determine whether a rival is gaining or losing market share.
E. determine whether a rival has the best strategy and is the industry leader.
Answer:
A work environment where the culture is in sync with the chosen strategy and is
conducive to good strategy execution is considered a valuable managerial ally because:
A. there is much less risk of embarrassing ethical violations.
B. it provides company personnel with clear guidance regarding “how we do things
around here” and produces significant peer pressure from co-workers to conform to
culturally acceptable norms.
C. there is reduced need to incorporate negative motivational practices and
punitive-type incentives into the reward structure and in the company’s approach to
people management.
D. there is reduced need to employ benchmarking, best practice programs,
reengineering, Six Sigma, and TQM to achieve competitive advantage.
E. the culture can be readily incorporated into the company’s strategic vision and
facilitate the achievement of stretch objectives.
Answer:
The implementation process is likely to be hampered by missed deadlines, misdirected
efforts, and managerial ineptness, if:
A. a capable results-oriented management team is not in place.
B. the personnel have different management styles.
C. top managers start asking tough, incisive questions.
D. important details require attention.
E. an additional investment in capital projects is required.
Answer:
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
Answer:
Consider the following three companies and their strategies.
Company A is an established database management company that acquires a
well-reputed but small publishing house to enter the booming publishing industry.
Company B, a sports management house, declared bankruptcy during a recent recession
but now has created a television network that airs regional sports events.
Company C, a package delivery business, is a startup based on delivery efficiency
models created by a few students, and delivers almost all kinds of packages.
Which of the following describes the use of strategies by these companies accurately?
A. Company B employs an emergent strategy, whereas Companies A and C employ
deliberate strategies.
B. All three companies employ deliberate strategies.
C. All three companies employ emergent strategies.
D. Company C employs a deliberate strategy, Companies A and B employ emergent
strategy.
E. Companies A and C employ emergent strategies, Company B employs a deliberate
strategy.
Answer:
The company with the highest rating on a given measure has an implied competitive
edge on that specific measure, with the size of its edge:
A. providing the company with an overall net competitive score that is reduced by the
weighted measure.
B. signaling a weak position and competitive disadvantage.
C. reflecting the difference between its weighted rating and rivals’ weighted ratings.
D. reflecting an area of potential improvement in order to achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage.
E. requiring reevaluation of the weighted measure.
Answer:
Which of the following statements about adaptive corporate cultures is NOT true?
A. The hallmark of adaptive corporate cultures is willingness on the part of
organizational members to accept change and take on the challenge of introducing and
executing new strategies.
B. The standout cultural traits are a “can-do” spirit, pride in doing things right,
no-excuses accountability, and a pervasive results-oriented work climate where people
go the extra mile to meet or beat stretch objectives.
C. Company personnel share a feeling of confidence that the organization can deal with
whatever threats and opportunities come down the pike; they are receptive to risk
taking, experimentation, innovation, and changing strategies and practices.
D. Adaptive cultures are exceptionally well-suited to companies with fast-changing
strategies and market environments.
E. For an adaptive culture to remain intact over time, top management must orchestrate
organizational changes in a manner that (1) demonstrates genuine care for the
well-being of all key constituencies and (2) tries to satisfy all their legitimate interests
simultaneously.
Answer:
The essence of a broad differentiation strategy is to:
A. appeal to the high-end part of the market and concentrate on providing a
top-of-the-line product to consumers.
B. incorporate a greater number of differentiating features into its product/service than
rivals.
C. lower buyer switching costs.
D. outspend rivals on advertising and promotion in order to inform and convince buyers
of the value of its differentiating attributes.
E. offer unique product attributes in ways that are valuable and appealing and that
buyers consider worth paying for.
Answer:
Strategic intent refers to a situation where a company:
A. commits to using a particular business model to make money.
B. decides to adopt a particular strategy.
C. relentlessly pursues an ambitious strategic objective.
D. commits to pursuing balanced-scorecard objectives.
E. changes its long-term direction and decides to pursue a newly adopted strategic
vision.
Answer:
Whether buyer bargaining power poses a strong or weak source of competitive pressure
on industry members depends in part on:
A. the degree to which buyers have any bargaining preferences and the extent to which
buyers are price-sensitive.
B. how many buyers are engaged in collaborative partnerships with sellers.
C. whether entry barriers are high or low and the size of the pool of likely entry
candidates.
D. whether the overall quality of the items being furnished by industry members is
rising or falling.
E. whether demand-supply conditions represent a buyer’s market or a seller’s market.
Answer:
Should a company’s strategy be tightly connected to its quest for competitive
advantage? Why or why not? What difference does it make whether a company has a
sustainable competitive advantage or not?
Answer:
Discuss why it is generally undesirable for approaches to motivation, compensation,
and people management to avoid the use of negative consequences or punishment if
performance targets are not achieved or if particular people are habitual
underperformers. Does striking a balance between rewards and punishment generally
work better?
Answer:
A well-conceived strategic vision helps prepare a company for the future. True or false?
Explain and justify your answer.
Answer:
What are the strategic advantages of a forward vertical integration strategy?
Answer:
What are the five generic competitive strategies? Briefly describe each one and identify
the type of competitive advantage that each strategy is aimed at achieving.
Answer:
What is the essence of the business case for why a company should engage in socially
responsible actions and environmentally sustainable business practices?
Answer:
What are the distinctive features of adaptive corporate cultures?
Answer:
Identify and briefly explain any four of the factors that influence the strength or
intensity of competitive rivalry among an industry’s member firms.
Answer:
Identify the characteristics of an unhealthy culture and briefly describe three types of
unhealthy cultures that adversely impact the corporate climate and performance.
Answer:
Carefully explain the difference between and the rationale for selecting a strategy of
related diversification and/or a strategy of unrelated diversification
Answer:
A decentralized organizational structure is more likely to further the cause of good
strategy execution than is a centralized organization structure. True or false? Justify
your answer.
Answer:
An established organization is fast losing its market share to companies that offer
similar products and are upgrading their capabilities to produce better products. List a
few general actions and approaches that would help the organization revive its position.
Answer:
What are the five integrated tasks of the strategy-making, strategy-executing process,
and what does each one involve?
Answer:
To ensure the proficient implementation of strategy in an organization, top-level
executives can best achieve this by delegating authority to middle and lower-level
managers and by creating a sense of empowerment among employees. True or false?
Explain and justify your answer.
Answer:
What are the distinctive features of high-performance corporate cultures?
Answer:
Identify and briefly describe the six steps involved in evaluating a diversified
company’s business lineup and diversification strategy.
Answer:
Explain why a company’s strategy cannot be completely planned out in advance and
why crafting a company’s strategy cannot be a one-time, once-and-for-all managerial
exercise. Identify at least three factors that account for why company strategies evolve.
Answer: