According to Campbell and Yeung, an organization’s vision is associated with behavior
and with the present.
Deutsche Bank’s entrance into the casino business in Las Vegas is an example of related
diversification.
The size of the circle in a BCG Matrix corresponds to the proportion of corporate
revenue generated by that business unit.
The advantage of the educative change strategy is that implementation is quick and
relatively easy.
Without reasonable assumptions, the strategy-formulation process could not proceed
effectively.
When attachments to a culture are severed in an organization’s attempt to change
direction, employees and managers often experience deep feelings of grief.
A characteristic that describes the most competitive companies in America is “whether
it’s broke or not, fix it € make it better; not just products, but the whole company if
necessary.”
Timely approximate information is generally more desirable as a basis for strategy
evaluation than accurate information that does not depict the present.
Strategists should strive to preserve, emphasize, and build upon aspects of an existing
culture that are antagonistic to a proposed strategy.
Excess specificity can stifle creativity in the formulation of an acceptable mission or
purpose.
A rising tide of consciousness about the importance of business ethics is sweeping the
United States and the rest of the world.
The aim of an external audit is to develop an exhaustive list of every possible factor that
could influence the business.
With a divisional structure, it is possible that competition between divisions may
become so intense that it leads to improved sharing of ideas and resources for the
common good of the firm.
A frequently used tool in strategy evaluation is the audit.
By occasionally monitoring external events, companies should be able to identify when
change is required.
Which strategies are defensive tactics directed at reducing internal weaknesses and
avoiding external threats?
A) SO
B) WO
C) SW
D) ST
E) WT
Which of the following is NOT a key question that can reveal internal strengths and
weaknesses of the marketing department?
A) Does the firm have an effective sales organization?
B) Is our product quality good?
C) Are markets segmented effectively?
D) Are the firm’s products and services priced appropriately?
E) Does the firm have good liquidity?
Borders closing 200 of its 488 superstores and laying off 6,000 of its 19,500 employees
is an example of
A) divestiture.
B) backward integration.
C) liquidation.
D) retrenchment.
E) forward integration.
Intensity of competition ________ in lower-return industries.
A) is lowest
B) is nonexistent
C) is highest
D) is not important
E) fluctuates
Retained earnings is obtained by subtracting
A) any dividends to be paid for that year from net income.
B) net income from EBIT.
C) taxes from EBIT.
D) interest expense from EBIT.
E) EBIT from CGS.
What are the most commonly used quantitative criteria to evaluate strategies? Give
several examples of these criteria.
The United States’ population is ________.
A) getting younger and less white
B) getting younger and more white
C) getting older and less white
D) getting older and more white
E) remaining stable as to age and racial make up
Retrenchment would be an effective strategy when an organization
A) has shrunk so quickly that major internal reorganization is needed.
B) is one of the stronger competitors in a given industry.
C) is plagued by inefficiency, low profitability, poor employee morale and pressure
from stockholders to improve performance.
D) has decided to capitalize on opportunities, maximize threats, take advantage of
strengths and overcome weaknesses.
E) does not have a clearly distinctive competence and has failed to meet its objectives
and goals consistently over time.
Which of the following statements is false?
A) No organization can pursue all the strategies that potentially could benefit the firm.
B) Most organizations today recognize that strategic-management concepts and
techniques can enhance the effectiveness of decisions.
C) A key role of strategists is to facilitate continuous organizational learning and
change.
D) Effective strategic planning should accept the assumptions underlying the current
corporate strategy.
E) Even the most technically perfect strategic plan will serve little purpose if it is not
implemented.
Which of the following is the process of influencing people to accomplish specific
objectives?
A) Staffing
B) Motivating
C) Planning
D) Controlling
E) Organizing
Japan’s prescription for dealing with problems associated with an aging society includes
A) relying on large-scale immigration.
B) providing incentives for its elderly to retire at ages 55 to 60.
C) reversing the old-fashioned trend of keeping women at home.
D) enacting laws against discrimination based on age.
E) phasing in a shift from age 60 to age 55 as the date when a person may begin
receiving a pension.
King and Cleland recommend that organizations carefully develop a written mission
statement for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
A) to provide a basis for allocating organizational resources
B) to establish a general tone or organizational climate
C) to ensure unanimity of purpose within the organization
D) to ensure a command-and-control structure
E) to facilitate the translation of objectives into a work structure involving the
assignment of tasks to responsible elements within the organization
What category of ratios measures how effectively a firm can maintain its economic
position in the growth of the economy and industry?
A) Profitability
B) Liquidity
C) Leverage
D) Activity
E) Growth
The U.S. Justice Department is ________ bribery.
A) increasing its prosecutions of
B) relaxing its opposition to and regulations against
C) employing a “don’t ask, don’t tell” philosophy toward
D) indifferent to
E) accepting of different cultural attitudes toward
Which of the following is NOT a reason given for poor or no strategic planning in an
organization?
A) Waste of time
B) Being content with success
C) Firefighting
D) Poor reward structures
E) Trust of management
What activity is defined as having alternative plans that can be put into effect if certain
key events do not occur as expected?
A) Corporate agility
B) Scenario planning
C) Strategy evaluation
D) Contingency planning
E) Forecasting
Which of these is a limitation of QSPM?
A) Only a few strategies can be evaluated simultaneously.
B) It is prohibitively expensive.
C) It requires intuitive judgments and educated assumptions.
D) Sets of strategies must be examined in reverse order.
E) It requires equal participation from the entire organization.