Culture includes the set of shared values, beliefs, attitudes, customs, norms,
personalities, heroes, and heroines that describe a firm.
Organizations never develop their own projections.
Making many intuitive decisions that conflict with the formal plan is one pitfall top
managers should avoid in strategic planning.
Japan is providing incentives for its elderly to work until ages 65 – 75.
Five major stakeholders that affect pricing decisions are consumers, governments,
suppliers, distributors, and competitors.
In a BCG Matrix the pie slice indicates the proportion of corporate profits generated by
that division.
A vision statement answers the question, “What is our business?” whereas a mission
statement answers, “What do we want to become?”
Brazil offers skilled labor and technology, while Germany offers abundant natural
resources and rapidly developing markets.
Cultural products include values, beliefs, stories, and language.
ESOPs work well even in firms with fluctuating payrolls and profits.
Horizontal integration is an appropriate strategy when the competitors of an
organization are doing poorly.
Strategists in governmental organizations operate with far more strategic autonomy than
their counterparts in private firms.
Corporate recruiters are interested in hiring students who will help their firms find
solutions to societal challenges, but they are having trouble finding students with these
skills.
In the United States, the population has been moving from the South and West to the
Northeast and Midwest.
In the context of a balance sheet, goodwill represents
A) a premium paid over the book value of an acquisition.
B) the value attached to a firm’s reputation.
C) the excess of assets over liabilities.
D) the value associated with benefits from environmental programs.
E) the excess of current assets over liabilities.
Unethical activities that plague online commerce include all of the following EXCEPT
A) inappropriate gifts
B) spreading viruses
C) identity theft
D) internet fraud
E) hacking into company computers
Strategy evaluation is necessary because
A) internal and external factors are constantly changing.
B) the SEC requires strategy evaluation.
C) success today is a guarantee of success tomorrow.
D) the IRS requires strategy evaluation.
E) firms have limited resources.
Corrective actions should always
A) strengthen an organization’s competitive position in its industry.
B) streamline asset holdings.
C) have no risk.
D) involve abandoning existing strategies.
E) all of the above
A good mission statement has
A) an employee orientation.
B) a customer orientation.
C) a shareholder orientation.
D) an environmental orientation.
E) a profit orientation.
Which state generates the greatest number of megawatts of wind power?
A) Texas
B) Iowa
C) California
D) Minnesota
E) New Jersey
What corrective actions might a firm take during strategy evaluation?
A) Revising the business mission
B) Issuing stock
C) Revising objectives
D) Selling a division
E) All of the above
Which organizational structure is the most widely used?
A) Departmental
B) Strategic business unit
C) Functional
D) Decentralized
E) Matrix
Bribery involves
A) bestowing a gift to influence the recipient’s conduct.
B) requiring employees to report any unethical violations they discover or see in the
firm.
C) prohibiting love affairs between bosses and their subordinates.
D) encouraging firms to play a role in curing society of its ills.
E) forcing companies to take responsibility for the impact their actions have on society.
Many more firms have failed at ________ than have succeeded due to the immense
challenge of managing businesses in many industries rather than in a single industry.
A) forward integration
B) related diversification
C) backward integration
D) unrelated diversification
E) horizontal integration
Financial objectives involve all of the following EXCEPT
A) growth in revenues
B) larger market share
C) higher dividends
D) greater return on investment
E) a rising stock price
How would Hershey’s current divisional structure most likely be classified?
A) By geographic area
B) By product
C) By service
D) By customer
E) By process
How does life in Mexico compare to life in the United States?
A) It is faster.
B) It is more hectic.
C) It is more punctuality-driven.
D) It is slower.
E) It is more competitive.
Changes in which of the following can significantly affect firms?
A) Patent laws
B) Antitrust legislation
C) Tax rates
D) Lobbying activities
E) All of the above
Which tactic emphasizes that a successful outcome is more important than imposing the
method of achieving it?
A) Generalization
B) Satisfying
C) Focus on higher-order issues
D) Equifinality
E) Specialization
High corporate tax rates ________.
A) encourage investment in new factories
B) provide strong incentives to avoid and evade taxes
C) attract foreign investors
D) makes a nation a desirable location for investment
E) have been a growing trend since the 1980s
What pay strategy requires employees or departments to establish performance targets,
which, if exceeded, result in bonuses for all members?
A) Profit sharing
B) Bonus system
C) Salary
D) Gain sharing
E) Hourly wage system
What is a drawback of using only equity to raise capital?
A) The cost
B) Fluctuations in the stock market
C) Dilution of the control of the company
D) That it will cause EPS to roller coaster
E) That it doesn’t raise as much capital as debt financing
The I/O approach to competitive advantage advocates that external factors are
________ internal factors in a firm achieving competitive advantage.
A) less important than
B) equally important as
C) more important than
D) more common than
E) less common than
Superior strategy formulation and implementation ________ an opponent’s superiority
in numbers and resources.
A) are irrelevant to
B) are not enough to surmount
C) can overcome
D) can lead to
E) unite
List some of the diverse and unique risks that face multinational corporations.
Explain how the Internet is changing businesses around the world.
What are the characteristics of a firm that is successfully pursuing a cost leadership
strategy?
Name five examples of finance/accounting decisions that may require policies.
Discuss the limitations of financial ratio analysis.
List five steps that comprise an effective framework for conducting an EFE Matrix.
Explain the details involved in performing any one of the steps.
List some guidelines for when related diversification would be a particularly good
strategy to pursue.
Describe why a mission statement is so important in the strategic-management process.