With unrelated diversification, potential benefits can be gained from vertical or
hierarchical relationships; that is, the creation of synergies from the interaction of the
corporate office with outside stakeholders.
Competitive benchmarking is a method of seeking the best examples of practices or
processes that have essentially the same function regardless of industry.
The three interrelated and principal activities of strategic management are: strategy
analysis, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation.
An advantage of mergers and acquisitions is that they can enable a firm to rapidly enter
new product markets.
An entry wedge, according to the text, is a type of entrepreneurial strategy firms can use
to enter into business.
The strategic management process should be addressed only by top-level executives.
Mid-level and low-level employees are best equipped to implement the strategies of the
organization.
The tendency of many individuals to throw good money at bad decisions despite
negative performance feedback is referred to as escalation.
Social capital is found in the knowledge, skills, and abilities of individual employees.
Market commonality refers to the extent to which competitors are vying for the same
customers in the same markets.
According to Henry Mintzberg, the realized strategies of a firm:
A. are a combination of deliberate and emergent strategies
B. are a combination of deliberate and differentiation strategies
C. must be based on the strategic plan of the company
D. must be kept confidential for competitive reasons
Conditions that must be met for principal-principal (PP) conflicts to occur include all of
the following except _____________.
A. a dominant owner or group of owners who have interests that are distinct from
minority shareholders
B. legislation that protects the interests of minority shareholders
C. a motivation for the controlling shareholders to exercise their dominant position to
their advantage
D. few formal (such as legislation or regulatory bodies) or informal constraints that
discourage or prevent the controlling shareholders from exploiting their advantageous
positions
New communication technology can impact seemingly unrelated industries such as the
airline industry. This would be an example of a ______________.
A. threat of entry
B. backward integration
C. forward integration
D. threat of substitute products
Organizations are increasingly using teams for many reasons. The difference between a
good team and an outstanding team has been found to be _____________.
A. the combined technical skills of the members
B. similarities in the way team members solve problems
C. the way team members treat each other
D. similarities in the age and experience of team member
The majority of entrepreneurial start-ups are financed through monies from
_____________.
A. bank financing
B. SBA loans
C. venture-capital financing
D. personal savings and the contributions of family and friends
Which of the factors below has not made the software services industry in India
extremely competitive on a global scale?
A. large pool of skilled workers
B. large network of public and private educational institutions
C. tax and antitrust legislation that protects the dominant players in the industry
D. large, growing market and sophisticated customers
A differentiation strategy enables a business to address the five competitive forces by
______.
A. having brand-loyal customers become more sensitive to prices
B. lessening competitive rivalry by distinguishing itself
C. increasing economies of scale
D. serving a broader market segment
Which of the following is not one of the reasons a company might launch new
competitive actions?
A. to obtain first mover advantages
B. to improve market position
C. to capitalize on growing demand
D. to find new sources of raw materials
Support value chain activities that involve excellent applications engineering support
(technology development) and facilities that promote a positive firm image (firm
infrastructure) characterize what generic strategy?
A. overall cost leadership
B. differentiation
C. differentiation focus
D. stuck-in-the middle
Proactive measures to prevent organizational ethics problems do not include
_____________.
A. instituting a reward system which considers outcomes as its primary criterion
B. using leaders as role models of ethical behavior
C. issuing statements describing organization commitment to certain standards of
behavior
D. using organization information systems as a control system
Recent trends that might lead managers of multinational corporations (MNCs) to adopt
a more decentralized strategy for their operations would include all of the following
EXCEPT ______.
A. customer needs, interests, and tastes becoming increasingly homogenized
B. consumers around the world increasingly willing to tradeoff idiosyncratic
preferences in product features for lower price
C. flexible manufacturing trends allowing a decline in the minimum volume required to
reach acceptable levels of production efficiency
D. fluctuating exchange rates
In social network analysis, groups can become too insular and fail to share what they
have learned with people outside the group. This is a result of __________.
A. bridging relationships
B. intellect
C. closure
D. diverse knowledge
The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have seen the intensity of their rivalry
increase. One factor driving this is that the Wall Street Journal has moved from
financial news reporting to general national and global news reporting and finally, to
adding local New York news. The rivalry of these two news providers has increased due
to _____________.
A. increased dynamic capabilities
B. increased market commonality
C. erosion of first mover advantages
D. the choice of tactical over strategic actions
Two of the key inputs to developing forecasts discussed in the text are:
A. environmental scanning and stakeholder identification.
B. environmental scanning and competitor intelligence.
C. assessing internal strengths and environmental scanning.
D. environmental scanning and a SWOT analysis.
Piecemeal productivity improvements during a turnaround typically do NOT involve
_______.
A. business process reengineering
B. increased capacity utilization
C. expansion of company product market scope
D. benchmarking
A danger of forecasting discussed in the text is that _____________.
A. in most cases, the expense of collecting the necessary data exceeds the benefit
B. the retrospective nature of forecasting provides little information about the future
C. managers may view uncertainty as black and white while ignoring important gray
areas
D. it can create legal problems for the firm if regulators discover the company is
making forecasts
In large organizations, conflicts can arise between functional areas. In order to resolve
these conflicts, strategic objectives:
A. put financial objectives above human considerations
B. align departments toward departmental goals
C. help resolve conflicts through their common purpose
D. cause debate and increase conflict
According to the text, firms that want to enhance their entrepreneurial position by being
competitively aggressive should _____________.
A. enter markets with drastically lower prices
B. foster creativity and experimentation
C. continuously seek out new products or services
D. research risk factors to minimize uncertainty
According to the text, the strategic management process entails three ongoing
processes:
A. analyses, actions, and synthesis
B. analyses, decisions, and actions
C. analyses, evaluation, and critique
D. analyses, synthesis, and antithesis
What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with using traditional approaches
to strategic control?
What are the major advantages and disadvantages of the four types of entry strategies
for international expansion?
The resource-based view (RBV) combines both the internal analysis of the firm and the
external analysis of the environment. Discuss and provide examples.
In an effort to attract and retain top talent, firms provide financial and nonfinancial
rewards to their employees. Give examples of each and describe how the incentives you
have chosen may impact individual employees.
Explain how the value net analysis adds to the five-forces analysis. Be sure to include
examples from at least two industries.
Discuss some of the effective turnaround strategies.
What are the four perspectives that the “balanced scorecard” enables managers to
evaluate their business?
Explain how transaction cost analysis can provide insights into vertical integration
decisions.
Discuss how technology has impacted the attraction, training, and retention of
professionals. How has technology helped firms to enhance their human capital and
social capital?