Mid 17 May 2019, questions PDF

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mid-session exam questions for uow students...

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Chapter 1

1. Which of the following statements about a company's strategy is true? Ans: The objective of a well-crafted strategy is not merely temporary competitive success and profits in the short run, but rather the sort of lasting success that can support growth and secure the company's future over the long 2. Competing differently from rivals—doing what competitors don't do or, even better, doing what they can't do is referred to as its Ans: Strategy. 3. Which one of the following is not related to actions and approaches that comprise a company's strategy? Ans: How to prove to shareholders that the company's business model is viable 4. A company achieves sustainable competitive advantage when Ans: when it provide buyers with lasting reasons to prefer its products or services over those of competitors. 5. Which one of the following is not something to look for in identifying a company's strategy? Ans: The company's actions to validate and improve upon its business model 6. Company strategies evolve because Ans: of changing circumstances and ongoing management efforts to improve the strategy 7. A company's business model Ans:

is management's blueprint for delivering a valuable product or service to

customers in a manner that will generate revenues sufficient to cover costs and yield an attractive profit 8. A winning strategy is one that fits the company's internal and external situation, builds sustainable competitive advantage, and boosts company performance.

9. Crafting and executing strategy are top-priority managerial tasks because Ans: how well a company performs and the degree of market success it enjoys are directly attributable to the caliber of its strategy and the proficiency with which the strategy is executed. 10. The most trustworthy signs of a well-managed company are Ans: good strategy and good strategy execution.

Chapter 2 1. Which one of the following is not an integral part of the managerial process of crafting and executing strategy? Ans: Choosing a strategic intent. 2. A strategic vision for a company Ans: provides a panoramic view of "where we are going" and a convincing rationale for why this makes good business sense for the company 3. Which of the following statements about a company's values is false? Ans: At all but a few companies, the stated values are mostly window-dressing and serve mainly to embellish the company's public image. 4. Most boards of directors have a compensation committee, composed entirely of ________________________, to develop a salary and incentive compensation plan that rewards senior executives for boosting the company's _______________ performance and growing the economic value of the enterprise on behalf of shareholders. Ans: outside directors; long-term 5. Which of the following represents the best example of a well-stated strategic objective (as opposed to a well-stated financial objective)? Ans:

Increase market share from 17% to 22% and achieve the lowest overall costs

of any producer in the industry, both within three years 6. Which of the following statements about objectives is false? Ans:

A company's managers are well-advised to give the achievement of financial

objectives a much higher priority than the achievement of strategic objectives. 7. A balanced scorecard for measuring company performance Ans: entails setting both financial and strategic objectives and putting balanced emphasis on their achievement. 8. The task of crafting a strategy is Ans: is a collaborative team effort in which every manager has a role for the area he

or she heads; it is rarely something that only high-level managers do. 9. The strategy-making hierarchy in a single business company consists of Ans: business strategy, functional-area strategies, and operating strategies. 10. Which one of the following is not among the chief duties/responsibilities of a company's board of directors insofar as the strategy-making, strategy-executing process is concerned? Ans: Direct senior executives as to what the company's long-term direction, objectives, business model, and strategy should be and, further, closely supervise senior executives in their efforts to implement and execute the strategy

Chapter 3 1. Which of the following is not among the factors that determine whether competitive rivalry among industry members is strong, moderate, or weak? Ans: Whether industry members are vertically integrated and whether the industry is characterized by significant scale economies and rapid technological change 2. The rivalry among competing sellers in an industry intensifies Ans: as the number of rivals increases and as they become more equal in size and competitive capability 3. Competitive pressures associated with the threat of new entrants grow stronger when Ans: Existing industry members are looking to expand their market reach by entering product segments or geographic areas where they do not have a presence yet. 4. Which of the following conditions generally raise the barriers to entering an industry? Ans: High capital requirements, and difficulties in building a network of distributorsretailers and securing adequate space on retailers' shelves, 5. Competitive pressures stemming from substitute products are weaker when Ans: buyers don't believe substitute products have equal or better features, and buyers' costs of switching to substitutes are relatively high. 6. Which of the following is not a factor in determining whether the suppliers to an industry are a source of strong, moderate, or weak competitive pressures? Ans: Whether the industry supply chain is global or mostly national, whether suppliers have a wide or narrow product line, and whether industry members place orders frequently or infrequently with suppliers 7. Whether the buyers of an industry's product have strong or weak bargaining leverage over the terms and conditions of sale depends on Ans:

whether buyers purchase in relatively large or small quantities, and how well

informed buyers are about sellers' prices, products, and costs. 8. The task of driving forces analysis is to Ans: determine how the collective impact of the driving forces will change market

demand, competition and industry profitability. 9. Strategic group mapping is a helpful analytical tool for Ans:

revealing the market positions of key industry competitors.

10. An industry's key success factors Ans:

are so important to competitive success that all firms in the industry must pay

close attention to them or risk becoming an industry laggard or failure.

Chapter 4 1. Which one of the following is not helpful in identifying the components of a singlebusiness company's strategy? Ans: The company's resource strengths and weaknesses 2. SWOT? Ans: All. 3. A core competence may evolve into a distinctive competence, giving the company superiority over rivals in performing an important value chain activity 4. Which of the following analytical tools are particularly useful for determining whether a company's prices and costs are competitive? Ans:

Value chain analysis and benchmarking.

5. A company's value chain consists of Ans: the collection of activities it performs in the course of designing, producing, marketing, delivering, and supporting its product or service and delivering value to customers. 6. Benchmarking Ans: is a potent tool for improving a company's own internal activities that is based on learning how other companies perform them and borrowing "best practices". 7. A company's cost competitiveness is largely a function of Ans: how efficiently it manages its overall value chain activities relative to how efficiently competitors manage theirs. 8. For a company to translate performance of value chain activities into competitive advantage, it Ans: must be more cost efficient in how it performs value chain activities or better able to manage activities that add customer value. 9. The measure of internal cash flow estimates the cash a company's business is generating _____________________________.

Ans: after payment of operating expenses, interest, and taxes 10. Which one of the following is not something that can be learned from doing a competitive strength assessment? Ans: Whether a company utilizes best practices in performing its value chain activities

Chapter 5 1. A company's competitive strategy deals Ans: exclusively with the specifics of management's game plan for competing successfully. 2. The five generic types of competitive strategies include Ans: low-cost provider strategies, broad differentiation strategies, best-cost provider strategies, focused low-cost strategies, and focused differentiation strategies. 3. A low-cost leader's basis for competitive advantage is Ans: meaningfully lower overall costs than competitors. 4. A competitive strategy of striving to be the low-cost provider is particularly attractive when Ans:

buyers are large and use the product in much the same ways.

5. A broad differentiation strategy Ans: can produce sustainable competitive advantage if the differentiating features possess strong buyer appeal and can't be copied or easily matched by rivals. 6. Which of the following is not one of the four basic routes to achieving a differentiation-based competitive advantage? Ans: Striving to capture all available economies of scale 7. A strategy of being a best-cost provider Ans: combines a strategic emphasis on low cost with a strategic emphasis on more than minimally acceptable quality, service, features, and performance. 8. Which of the following are distinguishing features of a best-cost provider strategy? Ans:

The strategic target is price-conscious buyers

9. What sets focused (or market niche) strategies apart from low-cost leadership and broad differentiation strategies is Ans:

their concentrated attention on serving the needs of buyers in a narrow piece

of the overall market. 10. A focused differentiation strategy aims at securing competitive advantage byA

focused differentiation strategy aims at securing competitive advantage by Ans: offering buyers in the target market niche a product which they perceive is uniquely well suited to their tastes and preferences.

Chapter 6 1. Which one of the following is not a factor that makes an alliance "strategic" as opposed to just a convenient business arrangement? Ans: The alliance involves joint contribution of resources and is mutually beneficial. 2. Companies are motivated to enter into strategic alliances or cooperative arrangements Ans: All. 3. The best strategic alliances Ans:

are highly selective, focusing on particular value chain activities and on

obtaining a particular competitive benefit. 4. Mergers and acquisitions are a much used strategy because they are an effective means of Ans:

gaining quick access to new technologies or other resources and competitive

capabilities and; plus creating a more cost-efficient operation, expanding a company's geographic coverage, and extending a company's business into new product categories. 5. Which one of the following statements about merger and acquisition strategies is true? Ans: Despite many successes, mergers and acquisitions do not always produce the hoped-for outcomes. Cost savings may prove smaller than expected. Gains in competitive capabilities may never materialize at all. 6. Which of the following is typically the strategic impetus for forward vertical integration? Ans:

To gain better access to end users and better market visibility

7. Which of the following is not a strategic disadvantage of vertical integration? Ans:

It greatly reduces the opportunity for capturing maximum scale economies

and achieving the lowest possible operating costs. 8. Which of the following is not an advantage of outsourcing the performance of certain

value chain activities to outsiders? Ans:

Being able to reduce distribution costs by eliminating the use of wholesale

distributors and retail dealers and, instead, selling direct to end-users at the company's Web site. 9. A blue ocean type of offensive strategy Ans: offers growth in revenues and profits by discovering or inventing new industry segments that create altogether new demand 10. In which of the following situations is being first to initiate a particular move not likely to result in a positive payoff? Ans:

When late movers can copy a successful pioneer's moves quickly and at

lower cost....