Deck 4: Internal Environmental Analysis and Competitive Advantage

Question 1

Stretch is accomplished through:

A)Effectively assessing organizational strengths and weaknesses.
B)Resource leveraging or systematically achieving the most possible from the available resources.
C)Focusing only on high-value, rare strengths.
D)Eliminating all competitively relevant weaknesses.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Under what circumstances are organizational weaknesses competitively relevant?

Answer 2

Competitively relevant weaknesses relate to areas that are valued in the marketplace, are not common weaknesses attributed to competitors, are difficult for the organization to correct, and offer advantages that can be sustained by others.

Question 3

Which of the following is the proper interpretation of competitive disadvantages for an organizational weakness that exhibits high value, is not rare, is easy to correct, and such that competitors can sustain their advantage?

A)Short-term competitive disadvantage.
B)No competitive disadvantage.
C)Long-term competitive disadvantage.
D)Neither a competitive advantage nor disadvantage.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

How many organizations develop sustainable competitive advantages by being extraordinarily competent at converting ordinary resources and skills into genuine strategic assets?

Question 5

The strategic implications of the competitively relevant strength of
"entrepreneurial culture" are history, and performance has established a firm reputation for innovation.

Question 6

Explain the value of stretch to an organization.

Question 7

Synergy is created by combining complementary resources, competencies, and capabilities.

Question 8

The more often that a particular resource, competency, or capability is used, the greater is the potential for leveraging.

Question 9

Stretch is accomplished through resource leveraging or systematically achieving the most possible from the available resources.

Question 10

The three elements of service delivery are:

A)Pricing, quality, and marketing.
B)Target market, clinical operations, and billing.
C)Pre-service, point-of-service, and after-service.
D)Branding, process innovation, and clinical.

Question 11

How does an organization achieve a competitive advantage?

Question 12

Organizational strengths represent competitive advantages when they:

A)Are present in the organization.
B)Are more intense than the same strength in a competitor.
C)Are marshaled in a way that allows them to become genuine strategic assets.
D)Are arranged into a matrix of resources and the manner in which they are allocated.

Question 13

Complete the following statement. Sustained competitive advantage is the result of:

A)An enduring value differential between the services of one organization and that of its competitors in the minds of patients, physicians, and so on.
B)Having superior resources and competency.
C)A long list of intangible assets, large bank balances, and a strong board of directors.
D)Location, price, key personnel, and organizational structure.

Question 14

Which of the following is the proper interpretation of a strategic thinking map of competitive advantages with the judgments of Value (High); Rareness (No); Imitability (Difficult); and Sustainable (Yes)?

A)No competitive advantage. Most competitors have the strength and those that do not can develop it easily and sustain it. Because the strength is widely possessed and can be sustained, it is likely that it already has become a minimum condition for long-term success.
B)Long-term competitive advantage. This strength is rare in the service area, difficult to imitate by competitors, and can be sustained by the organization. If the value is very high, it may be worth "betting the organization" on this strength.
C)Short-term competitive advantage. Because the strength is valuable and rare, competitors will do what is necessary to develop this easy-to-imitate strength. The organization should exploit this short-term advantage but should not base long- term strategies on this type of strength. Over time, this strength may become a minimum condition for long-term success.
D)No competitive advantage. Many competitors possess the strength but it is difficult to develop, so care should be taken to maintain this strength. Because the strength is widely possessed and can be sustained, it is likely that it already has become a minimum condition for long-term success.

Question 15

An organizational strength that is of low value, rare, easy to imitate, and difficult to sustain offers short-term competitive advantage.

Question 16

Organizational weaknesses represent competitive disadvantages when they:

A)Are present in the organization.
B)Are more prevalent than the weaknesses in a competitor.
C)Are arranged into a matrix and sorted by relevance.
D)Are of high value to stakeholders, not possessed by competitors, not easily eliminated, and such that competitors can sustain their strengths.

Question 17

The three subsystems that support service delivery by ensuring an inviting and supportive atmosphere, an effective organization, and sufficient resources such as finances, highly qualified staff, information systems, and appropriate facilities and equipment are:

A)Pricing, quality, and marketing.
B)Organizational culture, organizational structure, and strategic resources.
C)Pre-service, point-of-service, and after-service.
D)Branding, process innovation, and clinical.

Question 18

The two categories into which capabilities may be classified are:

A)The ability to make dynamic improvements to the organization's activities through learning, renewal, and change over time.
B)The ability to develop strategic insights and recognize and arrange resources and competencies to develop novel strategies before or better than competitors.
C)Both a and b.
D)Neither a nor b.

Question 19

Only financial resources may be leveraged by an organization.

Question 20

What are the strategic implications of a competitively relevant weakness of ongoing legal claims that could prove a threat to financial viability?

A)It would have no strategic relevance because legal claims are a matter of insurance coverage.
B)It demonstrates an absence of competence among the organization's executives.
C)Settlements against the company could result in serious financial consequences.
D)An appropriate strategic response is to move operations generating the legal claims to an offshore location.

Question 21

Resources are the stocks of non-human factors that are available for use in producing goods and services.

Question 22

In the resource-based view of strategy, valuable, expensive, difficult-to-copy resources contribute to sustainable competitive advantage.

Question 23

The competitive relevance of an organizational strength is a function of value, rareness, imitability, and sustainability.

Question 24

Competency is an infrastructure-based component of sustainable competitive advantage.

Question 25

Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the functional elements of a health care organization is as effective as evaluating the organization's value chain.

Question 26

The identification of distinctiveness through a focus on the internal environment is intended to answer the strategic question "What should the organization do?"

Question 27

Competitive advantage requires an organization to develop a distinctiveness that competitors do not have and cannot easily imitate.

Question 28

An organization's value chain is the various ways that it creates value for present and prospective customers.

Question 29

Competitive advantage is created within the organization in the form of strengths that are important in the internal environment.

Question 30

The organizational structure increases patient satisfaction by effectively and efficiently facilitating the service delivery.

Question 31

The continuous evaluation of an organization's strengths and weaknesses is NOT a critical part of strategic momentum.

Question 32

Capability is the ability of an organization to deploy resources and competencies.

Question 33

To be competitively relevant an organizational weakness must be of high value to stakeholders, not possessed by competitors, not easily eliminated, and such that competitors can sustain their strengths.

Question 34

The three elements of service delivery (pre-service, point-of-service, and after-service) incorporate the production or creation of the service (product) of health care and include primarily operational processes and marketing activities.

Question 35

An organizational strength that is of high value, rare, difficult to imitate, and difficult to sustain offers short-term competitive advantage but not a strength that can be sustained over the long run.

Question 36

An organizational weakness that is of high value to stakeholders, possessed by competitors, easily corrected, and such that competitors can sustain their advantage presents a competitive disadvantage.

Question 37

An organizational strength that is of high value, rare, difficult to imitate, and easy to sustain contributes to long-term competitive advantage.

Question 38

Organizational strengths must have value, be rare, difficult to imitate, and sustainable in order to create competitive advantage.

Question 39

An organizational strength does not need to have value in order to be competitively relevant.