Deck 11: Competitive and Collaborative Strategies

Question 1

The general environment consists of the specific individuals and organisations that interact directly with the organisation and can affect goal achievement.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Mergers and acquisitions typically require OD practitioners to initiate a collaborative intervention.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The key dimension of the environment is:

A)information uncertainty
B)information overload
C)resource independence
D)rules, routines, and procedures
E)technological change including social media

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The lessons learned from alliance building are distinct from the knowledge that can be applied to the development of network arrangements.

Question 5

Integrated strategic change attempts to balance organisation change and human resource issues with strategic and marketplace issues.

Question 6

Organisations achieve competitive advantage when they arrange their resources and work processes in such a way that products or services either warrant a higher-than-average price or an exceptionally low cost.

Question 7

Integrated strategic change was developed to address the issue of too much control over the strategic direction by middle management.

Question 8

The organisation's general environment consists of:

A)employee satisfaction
B)external forces that can indirectly affect the organisation
C)external forces that can directly affect the organisation
D)internal systems, policies and procedures
E)internal values, assumptions, and artefacts

Question 9

When transactions involve people, equipment or other assets that are unique to the task, competitive strategies are preferred over collaborative strategies.

Question 10

Collaborative interventions use a variety of collective responses to coordinate the actions within the organisation.

Question 11

Competitive strategies focus on organising the firm's resources to gain a better fit with its human resources.

Question 12

An organisation's strategy is shaped by particular aspects and features of the environment.

Question 13

The two key dimensions of the environment affecting information processing are information uncertainty and resource dependence.

Question 14

Operational combination activities should proceed slowly and carefully following the announcement of the merger or acquisition.

Question 15

Network development interventions are concerned with helping sets of organisations engage in relationships to perform tasks where economies of scale can be gained.

Question 16

The success of a competitive strategy depends on organisation responses that result in unique, valuable and difficult-to-imitate advantages.

Question 17

Transformation interventions help organisations to implement strategies for both competing and collaborating with other organisations.

Question 18

An organisation's strategic competitive advantage is aided when its strategies are difficult to imitate.

Question 19

In the initial establishment of a network, potential members are identified in the convention stage.

Question 20

Self-organising features can be useful for organisation transformation (OT) practitioners to unfreeze change.

Question 21

Network interventions aim to:

A)share resources and risks associated with large-scale research efforts
B)increase professional development opportunities among senior management
C)improve customer recognition by developing a single brand
D)ensure employee satisfaction by enabling an overlap of different values and behaviours
E)avoid the cultural problems associated with mergers and acquisitions

Question 22

The last stage in managing network change is:

A)creating instability in the network
B)the convention of the organisations in the network
C)relying on self-organisation
D)managing the 'tipping point' in network change
E)letting mavens talk about the change

Question 23

Organisation development (OD) practitioners can have the greatest impact in which phases of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity?

A)precombination and legal combination phases
B)precombination and operational combination phases
C)legal combination and operational combination phases
D)OD practitioners can greatly impact all phases of M&A activity
E)OD practitioners have little impact on phases of M&A activity

Question 24

Competitive strategies include:

A)integrated strategic change, and mergers and acquisitions
B)mergers, acquisitions, and divestments
C)acquisitions, investments, and product placements
D)integrated strategic change, innovation, and investments
E)all of the above

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT associated with transorganisational systems?

A)they are loosely coupled
B)organisations in them face a common problem
C)organisations in them always act in a coordinated fashion
D)leadership is dispersed
E)process consultants offer expert help in the sense of providing solutions

Question 26

In considering a merger or acquisition, the due diligence assessment increasingly includes non-financial aspects such as:

A)reviewing stock option plans
B)external forces that can indirectly affect the merger or acquisition
C)customer feedback
D)employee satisfaction
E)the cultural features of mergers and acquisitions (M&As)

Question 27

Which is NOT a common reason for merger failure?

A)customer dissatisfaction
B)inadequate due diligence processes
C)the lack of a compelling strategic rationale
D)unrealistic expectations of synergy
E)paying too much for the transaction

Question 28

In considering a merger or acquisition, the due diligence assessment increasingly includes non-financial aspects such as:

A)reviewing stock option plans
B)external forces that can indirectly affect the merger or acquisition
C)customer feedback
D)employee satisfaction
E)the cultural features of mergers and acquisitions (M&As)

Question 29

During the operational combination phase in the process of merger, the phases are:

A)day 1 activities
B)operational integration activities
C)technical integration activities
D)cultural integration activities
E)all of the above

Question 30

OD practitioners can make meaningful contributions to the following phases of mergers and acquisitions:

A)precombination and legal combination
B)legal combination and operational combination
C)precombination and operational combination
D)precombination and postcombination
E)operational combination and postcombination

Question 31

The criteria for competitive strategies are:

A)product, price and place
B)people, prices and processes
C)uniqueness, value and difficult to imitate
D)barriers to entry, rivalry, power of customers, power of suppliers
E)strengths, opportunities, and core competencies

Question 32

Three key roles help to explain how change within an existing network occurs.They are:

A)leaders, salesmen and managers
B)executives, mavens and informal leaders
C)salespeople, mavens and connectors
D)mavens, connectors and executives
E)connectors, leaders and influencers

Question 33

Managing network change is a difficult task.It demands an understanding of:

A)complexities
B)non-linear systems
C)catastrophe and chaos theories
D)the nature of interdependencies within the system
E)all of the above

Question 34

The criteria for competitive strategies are:

A)product, price and place
B)people, prices and processes
C)uniqueness, value and difficult to imitate
D)barriers to entry, rivalry, power of customers, power of suppliers
E)strengths, opportunities, and core competencies

Question 35

Two types of OD interventions that can help organisations to respond to their environment include:

A)legal interventions and political interventions
B)technological interventions and ecological interventions
C)core technology buffer interventions and environmental disturbance interventions
D)competitive interventions and collaborative interventions
E)innovative interventions and 'imaginal literacy' interventions

Question 36

The development of effective alliances typically follows:

A)alliance strategy formulation
B)partner selection
C)alliance structuring and start-up
D)alliance operation and adjustment
E)all of the above

Question 37

Organising task performance in the application stage of transnational development does not involve:

A)leadership
B)structures
C)customer feedback
D)communication
E)policies and procedures

Question 38

Which of the following is NOT a stage in the initial formation and development of a network?

A)identification
B)action
C)convention
D)organisation
E)evaluation

Question 39

A network consists of the following number of organisations joined together for a common purpose:

A)keiretsu in Japan, chaebols in Korea, grupos in Mexico
B)two or more
C)three or more
D)four or more
E)any number of organisations

Question 40

Which strategic intervention is best suited for a single organisation?

A)merger and acquisition integration
B)integrated strategic change
C)performance management
D)team building
E)informal networking

Question 41

'Organisations are open systems and their activities are shaped by particular aspects and features of the environment.' Discuss.

Question 42

What are the characteristics of internal activities that can improve an organisation's competitiveness? Provide examples to support your argument.

Question 43

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been very popular in the recent past.Explain why they became popular and discuss the role of the organisation transformation (OT) practitioner in the major phases of the implementation of M&A.Use appropriate examples.

Question 44

Explain the two classes of environments that affect organisation performance and outcomes.

Question 45

What is the rationale for adopting a collaborative strategy?

Question 46

What is the purpose of establishing a business case for a merger and acquisition?

Question 47

What are networks and what are some of the advantages of network interventions?

Question 48

Organisations employ different interventions to survive and grow in this turbulent environment.Discuss two main interventions that help organisations to improve their performance.Use examples to substantiate your answer.

Question 49

Describe the major phases of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity and discuss how organisation development (OD) practitioners can contribute to successful integration.