Deck 4: The Internal Assessment

Question 1

An organization's culture compares to an individual's personality in the sense that no two organizations have the same culture and no two individuals have the same personality.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Organizing is the cornerstone of effective strategy formulation.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Opportunities are a firm's distinctive competencies that cannot be easily matched or imitated by competitors.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The RBV theory asserts that it is advantageous for a firm to pursue a strategy that is not currently being implemented by any competing firm.

Question 5

Linkages between a firm's culture and strategies often determine success.

Question 6

Allocating resources is one of the five basic activities (functions)performed by managers.

Question 7

Established companies are coming to realize that their next generation of potential customers spends more time online than watching TV.

Question 8

The subtle,elusive and largely unconscious forces that shape the workplace are captured by the organizational culture.

Question 9

At Google the culture is very rigid,while in contrast the culture at Proctor & Gamble is very informal.

Question 10

The basic premise of the research-based view is that the mix,type,amount and nature of a firm's internal resources should be considered first and foremost in devising strategies that can lead to sustainable competitive advantage.

Question 11

The process of performing an internal audit,compared to the external audit,provides more opportunity for participants to understand how their jobs,departments and divisions fit into the whole organization.

Question 12

An internal audit task force of managers could be charged with determining a specific number (usually 10 to 20)of the most important strengths and weaknesses.

Question 13

A ritual is a standardized,detailed set of techniques and behaviors used to manage anxieties.

Question 14

Resources that are common are never considered valuable.

Question 15

While interesting,organizational culture does not significantly affect business decisions.

Question 16

The only certain thing about the future of any organization is change.

Question 17

Proponents of the resource-based view argue that external factors are more important than internal factors for a firm in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage

Question 18

Cultural products include values,beliefs,stories,and language.

Question 19

Metaphors are handed-down narratives of some wonderful event that are based on history but have been embellished with fictional detail.

Question 20

For a resource to be valuable,it must be either rare,hard to imitate,or not easily sustainable.

Question 21

There are seven basic functions of marketing: customer analysis,selling products/services,product and service planning,pricing,distribution,marketing research and opportunity analysis.

Question 22

A cost/benefit analysis is an appraisal of the costs,benefits and risks associated with marketing decisions.

Question 23

Five major stakeholders that affect pricing decisions are consumers,governments,suppliers,distributors and competitors.

Question 24

Successful strategy formulation generally rests upon the ability of an organization to sell some product or service.

Question 25

The management function of organizing is included in human resource management.

Question 26

The controlling function of management is especially important for effective strategy evaluation.

Question 27

Planning should be performed mostly by middle management and then presented to top management for analysis and approval.

Question 28

One aspect of ads in a recession is that they generally take more direct aim at competitors.

Question 29

A form of customer analysis is administering customer surveys.

Question 30

Distribution involves warehousing,marketing research,distribution channels,wholesaling and retailing.

Question 31

Marketing research is the systematic gathering,recording and analyzing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services.

Question 32

The controlling function of management is synonymous to strategy formulation.

Question 33

During the 2009 Super Bowl,a 30-second advertisement cost $3 million.

Question 34

Pharmaceutical companies on average increased their spending on consumer advertising of prescription drugs by 8 percent in 2008.

Question 35

Motivation is one explanation why some people work hard and others do not.

Question 36

The purpose of organizing is to achieve coordinated effort by defining task and authority relations.

Question 37

A new trend is to base advertising rates solely on sales rates with regard to advertising products or services on the Internet.

Question 38

Test marketing is used more frequently by industrial companies than consumer goods companies.

Question 39

Three areas,according to James Van Horne,comprise the functions or basic decision areas of finance: the investment decision,the financing decision and the dividend decision.

Question 40

Distribution becomes especially important when a firm is striving to implement a product development or backward integration strategy.

Question 41

Internal R&D and contract R&D are the two basic forms of R&D in organizations.

Question 42

Capacity decisions concern distances from raw materials to production sites to customers.

Question 43

Although a useful step in the strategic management process,value chain analysis can rarely help a firm monitor whether its prices and costs are competitive.

Question 44

Value Chain Analysis can enable a firm to better identify its own strengths and weaknesses especially as compared to competitors' value chain analyses.

Question 45

Activity ratios measure how effectively a firm is using its resources.

Question 46

A limitation of financial ratios is the fact that they are based on accounting data.

Question 47

Four common approaches to determine R&D budget allocations are: 1)finance as many project proposals as possible; 2)use a percentage-of-sales method; 3)budget for R&D about what competitors spend; or 4)decide how many successful new products are needed and work backwards to estimate the required R&D investment.

Question 48

Benchmarking is an analytical tool used to determine whether a firm's value chain activities are competitive compared to rivals.

Question 49

Honda Motor,long considered the industry's fastest producer,fills a buyer's new car order in just 5 days.

Question 50

Increased efficiency,quality,productivity and job satisfaction can come from cross-training workers.

Question 51

Spending on research and development is steadily decreasing in the United States.

Question 52

In 2009 more than 10 percent of S&P 500 companies cut their dividend payout.

Question 53

The functions of information systems are growing in importance because organizations are becoming more complex,decentralized and globally dispersed.

Question 54

Leverage ratios measure a firm's ability to meet maturing short-term obligations.

Question 55

In most industries,only minor costs of producing a product or service are incurred within operations,so production/operations does not have great value as a competitive weapon in a company's overall strategy.

Question 56

Financial ratio analysis rarely has to go beyond the actual calculation and interpretation of ratios.

Question 57

Financial ratios are not applicable to nonprofit organizations.

Question 58

The idea that paying dividends results in a higher stock price is a myth.

Question 59

Dividend decisions concern issues such as the percentage of earnings paid to stockholders,the stability of dividends paid over time and the repurchase or issuance of stock.

Question 60

Total assets turnover ratio is calculated by dividing sales by fixed assets.

Question 61

A standardized set of behaviors used to manage anxieties is called a

A) folktale.
B) rite.
C) metaphor.
D) ritual.
E) value.

Question 62

What is the term for a historical narrative describing the unique accomplishments of a group and its leaders,usually in heroic terms?

A) Rite
B) Saga
C) Story
D) Myth
E) Folktale

Question 63

Organizational resources include all of the following except:

A) employee training.
B) firm structure.
C) planning processes.
D) information systems.
E) copyrights.

Question 64

Any object,act,event,quality,or relation used to convey meaning is known as a

A) myth.
B) rite.
C) value.
D) symbol.
E) metaphor.

Question 65

The three all-encompassing internal resource categories used in the Resource-Based View are physical resources,human resources and

A) financial resources.
B) shareholder resources.
C) organizational resources.
D) natural resources.
E) technological resources.

Question 66

The Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix should include from 10 to 20 key factors.

Question 67

All of the following are basic duties of a manager except:

A) staffing.
B) planning.
C) consolidating.
D) organizing.
E) motivating.

Question 68

Which of the following were not mentioned as an example of cultural products?

A) Rites
B) Emotions
C) Rituals
D) Sagas
E) Symbols

Question 69

Who should perform an internal audit?

A) A private auditing firm
B) The organization's accounting department
C) Representative managers and employees from throughout the organization
D) A team of top-level managers
E) The chief executive officer

Question 70

Which of the following does the text call an up-front investment in success?

A) Planning
B) Organizing
C) Motivating
D) Staffing
E) Controlling

Question 71

Who does a planning horizon of two to five years apply to?

A) Top management
B) General management
C) Middle management
D) Lower management
E) All levels of management

Question 72

Metaphors are

A) several rites connected together.
B) shorthand of words used to capture a vision or to reinforce old or new values.
C) narratives based on true events.
D) fictional stories.
E) any objects, acts, events, qualities, or relations used to convey meaning.

Question 73

Which function of management includes areas such as job design,job specification,job analysis and unity of command?

A) Planning
B) Organizing
C) Motivating
D) Staffing
E) Controlling

Question 74

Constructing an Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix is a summary step when conducting an internal strategic-management audit.

Question 75

What is the essential bridge between the present and the future that increases the likelihood of achieving desired results?

A) Motivating
B) Planning
C) Controlling
D) Staffing
E) Organizing

Question 76

A pattern of behavior developed by an organization as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive,think and feel is called

A) dysfunctional behavior.
B) groupthink.
C) behavior modification.
D) organizational culture.
E) internal audit effect.

Question 77

________ exemplifies the complexity of relationships among the functional areas of business.

A) Government audit
B) External audit
C) Financial ratio analysis
D) Environmental scanning
E) Distribution strategy

Question 78

A firm's strengths that cannot be easily matched or imitated by competitors are called

A) internal audits.
B) distinctive competencies.
C) external audits.
D) special properties.
E) internal properties.

Question 79

Empirical indicators are resources that are either rare,hard to imitate,or

A) expensive.
B) inexpensive.
C) easily substitutable.
D) not easily substitutable.
E) inefficient.

Question 80

Life-directing attitudes that serve as behavioral guidelines are called

A) values.
B) rites.
C) beliefs.
D) metaphors.
E) legends.