Deck 7: Planning and Control

Question 1

MTV Networks, headquartered in New York, is a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

MTV Networks, in a recent strategic move, acquired Neopets, an online kids' network with 25 million members.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Strategic planning is the process of diagnosing the organization's environments, deciding on a mission and vision, developing overall goals, creating and selecting general strategies, and allocating resources.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Most large organizations use contingency planning for expected, planned changes in the environment that will have a minimal impact on the organization and that will require a response.

Question 5

The start of the restoration process in Mississippi Power's contingency plan is to begin at their power plants and work first on the large lines going out to the communities from the plants.

Question 6

The Mississippi Power Company, headquartered in Laurel, Mississippi, has about 850 employees.

Question 7

EBay's vision includes: "To pioneer new communities around the world built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity."

Question 8

A firm's mission expresses its fundamental aspirations and purpose.

Question 9

Goals may be expressed both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Question 10

The strategies of an organization are the major courses of action (choices) selected and implemented to achieve one or more goals.

Question 11

When an organization allocates resources, it divides money, people, facilities and equipment, land, and other resources among various current and new business opportunities, functions, projects, and tasks.

Question 12

Tactical planning is the process of making detailed decisions about what to do, who will do it, and how to do it, with a time horizon of four years or more.

Question 13

The variety of goods and/or services produced and the number of different markets served constitutes an organization's level of diversification.

Question 14

A firm's diversification level may be in the form of single business, dominant business, related business, or unrelated business.

Question 15

A single-business strategy involves serving various segments of a market.

Question 16

An unrelated-business firm provides diverse products to many different markets.

Question 17

General Electric is among the successful related-business firms.

Question 18

There are many companies that have been created through acquisitions that are frequently compared to General Electric, called conglomerates.

Question 19

Corporate-level planning and strategy guides the overall direction of firms having more than one line of business.

Question 20

Top corporate managers do not determine the role of each separate business within the organization, lower level managers do that.

Question 21

When a company enters the businesses of its customers in order to get closer to their ultimate (end user) customers, this is known as backward integration.

Question 22

Common corporate-level growth strategies include forward integration, backward integration, horizontal integration, related diversification, and conglomerate diversification.

Question 23

Related diversification is an alternative to traditional forms of backward, forward, and horizontal integration.

Question 24

Conglomerate diversification is the act of adding unrelated goods or services to a firm's line of businesses.

Question 25

A stock option is a contractual right granted by a company to the employee to purchase a defined number of shares of the company's stock at a fixed price within a specified period of time.

Question 26

When Sherron Watkins of Enron asked Ken Lay to investigate discrepancies with Enron's finances, Watkins requested that the law firm of Vinson & Elkins be used to conduct the investigation.

Question 27

Raptors, also known as special purpose entities, were intended to shield Enron from market losses in its growing equity business.

Question 28

The business-level strategy refers to the resources allocated and actions taken to achieve desired goals in serving a specific market with a highly interrelated set of goods and/or services.

Question 29

The vertical integration strategy refers to the interrelated actions and resource commitments established for operations, marketing, human resources, finance, legal services, accounting, and the organization's other functional areas.

Question 30

In practice, managers and teams involved in business-level planning often jump back and forth between the eight tasks in the planning process.

Question 31

Task 1 of the planning process involves developing the vision, mission(s), and goals.

Question 32

The situations that tend to make suppliers more powerful are similar to those that make customers more powerful.

Question 33

A company's core competencies are the strengths that make it distinctive and more competitive by providing goods or services that have unique value to customers.

Question 34

A market penetration strategy involves seeking growth in current markets with current products or services.

Question 35

Tactical plans are intended to help implement operational plans.

Question 36

Employee engagement forms one of Bombardier's three business priorities.

Question 37

To help leaders and managers at Bombardier cascade business-critical information, the strategy function provides a series of tools.

Question 38

The differentiation strategy is dominant in much of the auto industry.

Question 39

A framework that describes strategies that all types of organizations can use is a generic competitive strategy.

Question 40

Astin-Martin Hardware seeks to offer its customers lower prices than any other hardware store in town. Astin-Martin is following the differentiation strategy.

Question 41

The Elite Cafe has a strategy that involves competing in a specific restaurant niche by serving the unique needs of certain customers. The Elite Cafe is following a focused differentiation strategy.

Question 42

Amanda Knauer, founder of Qara Argentina, found that found that it was easy to combine fashion design with the adventure of international business.

Question 43

Qara Argentina is a luxury leather-accessories company that makes hand-crafted calfskin wallets, messenger bags, and other leather trimmings.

Question 44

High volume and/or rapid growth often are needed for profitability with the cost leadership strategy.

Question 45

The integrated strategy model consists of four interrelated elements that attempt to provide answers to three core questions.

Question 46

According to the integrated strategy model, the most fundamental choices leaders make are those of how, or in what vehicles, the business will operate.

Question 47

At the heart of a business strategy must be a clear idea of how profits will be generated - not just some profits, but profits above the firm's cost of capital.

Question 48

Gillette uses its propriety product and process technology to develop superior razor products, which the company further differentiates through a distinctive, aggressively advertised brand image.

Question 49

MTV Networks recent strategic moves included which of the following:

A) online communities
B) broadband
C) video on demand
D) all of the above are strategic moves

Question 50

MTV Networks' strategic move with regard to broadband included the ________channel.

A) TurboNick
B) VideoTunes
C) CyberRace
D) Gigaband

Question 51

The process of diagnosing the organization's environments, deciding on a mission and vision, developing overall goals, creating and selecting general strategies, and allocating resources is _________.

A) tactical planning
B) strategic planning
C) strategic control
D) operational planning

Question 52

Strategic planning involves developing and analyzing all of the following except:

A) daily tactical goals
B) mission
C) the internal environment
D) the external environment

Question 53

Preparation for unexpected, major, and quick changes in the environment is called __________ planning.

A) cascade
B) DFD (design for deployment)
C) tactical
D) contingency

Question 54

Generally, no more than _____ potentially critical events should be emphasized in contingency planning.

A) 1
B) 5
C) 8
D) 11

Question 55

__________ had a contingency communication plan that enabled it to respond to the ravages of the Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

A) Choctaw Casino
B) ExxonMobil
C) Mississippi Power Company
D) American Airlines

Question 56

Within days of Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi's Power Company was able to make strides in restoring ____________ in the 23-county, 150-miles service area.

A) e-mail and internal phone services
B) television
C) radio and communication
D) none of the above

Question 57

After Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi Power Company struggled to recover because:

A) there was too much centralization of decision making
B) their storm implementation plan was not well developed
C) too many employers did not have a logistical or storm contingency assignment
D) none of the above

Question 58

A vision statement adds _________ to a mission statement if it lacks one.

A) creativity
B) soul
C) mind
D) body

Question 59

Dell Computers' vision is to __________.

A) lead the Internet economy
B) sell the most computers
C) bring value to communities
D) become a global innovator

Question 60

An organization's purpose or reason for existing is known as a _________.

A) scenario
B) rationale
C) mission
D) strategy

Question 61

Which of the following questions is not often answered in a mission statement?

A) What business are we in?
B) Who are we?
C) What are we about?
D) How will we compete?

Question 62

A mission statement is meaningful only if it acts as a __________ for guiding strategic decisions and achieving an organization's long-term goals.

A) strategic plan
B) unifying force
C) tactical plan
D) vision

Question 63

A(n) __________ should encourage the organization's members to think and act strategically-not just once a year but every day.

A) mission statement
B) HRM statement
C) contingency plan
D) operational tactic

Question 64

An organization's __________ represent what it is committed to achieving.

A) tactical plans
B) strategic controls
C) goals
D) feedback systems

Question 65

Goals may be expressed __________.

A) qualitatively
B) quantitatively
C) covertly
D) both a and b are correct

Question 66

Which of the following is not a stated goal of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company as discussed in the text?

A) reduce company operating costs
B) simplify the supply chain and sales processes
C) expand the business through introduction of new products
D) create injury free workplaces

Question 67

The major courses of action (choices) that an organization takes to achieve its goals are called __________.

A) contingency plans
B) strategies
C) operational plans
D) tactical plans

Question 68

A key challenge for an organization is to develop ___________ that are(is) at least partially unique relative to competitors or to pursue strategies similar to those of competitors but in different ways.

A) strategies
B) a vision
C) plans
D) goals

Question 69

The allocation of __________ is (are) considered a function of resource allocation.

A) money
B) people
C) facilities
D) all of the above

Question 70

The earmarking of money, through budgets, for various uses is known as __________.

A) tactical planning
B) cost-based accounting
C) resource allocation
D) deployment

Question 71

Cinemagic Productions has decided to increase the number of horror-theme movies that it produces each year. To accomplish this goal, the company has increased its payroll budget and hired additional actors. Cinemagic Productions has engaged in __________.

A) resource-based costing
B) resource allocation
C) resource planning
D) resource execution

Question 72

The process of making concrete decisions about what to do, who will do it, and how to do it-within a time horizon of one year or less-is known as __________.

A) resource allocation
B) right-sizing
C) contingency planning
D) tactical planning

Question 73

Tactical planning involves all of the following steps except __________.

A) developing budgets for each department
B) developing budgets for each project
C) deciding on courses of action for diversification
D) developing quantitative goals

Question 74

Departmental managers and employee teams develop tactical plans to anticipate or cope with the actions of __________.

A) competitors
B) other departments
C) customers
D) all of the above

Question 75

__________ refers to the variety of goods and/or services produced by an organization and the number of different markets it serves.

A) Adaptation
B) Diversification
C) Strategy
D) Functionality

Question 76

Which of the following is not one of the questions managers should consider when trying to identify the potential risks and opportunities of diversification?

A) What can we do better than other firms if we enter a new market?
B) What strategic resources are needed to succeed in the new market?
C) What will this diversification move save in costs for suppliers?
D) Will we be simply a player in the new market or will we emerge a winner?

Question 77

Eduardo Rojas is interested in diversification as a means of understanding levels of strategy and planning. A firm's diversification level may be all of the following except a __________-business firm.

A) single
B) dominant
C) related
D) horizontal

Question 78

A firm that provides a limited number of goods or services to one segment of a particular market is known as a(n) __________-business strategy firm.

A) unrelated
B) related
C) single
D) dominant

Question 79

Southwest Airlines provides one type of transportation service to travelers. This is known as a(n) __________-business strategy firm.

A) dominant
B) single
C) related
D) integrated

Question 80

A firm that serves various segments of a particular market is known as a(n) __________-business firm.

A) single
B) dominant
C) related
D) unrelated