Deck 5: Competitive Advantage and Strategic Management for Performance Excellence

Question 1

Market share is inversely related to perceived value of a product.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Firms focused on differentiation produce high volumes of mature products and achieve their competitive advantage through low prices.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Flexibility refers to the ability to produce a wide range of products and options.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Standard products are the basis for cost-leadership.

Question 5

Success with the positive side of quality depends heavily on creativity.

Question 6

"Change the business" measures are those most critical to the achievement of strategic objectives and evaluate organizational performance.

Question 7

One way of viewing the role of quality in strategic planning is to examine how quality and performance excellence are reflected in an organization's strategy.

Question 8

The vision is deployed through the development and execution of annual policy statements.

Question 9

Affinity diagrams allows for "lateral thinking" rather than "linear thinking."

Question 10

A tree diagram brings the issues and problems revealed by the affinity diagram and the interrelationship digraph down to the operational planning stage.

Question 11

Matrix diagrams provide a picture of how well two sets of objects or issues are related and can identify missing pieces in the thought process.

Question 12

In its original form used in Japan, a tree diagram is a rigorous, statistically based "factor analysis" technique.

Question 13

A matrix data analysis takes each branch of a tree diagram, anticipates possible problems, and provides countermeasures.

Question 14

Vertical integration is the process by which certain business functions are acquired and consolidated within a firm.

Question 15

Which of the following is not one of the characteristics of a strong competitive advantage?

A) It is driven by financial indexes.
B) It makes a significant contribution to the success of the business.
C) It matches the organization's unique resources with the opportunities in the environment.
D) It is durable and lasting and difficult for competitors to copy.

Question 16

Value can be defined as:

A) conformance to specifications.
B) fitness for use.
C) least cost benefit.
D) quality relative to price.

Question 17

The classic literature on competitive strategy suggests that a firm can possess two basic types of competitive advantage:

A) low cost and differentiation.
B) low turnover and customer satisfaction.
C) high employee loyalty and customization.
D) wide product variety and economies of scale.

Question 18

Which of the following statements about cost-leadership is not true?

A) A cost leader can achieve above-average performance if it can command prices at or near the industry average.
B) Low cost can result from high productivity and high capacity utilization.
C) Improvements in quality lead to improvements in productivity, which in turn lead to lower costs.
D) To achieve cost-leadership, a firm must be unique in its industry along some dimensions that are widely valued by customers.

Question 19

Dell's business model is an example of which type of competitive advantage strategies?

A) Cost-leadership
B) Differentiation
C) People
D) Quality

Question 20

_____ is/are the only factor that competitors cannot copy.

A) Human resource
B) Product differentiation
C) Cost-leadership
D) Quality methods

Question 21

Which of the following is not one of the factors Taylor laid emphasis on?

A) Work methods design
B) Establishment of standards for daily work
C) Involvement of workforce in setting standards
D) Piecework incentives

Question 22

Which of the following is not one of the techniques used in quality engineering?

A) Concurrent engineering
B) Cost analysis
C) Design reviews
D) Experimental design

Question 23

The personal computer is an example of a _____ product.

A) custom
B) standardized
C) option-oriented
D) mass

Question 24

The time to introduce a new product is an example of:

A) cycle time.
B) turnaround time.
C) product innovation time.
D) lead time.

Question 25

The key quality-related dimensions a business may concentrate on in order to differentiate itself from its competition are all of the following except:

A) superior product and service design.
B) outstanding service.
C) product variety.
D) continuous innovation.

Question 26

Which of the following is not one of the key dimensions of service quality?

A) Reliability
B) Cost-effectiveness
C) Tangibles
D) Responsiveness

Question 27

Which of the following is not one of the four perspectives included in the balanced scorecard according to Robert Kaplan and David Norton?

A) Financial Perspective
B) Internal Perspective
C) Industry Perspective
D) Innovation and Learning Perspective

Question 28

Lagging measures:

A) tell what has happened.
B) predict what will happen.
C) relate results to its causes.
D) compare historical results.

Question 29

The _____ of a firm defines its reason for existence.

A) vision
B) mission
C) strategy
D) core competence

Question 30

_____ direct the journey to a vision by defining attitudes and policies for all employees that are reinforced through conscious and subconscious behavior at all levels of the organization.

A) Core competencies
B) Strategies
C) Strategic objectives
D) Values

Question 31

_____ is a systems approach to managing change in critical business processes.

A) Core competence
B) Strategy planning
C) Policy deployment
D) Integrated functional planning

Question 32

What are the three types of products?

Question 33

Briefly describe the various elements of strategy development.

Question 34

Describe the hoshin deployment process.

Question 35

Describe outsourcing, offshoring, and vertical integration.