Deck 4: Evaluating a Companys Resources, capabilities, and Competitiveness

Question 1

For a particular company resource to have meaningful competitive power and perhaps qualify as a basis for competitive advantage,it should

A)be competitively important,hard for competitors to copy or imitate,rare and something rivals lack,and not be easily trumped by the substitute resources/capabilities of rivals.
B)be something that a company does internally rather than in collaborative arrangements with outsiders.
C)be patentable.
D)be rooted in the company's organizational capital,information capital,or human capital.
E)have the potential for lowering the firm's unit costs.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The difference between a resource and a capability is that

A)a resource refers to a company's best-executed functional strategy and a capability refers to a company's best-executed business strategy.
B)a resource refers to a company's most strategically important asset,whereas a capability refers to the basis of a company's competitive advantage over rivals.
C)a resource is a competitively relevant internal activity that a firm performs especially well relative to other internal activities,whereas a capability is a competitively important activity performed by key strategic allies.
D)a resource represents a competitive asset that is owned or controlled by the company,whereas a capability is a competently performed internal activity that is developed through the deployment of the company's resources.
E)a resource usually resides in a company's technology and physical assets (state-of-the-art plants and equipment,attractive real estate locations,and so on),whereas a capability usually resides in a company's human capital,information capital,or organizational capital.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The four tests of a resource's competitive power are often referred to as the

A)organizational capability metric analysis.
B)SWOT analysis.
C)competitive advantage sustainability test.
D)SCIR test,which asks if a resource is sustainable,competitive,internalized,and reproducible.
E)VRIN test,which asks if a resource is valuable,rare,inimitable,and nonsubstitutable.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

When a company is good at performing a particular internal activity,it is said to have a

A)competitive advantage over rivals.
B)competitive capability.
C)distinctive competence.
D)resource-based strategy.
E)competence.

Question 5

The competitive power of a company resource depends on

A)whether it helps differentiate a company's product offering from the product offerings of rival firms.
B)whether the resource is really competitively valuable,if it is rare and something competitors lack,how hard it is to copy or imitate,and how easily it can be trumped by the substitute resource strengths and competitive capabilities of rivals.
C)whether customers are aware of the resource and view it positively enough to boost the company's brand name reputation.
D)whether the resource is something rivals are unable to perform,if it is an important differentiating product or service feature,how strongly it contributes to the company's brand image,and if it is the foundation of a cost-based advantage.
E)whether the resource is technology-based or based on superior marketing know-how.

Question 6

Which of the following is not one of the five questions that comprise the task of evaluating a company's competitive strength and cost structure?

A)How well is the company's strategy working?
B)What are the company's competitively important resources and capabilities?
C)Are the company's cost structure and customer value proposition competitive?
D)What are the company's most and least profitable geographic segments?
E)What strategic issues and problems merit front-burner managerial attention?

Question 7

A resource-based strategy

A)focuses on exploiting a company's best-executed operating strategy.
B)is based upon efficient performance of the company's primary value chain activities.
C)concentrates on minimizing the costs associated with the design of a product or service.
D)attempts to exploit resources in a manner that offers value to customers in ways rivals are unable to match.
E)focuses on working with forward channel allies to develop capabilities to outmatch the capabilities of rivals.

Question 8

Which of the following is not a component of evaluating a company's competitive strength and cost structure?

A)Evaluating how well the strategy is working
B)Scanning the environment to determine a company's best and most profitable customers
C)Assessing whether the company's costs and prices are competitive
D)Evaluating whether the company is competitively stronger or weaker than key rivals
E)Pinpointing what strategic issues and problems merit front-burner management attention

Question 9

A company that lacks a stand-alone resource that is competitively powerful may attempt to develop a competitive advantage through

A)improved employee training programs,new marketing promotions,or technological enhancements to production processes.
B)the development of a new business strategy that draws upon existing resource strengths.
C)extensive strategic planning and resource identification sessions involving managers at all levels of the organization.
D)bundled resources that enable superior performance of cross-functional capabilities that can be leveraged to support its business model and strategy.
E)devising clever approaches to turning resource weaknesses into resource strengths.

Question 10

A capability of the firm is not considered to be

A)the capacity of a firm to competently perform some internal activity.
B)referred to as a competence.
C)developed and enabled through the deployment of a company's resources or some combination of its resources.
D)a competitively valuable resource.
E)related to the level of resources available.

Question 11

A resource-based strategy

A)is often based on cross-department combinations of intellectual capital and expertise.
B)uses a company's valuable and rare resources and competitive capabilities to deliver value to customers that rivals have difficulty matching.
C)is typically based on a stand-alone resource strength such as technological expertise.
D)refers to a company's most efficiently executed value-chain activity.
E)uses industry key success factors to provide a company with a core competence that rivals cannot effectively imitate.

Question 12

One important indicator of how well a company's present strategy is working is whether

A)it is customarily a first-mover in introducing new or improved products (a good sign)or a late-mover (a bad sign).
B)its strategy is built around at least two of the industry's key success factors.
C)the company is achieving its financial and strategic objectives and whether it is an above-average industry performer.
D)it has been able to create new industry demand through the use of a blue ocean strategy.
E)it is subject to weaker competitive forces and pressures than close rivals (a good sign)or stronger competitive forces and pressures (a bad sign).

Question 13

The common types of valuable resources and competitive capabilities that management should consider when crafting a strategy do not include

A)a skill,specialized expertise,or competitively important capability.
B)valuable physical and intangible assets.
C)valuable human assets and intellectual capital.
D)valuable organizational assets and competitively valuable alliances.
E)market share,profit growth,and increases in stock price.

Question 14

The competitive power of a company resource or competitive capability hinges on

A)how easy it is for the firm to copy or imitate its rivals' moves in the marketplace.
B)whether it is robust and,therefore,something rivals cannot afford to develop.
C)whether it leads to competitive volatility,forcing rivals to jockey for an industry leadership position.
D)how easily it can be substituted by merging with or acquiring another firm with complementary resources and capabilities.
E)whether it is rare and,therefore,something rivals lack.

Question 15

Which one of the following is not a reliable measure of how well a company's current strategy is working?

A)Trends in the company's sales and earnings growth
B)The company's development of human capital,organizational capital,and information capital
C)Changes in the firm's image and reputation with its customers
D)The company's overall financial strength
E)Evidence of improvement in internal processes such as defect rate,order fulfillment,and employee productivity

Question 16

Which one of the following is not a reliable measure of how well a company's current strategy is working?

A)Trends in the company's sales and earnings growth
B)The company's development of human capital,organizational capital,and information capital
C)Changes in the firm's image and reputation with its customers
D)The company's overall financial strength
E)Evidence of improvement in internal processes such as defect rate,order fulfillment,and employee productivity

Question 17

A company's resources and capabilities represent

A)the firm's net working capital and related determinants for measuring operating performance and capabilities.
B)positive trends with relevant cultural factors related to buyers' choices and product modifications.
C)management's source of funding for new strategic initiatives.
D)whether or not the firm has the industry's most efficient value chain.
E)the firm's competitive assets that determine its competitiveness and ability to succeed in the marketplace.

Question 18

Organizational capabilities are virtually always

A)more complex than resources and are exercised only through key personnel.
B)requiring constant evaluation to ensure cooperative support from management.
C)easier and less challenging to categorize than resources because there are fewer to be concerned about.
D)knowledge-based.
E)reflective of the industry's driving forces.

Question 19

________ is a powerful tool for sizing up the company's competitive assets and determining whether they can provide the foundation necessary for competitive success in the marketplace.

A)Competitive strength analysis
B)Financial and asset management analysis
C)Value chain analysis
D)SWOT analysis
E)VRIN tests

Question 20

A company that is at a disadvantage in the marketplace because it lacks competitively valuable resources possessed by rivals

A)should consider divesting assets and making future investments in promising new industries.
B)may be able to develop substitute resources that accomplish the same objective as the competitively valuable resource possessed by rivals.
C)can still marshal competitive power in the marketplace by incorporating product or service features desired by niche buyers.
D)is virtually blockaded from using offensive strategies and must rely on defensive strategies.
E)should abandon strategy elements that have caused its weakness in the marketplace.

Question 21

The external market opportunities that are most relevant to a company are the ones that

A)increase its market share.
B)reinforce its overall business strategy.
C)match up well with the firm's financial resources and competitive capabilities,offer the best growth and profitability,and present the most potential for competitive advantage.
D)correct its internal weaknesses and resource deficiencies.
E)help defend it against the external threats to its well-being.

Question 22

Which one of the following is not an intangible resource?

A)Human assets and intellectual capital
B)Technological assets
C)Brand,image,and reputation
D)Relationships
E)Company culture

Question 23

A company resource weakness or competitive deficiency

A)represents a problem that needs to be turned into a strength because weaknesses prevent a firm from being a winner in the marketplace.
B)causes the company to fall into a lower strategic group than it otherwise could compete in.
C)prevents a company from having a distinctive competence.
D)usually stems from having a missing link or links in the industry value chain.
E)is something a company lacks or does poorly (in comparison to rivals)or a condition that puts it at a disadvantage in the marketplace.

Question 24

Which of the following most accurately reflect a company's resource strengths?

A)Its core competencies,competitive capabilities,and valuable intangible assets
B)Sizes of its unit sales,revenues,and market share vis-à-vis those of key rivals
C)Sizes of its profit margins and return on investment vis-à-vis those of key rivals
D)Whether it has more primary activities in its value chain than close rivals and a better overall value chain than these rivals
E)Whether it has a more profitable business model than close rivals

Question 25

When a company has become proficient in modifying,upgrading,or deepening the company's resources and capabilities in response to its changing environment and market opportunities,it is called a

A)dynamic capability.
B)core competence.
C)distinct competence.
D)strategic assessment.
E)competitive strength matrix.

Question 26

________ is identifying and appraising a company's resource strengths and weaknesses and its external opportunities and threats.

A)SWOT analysis
B)Competitive asset/liability analysis
C)Competitive positioning analysis
D)Strategic resource assessment
E)Company resource mapping

Question 27

Every organization has many resources,capabilities,and routines;however,those few things the company does really well and performs with a very high proficiency are termed

A)core competencies.
B)distinct capabilities.
C)sustainable activities.
D)socially complex activities.
E)distributive factors.

Question 28

Which of the following is not a good example of a company's resources?

A)Having a lower-cost value chain than key rivals
B)Having a well-known brand name and enjoying the confidence of customers
C)Having more intellectual capital and better e-commerce capabilities than key rivals
D)Having higher earnings per share and a higher stock price than key rivals
E)Having fruitful partnerships or alliances with suppliers that reduce costs and/or enhance product quality and performance

Question 29

Imitation by rivals is most challenging when

A)resources are unique.
B)resources must be built over time.
C)capabilities reflect a high level of social complexity and causal ambiguity.
D)resources and capabilities require a high level of capital investment.
E)resources and capabilities are accessible and require low levels of investment.

Question 30

Which one of the following is a tangible resource?

A)Know-how and experience-based learning
B)Brand,image,and reputation
C)Relationships
D)Company culture
E)Financial capital

Question 31

Which of the following is not an example of a company's dynamic capability?

A)Petsmart's ability to remain a big-box,bricks and mortar retailer
B)Facebook's ability to upgrade its messaging services to feature real-time video chat
C)Tesla's ability to introduce less costly and yet more technologically advanced automobiles
D)Amazon's ability to expedite its delivery services using drone aircraft
E)ESPN's ability to deliver live games via video streaming services

Question 32

Which of the following is not an example of an external threat to a company's future profitability?

A)Lack of a distinctive competence
B)Potential of a hostile takeover
C)Adverse changes in foreign exchange rates
D)Unfavorable demographic shifts
E)Introduction of restrictive trade policies in countries where the company does business

Question 33

The most important parts of conducting a SWOT analysis are

A)listing a company's resource strengths and competitive capabilities.
B)identifying the company's resource strengths and competitive capabilities,external market opportunities,and threats to its well-being.
C)creating a table with four lists for company managers to evaluate.
D)drawing conclusions about the company's overall business situation and translating these conclusions into strategic actions.
E)tabulating a company's resource strengths and market opportunities,problematic weaknesses,and worrisome threats.

Question 34

Which of the following is not a tangible resource?

A)Technological assets
B)Physical assets
C)Financial assets
D)Organizational resources
E)A company's reputation for integrity and quality products

Question 35

Which of the following is not a market opportunity most relevant to a particular company?

A)Likely entry of potent new competitors
B)Acquiring rival firms or companies with technological know-how to enter new lines of business
C)Expanding the company's product line to meet new customer needs
D)Expanding into new geographic markets
E)Falling trade barriers in attractive foreign markets

Question 36

A company's resource weaknesses can relate to

A)inferior or unproven skills,lack of expertise,or intellectual capital shortfalls in competitively important parts of the business.
B)something that it lacks or does poorly (in comparison to rivals).
C)deficiencies in competitively important physical,organizational,or intangible assets.
D)missing or competitively inferior capabilities in key areas.
E)inability to achieve a leading market share.

Question 37

Which one of the following is not part of conducting a SWOT analysis?

A)Identifying a company's resource strengths and competitive capabilities
B)Benchmarking the company's resource strengths and competitive capabilities against industry key success factors
C)Identifying a company's market opportunities
D)Drawing conclusions about the company's overall business situation
E)Matching the company's strategy to its resource strengths and market opportunities,correcting problematic weaknesses,and defending against worrisome threats

Question 38

Sizing up a company's overall resource strengths and weaknesses

A)essentially involves constructing a strategic balance sheet on which the company's resource strengths represent competitive assets and its resource weaknesses represent competitive liabilities.
B)is the same process as benchmarking.
C)is called competitive strength assessment.
D)is focused on making lists of a company's resource strengths and weaknesses.
E)is called company resource mapping.

Question 39

A first-rate SWOT analysis

A)is a way to measure whether a company's value chain is longer or shorter than the chains of key rivals.
B)is a tool for benchmarking whether a firm's strategy is closely matched to industry key success factors.
C)reveals whether a company is competitively stronger than its closest rivals.
D)provides a good basis for crafting a strategy.
E)identifies the reasons a company's strategy is or is not working very well.

Question 40

Which of the following best describes the market opportunities that tend to be most relevant to a particular company?

A)Those that provide avenues for taking market share away from close rivals and enhance a company's image as a leader in product innovation and product quality
B)Those that offer the company a chance to raise entry barriers
C)Those that help promote greater diversification of revenues and profits
D)Those that match up well with the firm's financial resources and competitive capabilities,offer the best growth and profitability,and present the most potential for competitive advantage
E)Those that help correct a company's biggest weaknesses and competitive deficiencies

Question 41

A company's value chain identifies

A)the steps it goes through to convert its net income into value for shareholders.
B)the primary activities that create value for customers and related support activities.
C)the series of steps it takes to get a product from a raw materials stage to a finished product.
D)the activities it performs in transforming its competencies into distinctive competencies.
E)the competencies and competitive capabilities that underpin its efforts to create value for customers and shareholders.

Question 42

Managers can pursue any of several strategic approaches to reduce the costs of internally performed value chain activities and improve a company's cost competitiveness by

A)investing in productivity-enhancing,cost-saving technological improvements.
B)outsourcing internally performed activities to those able to perform the activities at a lower cost.
C)implementing the use of best practices,particularly for high-cost activities.
D)eliminating some cost-producing activities from the value chain,especially low value-added activities.
E)acquiring suppliers,rivals,or forward channel distributors.

Question 43

One of the most telling signs of whether a company's market position is strong or precarious is

A)whether its product is strongly or weakly differentiated from rivals.
B)whether its prices and costs are competitive with those of key rivals.
C)whether it has a lower stock price than key rivals.
D)the opinions of buyers regarding which seller has the best product quality and customer service.
E)whether it is in a bigger or smaller strategic group than its closest rivals.

Question 44

The primary activities included in the value chain include

A)supply chain management,operations,distribution,sales and marketing,and customer service activities
B)product R&D and technology and systems development
C)human resource management
D)general administration
E)legal and regulatory oversight

Question 45

Which of the following is not an example of an external threat to a company's future profitability?

A)Likely entry of potent new competitors
B)Lack of a well-known brand name with which to attract new customers and help retain existing customers
C)Unfavorable shifts in buyer demographics and tastes
D)Costly new regulatory requirements
E)Increase(s)in interest rates

Question 46

________ is a much-used and potent managerial tool for determining whether a company performs particular functions or activities in a manner that represents the best practice when both cost and effectiveness are taken into account.

A)A competitive strength analysis
B)Activity-based costing
C)Resource cost mapping
D)SWOT analysis
E)Benchmarking

Question 47

The options for remedying a supplier-related cost disadvantage include

A)trying to negotiate more favorable prices with suppliers and switching to lower priced substitute inputs.
B)forward vertical integration.
C)shifting into the production of substitute products.
D)shifting from a low-cost leadership strategy to a differentiation or focus strategy.
E)cutting selling prices and trying to win a bigger market share.

Question 48

The two most important parts of SWOT analysis are

A)pinpointing the company's competitive assets and pinpointing its competitive liabilities.
B)identifying the company's resource strengths and identifying the company's best market opportunities.
C)identifying the external threats to a company's future profitability and pinpointing how many market opportunities it has.
D)drawing conclusions from the SWOT listings about the company's overall situation and translating these conclusions into strategic actions to better match the company's strategy to its resource strengths and market opportunities,correct the important weaknesses,and defend against external threats.
E)making accurate lists of the company's strengths,weaknesses,opportunities,and threats,and then using these lists as a basis for ascertaining how well the company's strategy is working.

Question 49

Which of the following is not an option for improving supplier-related value chain activities?

A)Integrate backward into the business of high-cost suppliers in an effort to reduce the costs of the items being purchased.
B)Negotiate more favorable prices with suppliers.
C)Collaborate closely with suppliers to identify mutual cost-saving opportunities.
D)Switch to lower-priced substitute inputs.
E)Persuade forward channel allies to implement best practices.

Question 50

Determining whether a company's prices and costs are competitive

A)requires looking at the costs of a company's internally performed activities and the costs of its suppliers and forward channel allies (distributors/dealers).
B)requires performing pricing surveys on at least a quarterly basis.
C)involves developing close relationships with buyers to determine if the market is showing signs of increasing price sensitivity.
D)typically involves the use of activity-based cost accounting by the company's key retail customers.
E)is a technique to evaluate whether a capability or resource is valuable,rare,inimitable,or nonsubstitutable.

Question 51

A company's value chain

A)consists of the primary activities that it performs in seeking to deliver value to shareholders in the form of higher dividends and a higher stock price.
B)depicts the internally performed activities associated with creating and enhancing the company's competitive assets.
C)consists of two broad categories of activities: the primary activities that create customer value and the requisite support activities that facilitate and enhance the performance of the primary activities.
D)concerns the basic process the company goes through in performing R&D and developing new products.
E)consists of the series of steps a company goes through to develop a new product,get it produced and into the marketplace,and then start collecting revenues and earning a profit.

Question 52

The most important payoff of doing a thorough SWOT analysis is

A)identifying whether the company's value chain is cost effective vis-à-vis the value chains of rivals.
B)helping strategy makers benchmark the company's resource strengths against industry key success factors.
C)enabling a company to assess its leverage in negotiations with buyers.
D)revealing whether a company's market share,measures of profitability,and sales compare favorably or unfavorably vis-à-vis key competitors.
E)assisting strategy makers in drawing conclusions about the company's overall situation and crafting a strategy that is well-matched to the company's resources and capabilities,its market opportunities,and the external threats to its future well-being.

Question 53

Identifying the primary and secondary activities that comprise a company's value chain

A)indicates whether a company's resource strengths will ultimately translate into greater value for its shareholders.
B)reveals whether a company's resource strengths are well-matched to the industry's key success factors.
C)is the first step in understanding a company's cost structure (since each activity in the value chain gives rise to costs).
D)is called benchmarking.
E)is called resource value analysis.

Question 54

Which of the following is not a good option for trying to remedy high internal costs vis-à-vis rival firms?

A)Investing in productivity-enhancing,cost-saving technological improvements
B)Redesigning the product or some of its components to permit more economical manufacture or assembly
C)Implementing aggressive strategic resource mapping to permit across-the-board cost reduction
D)Outsourcing high-cost activities to vendors or contractors who can perform them more economically
E)Relocating high-cost activities (such as manufacturing)to geographic areas (such as China or Latin America or Eastern Europe)where they can be performed more cheaply

Question 55

Benchmarking involves

A)comparing how different companies perform various value chain activities and then making cross-company comparisons of the costs of these activities.
B)checking whether a company has achieved more of its financial and strategic objectives over the past five years relative to the other firms it is in direct competition with.
C)studying whether a company's resource strengths are more or less powerful than the resource strengths of rival companies.
D)tracking the profit margin along with the value-creating activities.
E)comparing the best practices in one industry against the best practices in another industry.

Question 56

A company's strategic options for internally performed value chain activities do not include

A)revamping its value chain to eliminate or bypass some cost-producing activities (particularly low value-added activities).
B)implementing the use of best practices,particularly for high-cost activities.
C)investing in productivity-enhancing,cost-saving technological improvements.
D)switching to activity-based costing.
E)outsourcing the performance of high-cost activities to vendors that can perform them more cheaply.

Question 57

The most difficult part of benchmarking is

A)whether to do it at all.
B)figuring out how to gain access to information regarding rivals' practices and costs.
C)when to initiate the process.
D)what information to utilize in the analysis process.
E)when to stop the process and move forward with strategy.

Question 58

When looking at the entire industry,the main areas in a company's overall value chain where important differences between a firm's cost and value do not occur are in

A)a company's own internal activities.
B)the supplier's industry value chain.
C)the forward channel portion of the industry chain.
D)a company's own internal activities,the supplier's industry value chain,and the forward channel portion of the industry chain.
E)a company's external activities,the supplier's part of the industry value chain,and the buyer's ability to integrate backward.

Question 59

Accurately assessing the competitiveness of a company's cost structure and value proposition requires

A)that managers understand an industry's entire value chain system.
B)that managers understand the detail of their own company's value chain.
C)that managers are involved in functional strategy development.
D)that managers understand the firm's profitability outlook.
E)that financial measures such as return on equity and return on assets are in excess of the company's hurdle rates.

Question 60

Two analytical tools useful in determining whether a company's prices and costs are competitive are

A)SWOT analysis and key success factor analysis.
B)SWOT analysis and benchmarking.
C)value chain analysis and benchmarking.
D)competitive position assessment and competitive strength assessment.
E)driving forces analysis and SWOT analysis.

Question 61

Which one of the following is not something that can be learned from doing a competitive strength assessment?

A)Factors on which a company is competitively strongest and weakest vis-à-vis key rivals
B)Whether a company should correct its weaknesses by adopting best practices and/or revamping the makeup of its value chain
C)Which of the rated companies is competitively strongest and what size competitive advantage it enjoys
D)Whether a company has a net competitive advantage or a net competitive disadvantage relative to key rivals (with the size of the advantage/disadvantage being indicated by the differences among the companies' competitive strength scores)
E)Which rival company is competitively weakest and the areas where it is most vulnerable to competitive attack

Question 62

Briefly discuss the meaning and significance of each of the following terms:
a.SWOT analysis
b.Company value chain
c.Industry value chain
d.Weighted competitive strength assessment
e.Benchmarking

Question 63

How can a resource-based strategy lead to a sustainable competitive advantage?

Question 64

A distinctive competence represents competitively superior resource strength.True or false? Explain your answer.

Question 65

Identify at least five indicators of whether a company's present strategy is working well.

Question 66

Costs and price differences among competing companies can have origins in activities performed by

A)whether the company has a longer or shorter value chain than its close rivals.
B)value chains of the company's suppliers.
C)developing a "worry list" of problems and issues for managerial strategy making.
D)the company's internally performed activities (its own value chain),but also on costs in the value chain of its suppliers and distribution channel allies.
E)value chains of a company's distributors and retail dealers and forward channel allies.

Question 67

In conducting a SWOT analysis,is it enough to simply compile lists of the company's strengths,weaknesses,opportunities,and threats? Why or why not?

Question 68

Identify the five questions that form the framework of evaluating a company's resources and competitive position.

Question 69

Identify the six questions to consider in evaluating a company's ability to compete successfully against market rivals.

Question 70

A company lacking stand-alone resource strength should focus on bundling several resource strengths into a core competence.True or false? Explain and support your answer.

Question 71

Which of the following is not an option for remedying a forward channel-related cost disadvantage?

A)Negotiate more favorable prices with suppliers.
B)Integrate forward into company-owned retail outlets.
C)Collaborate closely with forward channel allies to identify mutual cost-saving opportunities.
D)Change to a more economical distribution strategy.
E)Pressure dealer-distributors to reduce their costs and markups.

Question 72

Doing a competitive strength assessment entails

A)determining whether a company has a cost-effective value chain.
B)ranking the company against major rivals on each of the important factors that determine market success and ascertaining whether the company has a net competitive advantage or disadvantage versus major rivals.
C)identifying a company's core competencies and distinctive competencies (if any).
D)analyzing whether a company is well positioned to gain market share and be the industry's profit leader.
E)developing quantitative measures of a company's chances for future profitability.

Question 73

Identifying the strategic issues a company faces and compiling a "worry list" of problems and roadblocks is an important component of company situation analysis because

A)without a precise fix on what problems/issues a company confronts,managers cannot know what are the industry's key success factors.
B)the "worry list" sets the management agenda for taking actions to improve the company's performance and business outlook.
C)without a precise fix on what problems/roadblocks a company confronts,managers are less clear about what value chain activities to benchmark.
D)the "worry list" helps company managers clarify their thinking about how best to modify the company's value chain.
E)these issues and obstacles must be cleared before management can focus clearly on what is the best strategy for the company to pursue.

Question 74

The value of doing competitive strength assessment is to

A)determine the competitiveness of the company's core competencies.
B)learn if the company's market opportunities are better than those of its rivals.
C)learn whether a company has a distinctive competence.
D)learn how the company ranks relative to rivals on each of the important factors that determine market success and ascertain whether the company has a net competitive advantage or disadvantage vis-à-vis key rivals.
E)determine whether a company's resource strengths are sufficient to allow it to earn bigger profits than rivals.

Question 75

Which of the following is not accurate as concerns the task of identifying the strategic issues and problems that merit front-burner managerial attention?

A)Drawing upon the results and conclusions from analyzing the company's external environment
B)Drawing on the results and conclusions from evaluating the company's own resources and competitive position
C)Developing a "worry list" of problems and issues for managerial strategy making
D)Identifying the strategic issues and problems that the company faces is the first thing that company managers need to do before starting to analyze the company's internal and external environment.
E)Developing a list of what issues and problems that management needs to address (and to resolve)should always precede deciding upon a strategy and what actions to take to improve the company's position and prospects.

Question 76

The options for remedying a cost disadvantage associated with activities performed by forward channel allies include

A)switching to lower-priced substitutes.
B)pressuring forward channel allies to reduce their costs and markups.
C)shifting into the production of substitute products.
D)shifting from a differentiation strategy to a best-cost strategy or focus strategy.
E)implementing a benchmarking program and adopting best practices.

Question 77

Draw a typical company value chain,and briefly explain the difference between primary activities and support activities.

Question 78

A company's competitive strength scores

A)pinpoint its strengths and weaknesses against rivals and point to offensive and defensive strategies capable of producing first-rate results.
B)determine whether a company has a cost-effective value chain.
C)determine if the company's market opportunities are better than those of its rival.
D)analyze whether a company is well positioned to gain market share and be the industry's profit leader.
E)determine whether a company's resource strengths are sufficient to allow it to earn bigger profits than rivals.

Question 79

Activity-based costing

A)is a tool for identifying the activities that cause a company's product to be strongly differentiated from the products of rivals.
B)is far superior to SWOT analysis for analyzing a firm's internal situation.
C)involves developing a "worry list" of problems and issues for managerial strategy making.
D)is an accounting system that assigns a company's expenses to whichever activity in a company's value chain is responsible for creating the cost.
E)involves determining which value chain activities represent variable costs and which represent fixed costs.

Question 80

Why do a company's core competencies matter in crafting strategy?