Deck 3: Planning and Strategic Management

Question 1

Traditional goal setting requires top managers to set goals that are carried out by the organizational levels below.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A major strength of formal planning is that it generally correlates with higher profits.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

All managers plan in some way,either formally or informally.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

An organization that fails to plan will find it hard to assess progress.

Question 5

A major argument against formal plans is that they can't replace intuition and creativity.

Question 6

Goals typically should be reserved for managers only.Goals should not be shared with subordinates.

Question 7

Planning provides direction to managers and nonmanagers alike.

Question 8

The key to MBO,or management by objectives,is that managers and subordinates mutually agree on goals.

Question 9

Informal planning typically works better in large organizations.

Question 10

At some point,all managers create formal plans.

Question 11

A major strength of formal planning is that it makes an organization rigid.

Question 12

The four reasons that organizations plan is to provide direction,set standards,minimize waste,and reduce uncertainty and the impact of change.

Question 13

Research indicates that organizations that don't use formal planning always outperform organizations that do use formal planning.

Question 14

A key function of planning is to create goals.

Question 15

Planning rarely improves teamwork and cooperation among employees.

Question 16

Formal planning can increase creativity in an organization.

Question 17

Informal plans are not recognized as an effective form of planning.

Question 18

Goals are documents that outline how plans are to be carried out.

Question 19

A major strength of formal planning is that it reinforces past successes and incorporates them into the future.

Question 20

Managers who make formal plans are more likely to help an organization "break the mould" and carry out truly groundbreaking work that redefines an entire industry.

Question 21

SWOT analysis includes the identification of an organization's strengths,weaknesses,opportunities,and threats.

Question 22

Innovation and super-high quality are typically the keys to a cost-leadership strategy.

Question 23

A focus strategy seeks to appeal to a narrow segment of a market.

Question 24

A corporate strategy may be a growth strategy,a stability strategy,or a renewal strategy.

Question 25

The final three steps in the strategic management process involve the creation and implementation of strategies for realizing organizational goals.

Question 26

A diversification strategy focuses on a company becoming its own supplier of inputs.

Question 27

An external analysis will identify the threats to a company's well-being,but not opportunities for success.

Question 28

The most drastic renewal strategy an organization can carry out is a retrenchment strategy.

Question 29

Capabilities are "what" an organization has; resources are "how" it uses what it has.

Question 30

The first step in the strategic management process is analyzing the external environment.

Question 31

A six-month plan qualifies as a short-term plan.

Question 32

Directional plans leave no room for interpretation.

Question 33

In general,upper-level managers focus on tactical or operational planning.

Question 34

Buying a competitor's product for evaluation is a form of environmental scanning.

Question 35

"Build a better mousetrap" is a way of describing a competitive advantage.

Question 36

A mission statement for a kayak manufacturer might be "To make the highest-quality kayaks and sell them at a competitive price."

Question 37

Core competencies include an organization's major capabilities and its resources.

Question 38

Long-term plans used to refer to plans that covered a period of over three years,but now it refers to any time period over one year.

Question 39

A company with a stability strategy will plan to dramatically increase market share in a highly competitive market.

Question 40

Strategic management is the act of figuring out how an organization will compete in the marketplace and attract loyal customers.

Question 41

Informal planning is ________.

A)always performed at the lowest organizational level
B)general and usually lacks continuity
C)performed exclusively by middle managers
D)more specific than formal planning

Question 42

In formal planning,________.

A)specific goals covering a period of years are defined
B)to maximize flexibility,specific goals are never spelled out
C)very broad general goals are developed
D)goals may be written or unwritten

Question 43

Studies of performance in organizations that plan have reached ________ with respect to the benefits of formal planning.

A)somewhat negative conclusions
B)no conclusion
C)extremely negative conclusions
D)generally positive conclusions

Question 44

Which of the following best defines goals?

A)likely outcomes for the future
B)unlikely outcomes for the future
C)desired outcomes for the future
D)short-term targets

Question 45

Formal planning typically leads to which of the following?

A)higher profits
B)lower productivity
C)higher sales,but lower profits
D)tension between different management levels

Question 46

Planning gives organizations a way to deal with change that ________.

A)eliminates all uncertainty
B)reduces uncertainty
C)reduces certainty
D)increases ambiguity

Question 47

In reality,all organizations have ________.

A)a single goal
B)multiple goals
C)the same goals
D)the same single goal

Question 48

Planning gives organizations direction that primarily helps them ________.

A)improve teamwork and coordinate activities
B)improve their image in the business community
C)improve morale of middle managers
D)improve morale of all employees

Question 49

Planning is concerned with ________.

A)both ends and means
B)ends only
C)means only
D)neither ends nor means

Question 50

In informal planning,goals are usually ________ shared with others in the organization.

A)written,but little is
B)unwritten and little is
C)written and much is
D)unwritten,but much is

Question 51

Which of the following best defines plans?

A)documents that identify company problems
B)documents that define goals
C)documents that describe how goals will be met
D)documents that identify how goals from the past were met

Question 52

Failing to discard successful plans from the past is likely to lead to ________.

A)more success because conditions are unlikely to change in the future
B)failure because conditions are likely to change in the future
C)success because of the high quality of the plans
D)failure because of the low quality of the plans

Question 53

Managers who fail to plan may ________.

A)take advantage of change
B)stimulate change
C)be positively affected by change
D)be adversely affected by change

Question 54

Which of the following is a frequently cited criticism of formal planning?

A)Plans lock organizations into rigid goals and timetables.
B)Plans take too long to create.
C)Plans create resentment within different levels of the organization.
D)Formal planning works well only for smaller companies.

Question 55

One criticism of formal planning is that it focuses on how to beat the competition rather than how to ________.

A)have cordial relationships with the competition
B)focus on new opportunities
C)balance the organization's budget
D)cooperate with the competition

Question 56

Organizations that don't formally plan may be more likely to have ________.

A)corrupt managers
B)legal problems
C)multiple departments performing the same task
D)a single department carrying out all company functions

Question 57

Compared to goals,objectives are ________.

A)of a longer time frame
B)broader
C)more specific
D)more general

Question 58

One effect of planning on managers is that it forces them to ________.

A)fear change
B)anticipate and consider the effect of change
C)work to prevent change
D)ignore any change that doesn't directly affect them

Question 59

Customer service cannot be considered a strategic weapon for an organization.

Question 60

This term describes what an electric shaver company is doing when it carefully observes its competitor's production line to look for ways to improve its own manufacturing process.

A)trademarking
B)benchmarking
C)quality engineering
D)reverse marketing

Question 61

Standing plans typically can be used ________.

A)only once
B)only in conjunction with specific,long-term plans
C)twice at most
D)repeatedly

Question 62

Which of the following defines the time frame of a long-term plan?

A)over seven years
B)over three years
C)under three years
D)over one year

Question 63

MBO programs are usually successful largely because they ________.

A)give employees a sense of ownership of goals
B)free managers from the responsibility of setting goals
C)give managers a sense of ownership of goals
D)free employees from responsibility if goals are not met

Question 64

In traditional goal setting,as they work their way from top management to employees,goals are likely to ________.

A)become more clear
B)be more rigorously followed
C)be unchanged
D)become less clear

Question 65

A politician whose ultimate goal is to get elected is planning campaign ads for TV.In planning the ads,the politician is functioning at a ________ level.

A)strategic
B)long-term
C)operational
D)directional

Question 66

Operational plans are plans that identify ________.

A)overall organizational goals
B)how overall goals are going to be achieved
C)the mission of an organization
D)specific goals for accomplishing a specific objective

Question 67

The specificity of a plan refers to ________ concerns.

A)long-term versus short-term
B)strategic versus tactical
C)specific versus directional
D)single use versus standing

Question 68

In addition to being made by both managers and employees,MBO goals must be ________.

A)nonspecific and open-ended with regard to time
B)specific and open-ended with regard to time
C)specific and include an explicit time limit
D)nonspecific and include no time limit

Question 69

Directional plans ________.

A)leave no room for interpretation
B)are flexible general guidelines
C)are difficult to modify
D)must be short-term plans

Question 70

In management by objectives (MBO),goals ________.

A)must be easily accomplished
B)are jointly determined by employees and managers
C)are determined by top management
D)are developed by employees

Question 71

The first step in the six-step strategic management process is to ________.

A)analyze the organization's strengths and weaknesses
B)identify the organization's mission
C)identify strategies to reach the organization's goals
D)analyze the opportunities the organization has

Question 72

An organization's real goals and priorities are best revealed by ________.

A)its official stated goals
B)its actions in the marketplace
C)its statements to the press
D)its mission statement

Question 73

The more uncertain a situation is,the more ________ plans must be.

A)unspecific
B)long term
C)flexible
D)short term

Question 74

In traditional goal setting,these individuals set goals.

A)top managers
B)middle and low-level managers
C)middle managers
D)managers and employees

Question 75

Top managers,for the most part,focus on this type of planning.

A)operational
B)strategic
C)tactical
D)short term

Question 76

The breadth of a plan refers to ________ concerns.

A)long-term versus short-term
B)strategic versus operational
C)specific versus directional
D)single use versus standing

Question 77

A cell phone company might ask managers to do some environmental scanning of blogs that deal with electronics as a way to ________.

A)obtain new customers
B)identify emerging trends
C)obtain new advertisers
D)identify potential rivals

Question 78

________ are important because they provide the standards against which all organizational accomplishments are measured.

A)Goals
B)Guidelines
C)Models
D)Rules

Question 79

Strategic plans address ________.

A)overall organizational goals
B)goals for a single branch of the organization
C)how overall goals are to be achieved
D)how a single goal is to be achieved

Question 80

In the twenty-first century,managers increasingly need to consider their plans as ________.

A)highly explicit recipes that must be scrupulously followed
B)a vague philosophy that should not interfere with actions
C)flexible road maps with destinations that may change
D)rigid road maps with a single destination