Question 1

Company managers can significantly advance the cause of superior strategy execution by

Accepted Answer

All of these options can contribute to advancing the cause of superior strategy execution. Using process management tools can help a company identify areas for improvement and make continuous progress. Benchmarking against best-in-industry or best-in-world performers can provide valuable insights and goals for the company to strive for. Examining best-in-company performers can also identify successful strategies that can be implemented across different locations or units. Therefore, all of these options can be helpful for achieving superior strategy execution.

Question 2

Total quality management (TQM)

Accepted Answer

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy that emphasizes continuous improvement in all phases of operations, 100% accuracy in performing tasks, involvement and empowerment of employees at all levels, team-based work design, benchmarking, and total customer satisfaction. It is not just a tool, technique, or theory, but rather a complete system for managing a company's quality-focused initiatives. TQM is focused on creating a culture of quality where everyone is committed to improving processes and results.

Question 3

Business process reengineering is a tool for

Accepted Answer

Business process reengineering is a tool used to streamline and improve processes within an organization. Option B accurately describes how it achieves this by pulling together strategy-critical activities and unifying their performance to ensure they support the overall strategy. Option A, C, D, and E do not accurately describe the purpose of business process reengineering.

Question 4

New strategies often entail budget reallocations because

Accepted Answer

New strategies often require the reallocation of budgets because certain units or activities that were important in the prior strategy may no longer be as critical in the new strategy, while other units or activities may become more critical and require additional resources. This may involve downsizing some units and increasing budgets for others. This is reflected in choice C. The other answer choices do not fully address why budget reallocations may be necessary for new strategies.

Question 5

Which one of the following is not a tool that company managers can use to promote operating excellence in performing value chain activities?

Accepted Answer

Adoption of standard industry techniques is not a tool for promoting operating excellence as it only ensures that a company is performing at par with the industry standards, rather than surpassing them. The other options listed (benchmarking, adoption of best practices, TQM and/or Six Sigma quality control techniques, and business process reengineering) are all effective tools for achieving operational excellence by identifying and improving inefficiencies in a company's value chain activities.

Question 6

Managers charged with implementing and executing strategy need to be deeply involved in the budgeting and resource allocation process because

Accepted Answer

Both options A and B are valid reasons why managers charged with implementing and executing strategy need to be deeply involved in the budgeting and resource allocation process. Too little funding can hinder the organization's ability to achieve its strategic goals, while a change in strategy often requires a reallocation of resources. Therefore, managers need to have a strong understanding of the budgeting and resource allocation process to ensure that they have the necessary resources to carry out their strategic plans.

Question 7

A useful guideline in designing strategy-facilitating policies and operating procedures is

Accepted Answer

A is the best choice because it suggests a balance between providing clear direction through policies and empowering employees to use their own judgment within those guidelines. The other options are either too strict or too loose in their approach to policies and procedures.

Question 8

A "best practice"

Accepted Answer

A best practice is a technique or process that has been proven to work well and deliver positive outcomes by at least one company. It is a generally accepted way of performing an activity or business process with superior results compared to other methods.

Question 9

The backbone of identifying,studying,and implementing best practices is

Accepted Answer

Benchmarking involves comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies, making it the backbone of identifying, studying, and implementing best practices.

Question 10

A company's ability to marshal adequate resources in support of new strategic initiatives and steer them to the appropriate organizational units is important to the strategy execution process because

Accepted Answer

A company's ability to marshal adequate resources and provide proper funding to organizational units is crucial in executing new strategic initiatives. Changes in strategy may require resource reallocation, and without proper funding, organizational units may not be able to carry out their part of the strategic plan effectively and efficiently, leading to poor execution. Therefore, it is essential to have adequate resources and direct them to the appropriate organizational units to ensure successful strategy implementation.

Question 11

Because functional organization structures often result in pieces of strategically relevant activities and capabilities being scattered across many different functional departments,companies have found that

Accepted Answer

Business process reengineering can help to unify fragmented activities and capabilities across different functional departments into a single department or cross-functional work group. This approach can increase coordination and streamline the overall process, improving efficiency and effectiveness. Outsourcing or combining functional departments may not always be the best solution, and TQM may not directly address the issue of fragmentation in functional structures. Collaboration between functional departments can be helpful, but may not fully address the issue of fragmentation without a more comprehensive approach like business process reengineering.

Question 12

Which of the following is not a tool that managers can use to promote operating excellence and further the cause of good strategy execution?

Accepted Answer

Strategic resource training is a tool used to develop employee skills and competencies necessary to execute a company's strategy. While it is an important aspect of strategy execution, it is not a tool used to promote operating excellence specifically. The other options listed are all tools commonly used by managers to improve operational efficiency and quality.

Question 13

A "best practice" refers to

Accepted Answer

A "best practice" refers to a technique for performing an activity or business process that at least one company has demonstrated works particularly well in terms of delivering some highly positive operating outcome. It is not a policy, distinctive competence, or particular value chain activity, although it may involve those elements.

Question 14

Visible actions to reallocate operating funds and move people into different organizational units

Accepted Answer

Visible actions to reallocate operating funds and move people into different organizational units can signal a determined commitment to strategic change and can help catalyze and give credibility to the implementation process. This can motivate and align employees towards the new strategy, provided that the changes are communicated effectively and with sensitivity. However, there is a risk that these changes can also cause anxiety and insecurity among employees, and may inadvertently create barriers to building the needed competencies and capabilities.

Question 15

Prescribing policies and operating procedures aids the task of implementing strategy by

Accepted Answer

Prescribing policies and operating procedures help in implementing strategy by establishing guidelines and limitations on independent action. These guidelines help in directing the actions and behavior of personnel towards good strategy execution and operating excellence. By doing so, it helps in ensuring that employees are aligned with the company's goals and objectives, and working towards achieving them in a consistent manner.

Question 16

The idea behind benchmarking and best practices is to

Accepted Answer

The idea behind benchmarking and best practices is not to simply copy the methods of another company (A) or to focus solely on lowest cost (B), but to identify best performers of an activity and then modify and adapt their practices to fit the company's own specific circumstances and operating requirements (D). It is not about performing each activity according to standard industry practice (C) but rather about striving for excellence. While the ultimate goal may be to become a "world class" value chain (E), this is not the primary focus of benchmarking and best practices.

Question 17

Reengineering how a firm performs a business process

Accepted Answer

Reengineering involves completely rethinking and redesigning how a business process is performed, often with the goal of improving efficiency, quality, and alignment with the overall strategy. This may involve pulling together diverse pieces of the process that were previously performed in different departments or by different teams, and creating a unified process overseen by a single cross-functional work group. The ultimate goal is to improve the performance of the process in a way that supports the overall strategy of the organization. While reengineering may involve elements of total quality management and other process improvement methodologies, it is not limited to any one approach. Additionally, reengineering may involve partnerships and alliances with external organizations or stakeholders, but this is not a requirement. Finally, while reengineering can be a powerful tool for achieving cost savings and operating excellence, it may not always be the cheapest or easiest option, and there may be other best practices that are equally or more important for a given organization.

Question 18

From a strategy-implementing/strategy-executing perspective,budget allocations should

Accepted Answer

Budget allocations should be strategy-driven and based on each organizational unit's needs to carry out its part of the strategic plan effectively and efficiently. This allows for a more targeted and efficient use of resources. Factors such as the number of new strategic initiatives, number of employees, costs of value chain activities, and stretch objectives may be considered, but they should not be the primary basis for budget allocations.

Question 19

Prescribing new policies and operating procedures can aid the task of implementing strategy

Accepted Answer

Prescribing new policies and operating procedures can help with implementing strategy by aligning the actions and behavior of company personnel with the requirements for good strategy execution, placing limits on independent action, and helping overcome resistance to change. This is especially important as implementing strategy often requires a significant amount of cooperation and coordination among employees at different levels of the organization. Effective policies and procedures can help facilitate this process.

Question 20

Which one of the following is not a benefit of prescribing policies and operating procedures to aid management's task of implementing strategy?

Accepted Answer

Building employee commitment to adopting best practices and using the tools of TQM and Six Sigma is not a benefit of prescribing policies and operating procedures to aid management's task of implementing strategy. This is more related to training and development initiatives to improve employee skills and knowledge.

Quiz 11: Managing Internal Operations: Actions That Promote Good Strategy Execution