Question 1

Which one of the following is not part of organizing the work effort in ways that promote successful strategy execution?
A) Providing for the necessary collaboration with suppliers and strategic allies
B) Providing for cross-unit coordination and deciding which value chain activities to perform in-house and which ones to outsource
C) Determining how much authority to centralize at the top and how much to delegate to down-the-line managers and employees
D) Determining which functions and organizational units require superior intellectual capital
E) Making internally performed strategy-critical value chain activities the main building blocks in the organization structure

Accepted Answer

The other options (A, B, C, and E) are all part of organizing the work effort in ways that promote successful strategy execution, such as collaborating with suppliers and strategic allies, coordinating cross-unit activities, delegating authority, and making strategy-critical activities the building blocks of the organization structure. Option D, on the other hand, does not directly relate to organizing the work effort, but rather to identifying which functions and organizational units have valuable knowledge and skills. While this may be important for executing the strategy, it is not an organizing activity per se.

Question 2

Core competencies and competitive capabilities
A) usually are lodged in the narrow skills and specialized work efforts of a single department, as opposed to the combined expertise and capabilities of specialists scattered across several departments.
B) most usually stem from collaborative efforts with strategic allies.
C) are usually bundles of skills and know-how that most often grow out of the combined efforts of cross-functional work groups and departments performing complementary activities at different locations in a firm's value chain.
D) tend to result in competitive advantage when they involve highly specific technologies and are grounded in a company's own deep technical expertise.
E) typically are built rapidly, usually in conjunction with important product innovations.

Accepted Answer

Core competencies and competitive capabilities come from the collaboration of cross-functional work groups and departments performing complementary activities at different locations in a value chain. These shared skills and know-how create a bundle of capabilities that can provide a competitive advantage.

Question 3

The strategic importance of deliberately trying to develop organizational competencies and capabilities is
A) lower cost for employee training.
B) improved strategy execution and a potential for competitive advantage.
C) increased ability to reduce total operating costs.
D) the added ease with which strategic fit and resource fit benefits can be captured.
E) enhanced ability to avoid the perils of outsourcing.

Accepted Answer

Developing organizational competencies and capabilities improves strategy execution, which can lead to a potential for competitive advantage. This is because capabilities are unique to the organization and difficult for competitors to imitate, giving the company a distinctive edge in the marketplace.

Question 4

Which of the following is not one of the traits of the capability-building process?
A) Core competencies or capabilities are usually the product of astute company efforts to hire and train talented employees.
B) Normally, core competencies and competitive capabilities emerge incrementally as a company acts to bolster skills that contributed to earlier successes.
C) Core competencies or capabilities are most often bundles of skills and know-how that grow out of the combined efforts of cross-functional work groups and departments that perform complementary activities at several places in the firm's value chain.
D) The key to leveraging a core competence into a distinctive competence (or transforming a capability into a competitively superior capability) is concentrating more effort and talent than rivals on strengthening the competence or capability to achieve competitive advantage.
E) Evolving changes in customer needs and competitive conditions often require tweaking and adjusting a company's portfolio of competencies and intellectual capital to keep its capabilities freshly honed and on the cutting edge.

Accepted Answer

The trait that core competencies or capabilities are usually the product of astute company efforts to hire and train talented employees is not accurate. While hiring and training can contribute to building capabilities, it is not the only factor and there are other ways a company can acquire or develop competencies and capabilities. The other traits listed, including incremental development, cross-functional collaboration, concentration of effort, and evolving changes, are all important aspects of the capability-building process.

Question 5

Organizing a company's work effort to promote successful strategy execution involves
A) deciding how much to spend on training managers and employees.
B) deciding which value chain activities to perform in-house and which to outsource and making internally performed strategy-critical value chain activities the main building blocks in the organization structure.
C) choosing an organization structure that is a tight fit with the corporate culture.
D) hiring a capable management team.
E) instituting a compensation structure that reduces employee turnover and thus stabilizes the make-up of work teams.

Accepted Answer

Organizing a company's work effort to promote successful strategy execution involves deciding which value chain activities to perform in-house and which to outsource and making internally performed strategy-critical value chain activities the main building blocks in the organization structure. This allows for a more streamlined and efficient execution of the company's strategy. The other options listed are also important factors in promoting successful strategy execution, but they are not specifically related to organizing the work effort of the company.

Question 6

To organize the work effort around the needs of good strategy execution,management needs to
A) make those strategy-critical activities/capabilities that are to be performed internally the main building blocks in the internal organization structure.
B) determine whether some value chain activities can be outsourced more efficiently or effectively than they can be performed internally.
C) decide how much authority to centralize at the top and how much to delegate to down-the-line managers and employees.
D) provide for coordination and collaboration across the various organizational units and also with outside partners.
E) All of these.

Accepted Answer

All of the choices listed are important for organizing the work effort around the needs of good strategy execution. A) It is important to align the internal organization structure with strategy-critical activities/capabilities in order to ensure that resources and capabilities are being utilized effectively. B) Outsourcing certain value chain activities can be a cost-effective strategy, but it requires careful consideration to ensure that quality and performance standards are met. C) Deciding how much authority to centralize versus delegate is important for ensuring that decisions are made efficiently and effectively, while also empowering employees to take ownership of their responsibilities. D) Coordination and collaboration across organizational units and with external partners is critical for ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goals and that resources are being utilized effectively. Therefore, E is the correct answer.

Question 7

Which of the following are traits of the capability-building process?
A) Evolving changes in customer needs and competitive conditions often require tweaking and adjusting a company's portfolio of competencies and intellectual capital to keep its capabilities freshly honed and on the cutting edge.
B) Normally, a core competence or capability emerges incrementally out of company efforts either to bolster skills that contributed to earlier successes or to respond to customer problems, new technological and market opportunities, and the competitive maneuverings of rivals.
C) Core competencies or capabilities are most often bundles of skills and know-how that grow out of the combined efforts of cross-functional work groups and departments performing complementary activities at different locations in a firm's value chain.
D) The key to leveraging a core competence into a distinctive competence (or transforming a capability into a competitively superior capability) is concentrating more effort and talent than rivals on deepening and strengthening the competence or capability so as to achieve the dominance needed for competitive advantage.
E) All of these.

Accepted Answer

All of the statements listed are traits of the capability-building process. The process involves continuously adapting to evolving customer needs and competitive conditions through the incremental development of core competencies or capabilities, which are often the result of cross-functional collaborations. Leveraging these core competencies into distinctive competencies requires a focus on deepening and strengthening them to achieve competitive advantage.

Question 8

When a company uses outsourcing to zero in on even better performance of those truly strategy-critical activities where its expertise is most needed,then it may also be able to
A) create a values-based corporate culture that excels in product innovation.
B) decrease internal bureaucracies, flatten its organizational structure, shorten the time it takes to respond to changing market conditions, and capitalize on its partnerships with outsiders to enhance its arsenal of capabilities and thus contribute to better strategy execution.
C) devote more resources to its social responsibility strategy, better empower employees, and reduce employee turnover.
D) better police compliance with ethical standards, lower overall operating costs, and create two or more distinctive competencies.
E) All of these.

Accepted Answer

Outsourcing can help a company decrease internal bureaucracies, flatten its organizational structure, shorten the time it takes to respond to changing market conditions, and capitalize on its partnerships with outsiders to enhance its arsenal of capabilities and thus contribute to better strategy execution. While outsourcing may indirectly support a company's social responsibility strategy, employee empowerment, and compliance with ethical standards, those outcomes are not directly related to outsourcing strategy-critical activities. Creating a values-based corporate culture that excels in product innovation may be a goal of outsourcing, but it is not necessarily a direct outcome of outsourcing strategy-critical activities. Lowering overall operating costs and creating two or more distinctive competencies may also be outcomes of outsourcing, but those outcomes are not necessarily tied to outsourcing only strategy-critical activities where a company's expertise is most needed.

Question 9

Sometimes a company can short-circuit the task of building an organizational capability in-house by
A) putting in high incentive bonuses to reward individual employees who train hard to develop the desired capability.
B) launching an extensive training effort to develop the capability quickly with newly hired employees.
C) either acquiring a company that has already developed the capability or else acquiring the desired capability through collaborative efforts with outsiders having the requisite skills, know-how, and expertise.
D) using benchmarking and the adoption of best practices to imitate a capability that rivals have already developed.
E) empowering a team of employees to develop the capability however they best fit.

Accepted Answer

Acquiring a company that has already developed the capability or collaborating with outsiders having the requisite skills and expertise can save time and resources in building an organizational capability from scratch. This approach allows the company to leverage the existing capabilities and knowledge of the acquired or collaborating entity, which can accelerate the development process and reduce the risks associated with internal development efforts. Additionally, this approach may provide access to new markets, technologies, or customers that the company may not have been able to enter on its own.

Question 10

Which of the following is not accurate as concerns a company's competencies and capabilities?
A) Competencies and capabilities that grow stale can impair competitiveness unless they are refreshed, modified, or even phased out and replaced in response to ongoing market changes and shifts in company strategy.
B) Core competencies have to be tweaked and adjusted to keep them fresh and responsive to changing customer needs and market conditions.
C) The imperatives of keeping capabilities in step with ongoing strategy and market changes make it appropriate to view a company as a bundle of evolving competencies and capabilities.
D) Even after core competencies and competitive capabilities are in place and functioning, company managers can't relax-they still have to wrestle with when and how to recalibrate existing competencies and capabilities and when and how to develop new ones.
E) When a company succeeds in hiring talented employees and training them properly, competencies and capabilities tend to blossom quickly and, once put in place, can last for a decade or more.

Accepted Answer

This statement is not entirely accurate as it suggests that competencies and capabilities can last for a decade or more once put in place. In reality, even well-trained employees and established competencies require ongoing adaptation and refreshment to meet changing market conditions and strategic objectives. Therefore, this statement is not true in the long term.

Question 11

The capability-building process
A) requires first developing the ability to do something, however imperfectly or inefficiently; second, translating this ability into a competence by learning to do the activity consistently well and at an acceptable cost; and then continuing to polish and refine its know-how in an effort to further improve its performance, ideally striving to match or beat rivals in performing the activity.
B) entails establishing a new department with primary responsibility for developing the expertise to give the company the needed core competencies and capabilities.
C) stands a better chance of succeeding if a company employs a traditional functional organization structure.
D) is made much easier if a company abstains from outsourcing important value chain activities.
E) aims at turning the company's distinctive competencies into core competencies.

Accepted Answer

The capability-building process involves first acquiring the ability to perform an activity, then developing it into a competence, and finally refining it to achieve superior performance. This process focuses on improving a company's ability to perform its distinctive abilities to become core competencies. It does not require establishing a new department, and it can work with any organizational structure. Outsourcing can be beneficial or not depending on the situation.

Question 12

Which one of the following is not a reason why companies might use outsourcing to improve performance of strategy-critical activities?
A) Improving a company's chances for outclassing rivals in the performance of strategy-critical activities and turning a core competence into a distinctive competence
B) Promoting quick establishment of a total quality culture
C) Speeding internal decision-making and shortening the time it takes to respond to changing market conditions
D) Capitalizing on the partnerships with outsiders to enhance its arsenal of capabilities and thus contribute to better strategy execution
E) Helping decrease internal bureaucracies and flatten the organizational structure

Accepted Answer

While outsourcing can help with improving a company's chances for outclassing rivals, speeding internal decision-making, capitalizing on partnerships, and decreasing internal bureaucracies, it is not directly related to promoting a quick establishment of a total quality culture. This is more related to internal initiatives and efforts.

Question 13

Which of the following is not one of the traits of core competencies and/or competitive capabilities?
A) The key to leveraging core competencies into competitive advantage is concentrating sufficient effort and talent on deepening and strengthening them that the firm achieves dominating depth and gains the capability to outperform rivals by a meaningful margin.
B) Core competencies have to be tweaked and adjusted to keep them fresh and responsive to changing customer needs and market conditions.
C) Core competencies typically are lodged in the combined efforts of different work groups and departments.
D) Core competencies generally grow out of company efforts to master a strategy-critical technology or to invent and patent a valuable technology.
E) Core competencies tend to emerge gradually rather than blossoming quickly.

Accepted Answer

Core competencies are not solely about mastering or inventing technology; they encompass a broader range of capabilities and skills that provide competitive advantage.

Question 14

When it is difficult or impossible to out-strategize rivals (beat them with a superior strategy),the other main avenue to competitive advantage is to
A) do a better job of empowering employees and flattening the organization structure.
B) outcompete them with a stronger corporate culture.
C) out execute them (beat them by performing certain value chain activities in superior fashion).
D) beat them with a healthy corporate culture based on such core values as high ethical standards, a strong sense of corporate social responsibility, and genuine concern for customer well-being.
E) institute a more motivating and cost-efficient compensation and reward system.

Accepted Answer

When it is difficult or impossible to out-strategize rivals, the other main avenue to competitive advantage is to out execute them. This means performing certain value chain activities in a superior fashion, such as by reducing costs, improving quality, offering better service, or delivering products more quickly. While other options like empowering employees or having a strong corporate culture are important, they may not necessarily lead to a tangible competitive advantage if competitors are able to replicate those same practices.

Question 15

Outsourcing value chain activities to strategic partners can yield such advantages as
A) quick creation of distinctive competencies, enhanced product quality, and better customer service.
B) lower costs, less internal bureaucracy, speedier decision-making, more flexibility, and heightened strategic focus.
C) lower cost adoption of best practices.
D) reduced need to empower employees and rely on team-based organizational arrangements.
E) facilitating the capture of cross-functional strategic fits and resource fits.

Accepted Answer

Outsourcing value chain activities to strategic partners can provide lower costs, less internal bureaucracy, speedier decision-making, more flexibility, and heightened strategic focus. This can allow the company to focus on its core competencies and allocate resources more effectively. Additionally, it can provide access to specialized expertise that may not be available in-house.

Question 16

Outsourcing value chain activities has such strategy-executing advantages as
A) less internal bureaucracy, speedier decision-making, quicker responses to changing market conditions, and heightened focus on performing a select few value chain activities (which can improve performance of those activities).
B) facilitating the empowerment of employees (because there are less things to do internally).
C) promoting a total quality management culture.
D) reducing the need to establish a strongly implanted corporate culture.
E) reducing the strategic importance of building valuable core competencies.

Accepted Answer

Outsourcing value chain activities can help a company to reduce internal bureaucracy and make quicker decisions. It also allows the company to focus on a select few value chain activities, which can improve the performance of those activities. Furthermore, outsourcing can help the company to respond more quickly to changing market conditions.

Question 17

In companies where intellectual capital is crucial to good strategy execution,which of the following is generally not among the practices that companies use to establish a talented knowledge base?
A) Providing promising employees with challenging, interesting, and skill-stretching assignments and also rotating them through jobs that not only have great content but also span functional and geographic boundaries
B) Expecting employees to take full responsibility for staying up to date, thereby minimizing the need to train or retrain employees
C) Coaching average performers to improve their skills and capabilities, while weeding out underperformers and benchwarmers
D) Encouraging employees to challenge existing ways of doing things, to be creative and innovative in proposing better ways of operating, and to push their ideas for new products or businesses
E) Fostering a stimulating and engaging work environment such that employees will consider the company a great place to work

Accepted Answer

The answer of In companies where intellectual capital is crucial...

Question 18

In which one of the following instances is the training and retraining of employees likely to make the least important contribution to good strategy execution?
A) When a company shifts to a strategy requiring different skills, competitive capabilities, managerial approaches, and operating methods.
B) When an organization is striving to build skills-based competencies.
C) When technical know-how is changing so rapidly that a company loses its ability to compete unless its skilled people have cutting-edge knowledge and expertise.
D) When the chosen strategy calls for deeper technological capability or building and using new capabilities.
E) When the strategy execution effort is based on tried and true operating practices that vary little from year to year.

Accepted Answer

In the case where the strategy execution effort is based on tried and true operating practices that vary little from year to year, the training and retraining of employees may make the least important contribution to good strategy execution. This is because the operating practices are already established, and the employees are likely to be experienced in them. Therefore, training and retraining may not be necessary or may have a minor impact on the success of strategy execution.

Question 19

Which of the following statements about developing organizational competencies and capabilities is false?
A) Core competencies or capabilities are most often bundles of skills and know-how that grow out of the combined efforts of cross-functional work groups and departments performing complementary activities at different locations in a firm's value chain.
B) Evolving changes in customer needs and competitive conditions often require tweaking and adjusting a company's portfolio of competencies and intellectual capital to keep its capabilities freshly honed and on the cutting edge.
C) Normally core competencies and competitive capabilities emerge incrementally as a company (1) acts to bolster skills that contributed to earlier successes or (2) acts to respond to customer problems, new technological or market opportunities, and the competitive maneuvers of rivals.
D) Building organizational capabilities is best and most cost-effectively accomplished by hiring a cadre of people with the right talent and expertise, putting them together in a single work group, and then teaming the work group with key strategic allies/partners to mesh the skills, expertise, and competencies needed to perform the desired capabilities with some proficiency.
E) The key to leveraging a core competence into a distinctive competence (or transforming a capability into a competitively superior capability) is concentrating more effort and talent than rivals on deepening and strengthening the competence or capability so as to achieve the dominance needed for competitive advantage.

Accepted Answer

Building organizational capabilities is not just a matter of hiring a group of people with the right talent and expertise, but is also dependent on a company's ability to develop and foster a culture of learning and innovation, as well as forming strategic partnerships and alliances to complement and enhance existing capabilities.

Question 20

The capability-building process
A) is first and foremost an activity in empowering employees, putting them on a single team (or in a single department), and giving them the tools and training to perform the desired activity with a high degree of proficiency.
B) is a one-step process built around properly training and empowering employees to perform their assigned activities in a tightly-prescribed manner.
C) can be a shortcut by weeding out underperforming employees and replacing them with people having stronger skills sets and know-how.
D) is best done by forming a new department charged with developing the desired competence or capability.
E) requires first developing the ability to do something, however imperfectly or inefficiently; second, translating this ability into a competence and/or capability by learning to do the activity consistently well and at an acceptable cost; and then continuing to polish and refine its know-how in an effort further improve its performance, ideally striving to match or beat rivals in performing the activity.

Accepted Answer

The capability-building process involves developing the ability to do something, consistently performing the activity well, and refining the know-how to improve performance. It is not a one-step process, nor is it primarily focused on empowering employees or weeding out underperforming employees. It is also not necessarily done through a new department, but can be implemented through various methods such as training or process improvement initiatives.

Quiz 10: Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution: People, Capabilities, and Structure

Which one of the following is not part of organizing the work effort in ways that promote successful strategy execution?

Core competencies and competitive capabilities

The strategic importance of deliberately trying to develop organizational competencies and capabilities is

Which of the following is not one of the traits of the capability-building process?

Organizing a company's work effort to promote successful strategy execution involves

To organize the work effort around the needs of good strategy execution,management needs to

Which of the following are traits of the capability-building process?

When a company uses outsourcing to zero in on even better performance of those truly strategy-critical activities where its expertise is most needed,then it may also be able to

Sometimes a company can short-circuit the task of building an organizational capability in-house by

Which of the following is not accurate as concerns a company's competencies and capabilities?

The capability-building process

Which one of the following is not a reason why companies might use outsourcing to improve performance of strategy-critical activities?

Which of the following is not one of the traits of core competencies and/or competitive capabilities?

When it is difficult or impossible to out-strategize rivals (beat them with a superior strategy) ,the other main avenue to competitive advantage is to

Outsourcing value chain activities to strategic partners can yield such advantages as

Outsourcing value chain activities has such strategy-executing advantages as

In companies where intellectual capital is crucial to good strategy execution,which of the following is generally not among the practices that companies use to establish a talented knowledge base?

In which one of the following instances is the training and retraining of employees likely to make the least important contribution to good strategy execution?

Which of the following statements about developing organizational competencies and capabilities is false?

The capability-building process