Deck 1: The Concept of Strategy

Question 1

Strategy is a detailed plan that programs the actions of an organization or an individual.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Game theory is a useful for studying competitive behavior in politics,military campaigns and international relations,but it cannot be used to analyze business strategies.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

If a firm can devise a brilliant strategy,it will be successful irrespective of how effectively it is implemented.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The reason that a firm's realized strategy diverges from its intended strategy is because strategy making is,to a great extent,an emergent process.

Question 5

The main factor causing the transition from corporate planning to strategic management was the increasing inability of companies to forecast economic conditions four or five years into the future.

Question 6

According to Henry Mintzberg,firm strategy should be formulated by top management through rational deliberation utilizing all available data.

Question 7

Strategy denotes an overall plan whereas a tactic is a scheme for a specific action.

Question 8

"Strategic fit" refers to the consistency between a firm's strategy and,on one hand,its external environment and,on the other,its internal resources and capabilities.

Question 9

The principles of military strategy are rarely applicable to business situations.

Question 10

In the large,complex firm,two main levels of strategy can be distinguished: corporate strategy and business (or competitive)strategy.

Question 11

A major problem of using SWOT analyses in distinguishing strengths from weaknesses and opportunities from threats.

Question 12

When describing the strategy of a firm,it is best to ignore the current positioning of the firm in order to concentrate upon the direction in which the firm will develop in the future.

Question 13

The balance between intended and emergent strategy depends primarily upon the stability and predictability of the organization's business environment.The more stable and predictable the environment,the greater the importance of emergent strategy.

Question 14

Strategy is a unifying theme that gives coherence and direction to the actions and decisions of an organization.

Question 15

A key component of an effective strategy is clear,consistent,long-term goals.

Question 16

Strategic decisions are important,involve a significant commitment of resources,and should be easily reversible.

Question 17

The successful careers of both Queen Elizabeth II and Lady Gaga may be attributed to their commitment to systematic strategic planning

Question 18

The dynamic,future-oriented dimension of a firm's strategy is described by its
mission and vision statements and its performance targets.

Question 19

Contingency theory postulates that a firm's strategy must to flexible in order to meet any possible contingency.

Question 20

Strategic choices involve two basic questions: where and how to compete?

Question 21

A description of a company's organizational purpose is called a:

A)Vision statement
B)Values statement
C)Mission statement
D)All the above

Question 22

Strategic goals should be:

A)Simple
B)Consistent
C)Long term
D)All of the above

Question 23

During the 21st century,the complexity of the challenges posed by disruptive,digital technologies and accelerating rates of change have encouraged companies to:

A)Shift their strategic focus towards the growth markets of Asia,Africa,and Latin America.
B)Rejecting shareholder value maximization in favor of maximizing stakeholder interests
C)Depend increasingly upon strategic alliances and other forms of collaboration
D)Prefer mergers and acquisitions to organic growth.

Question 24

The main problem of SWOT as a framework for strategy analysis is that:

A)Distinguishing opportunities from threats and strengths from weaknesses is often difficult
B)It has now been superseded by more sophisticated analytical frameworks
C)It is focused on strategy formulation and fails to take account of strategy implementation
D)It is so widely used that it no longer has any novelty.

Question 25

The main reason for the transition from corporate planning to strategic management during the late 1970s and 1980s was:

A)The increasing costs of corporate planning departments
B)Disappointing outcomes of corporate diversification
C)A more turbulent business environment that was increasingly difficult to predict
D)Growing disillusionment with central planning.

Question 26

For both individuals and businesses,successful strategies are characterized by:

A)Unrelenting commitment to ambitious goals
B)Clear goals,understanding their competitive environment,awareness of internal strengths and weaknesses,and effective implementation
C)Meticulous planning
D)Possessing superior resources that are deployed to build competitive advantage.

Question 27

Between the 1980sand 1990s the emphasis of strategic analysis shifted from:

A)Corporate strategy to business strategy
B)Industry analysis to resource and capability analysis
C)Forecasting macro trends to understanding technological change
D)Generic strategies to strategic differentiation

Question 28

Military strategy and business strategy differ in that:

A)There is no concept like tactics in business
B)Military strategy can only be learned through field experience;business strategy can be developed through analytical frameworks
C)The objective of military strategy is to defeat the enemy;most business strategies seek coexistence rather than annihilation
D)None - there is no conceptual difference

Question 29

When a firm's external environment becomes more turbulent and unpredictable:

A)Strategy becomes an increasingly important in providing direction for the business
B)Strategy becomes based upon intuition rather than analysis
C)Cost cutting becomes a dominant priority
D)Strategy becomes an impossible exercise

Question 30

In the late 1970s and early 1980s,Michael Porter pioneered:

A)The application of industrial organization economics to strategic management
B)Empirical research into the relationship between market share and firm profitability
C)The resource-based view of the firm
D)The application of game theory to competitive analysis

Question 31

The principal similarity between business and military strategy is that:

A)They share the same objective: to annihilate rivals
B)They share common concepts and principles
C)The nature of leadership is much the same whether in a military or business context
D)They are both concerned with tactical maneuvers to establish positions of advantage.

Question 32

The primary distinction between corporate strategy and business strategy is:

A)Corporate strategy is the responsibility of the CEO,business strategy is formulated by the heads of business units
B)Corporate strategy is concerned with where the firm competes;business strategy with how it competes in particular markets
C)Corporate strategy is concerned with establishing competitive advantage;business strategy with strategy implementation in individual businesses
D)Corporate strategy is concerned with the long-term performance of the firm;business strategy with resource deployment.

Question 33

Strategic decisions are those decisions that are:

A)Important,commit resources,and are irreversible
B)Long term
C)Are confined to the senior executives of an organization
D)Concerned with establishing competitive advantage

Question 34

Applying the tools of strategy analysis to not-for-profit organizations is simplified by the fact that they do not need to be concerned with maximizing profit.

Question 35

The successful careers of both Queen Elizabeth II and Lady Gaga may be attributed to the fact that both:

A)Have used dressing up as a means of attracting attention and establishing identity
B)Have a knack for being in the right place at the right time
C)Have a consistency of direction based on clear goals
D)Have built a loyal fan base based on astute use of the media.

Question 36

The primary purpose of strategy is:

A)To maximize shareholder value
B)To achieve success
C)To ensure that all stakeholders benefit from the value created by the firm
D)To be a responsible corporate citizen

Question 37

Strategic fit refers to:

A)The need for a firm's strategy to be consistent with its vision,mission,and culture
B)The consistency of a firm's strategy with its external and internal environments
C)The need for a firm's strategy to be unique
D)The need for a firm's strategy to fit the needs of all its stakeholders,not just shareholders

Question 38

A conceptualization the firm as an "activity system" is a means of depicting:

A)How a firm's strategy should be implemented
B)The extent to which a firm's resources and capabilities are aligned with its strategic goals
C)The extent to which a firm's strategic goals are aligned with its industry environment
D)The components of a firm's strategy and consistency with which they fit together

Question 39

Ryanair's strategic position is as Europe's lowest-cost airline may be attributed to:

A)The willingness of its CEO,Michael O'Leary,to challenge conventional notions of customer and employee satisfaction
B)Its use of secondary airports where costs are lower
C)The high operating costs of major airlines such as British Airways,Lufthansa,and Air France-KLM on short-haul routes
D)An integrated,consistent set of activities designed to maximize productivity and minimize operating costs

Question 40

The more turbulent a firm's external environment,the more must its strategy:

A)Be formulated top-down rather than bottom-up
B)Be about direction rather than specific plans
C)Emphasize innovation
D)Rely upon inputs from external consultants

Question 41

The relationship between design and emergence in strategy making is best described as:

A)An interactive process between strategic planners and line managers
B)A tension between the forces of centralization and decentralization
C)A process in which intended strategy is adapted as it is implemented
D)An example of the agency problem in which the interests of salaried managers displace the interests of owners

Question 42

The principal temporal challenge of that strategic management faces is:

A)The need to match internal organizational change with the rate of change in the external environment
B)The need to compete for today while preparing for the future
C)The need to keep abreast of technological change
D)Increasing responsiveness and innovation

Question 43

The extent to which an organization's strategy is determined by decentralized emergence rather than by centralized design depends mainly upon:

A)How turbulent and unpredictable is the external environment of the organization
B)How the organization is structured
C)The commitment of the organization to experimentation
D)Whether the organization has a formalized process of strategic planning.

Question 44

The applicability of the tools and techniques of strategy analysis to not-for-profit organizations is:

A)Greater for organizations that face competition than those that do not
B)Greater for organizations that charge for their services than those which do not
C)Greater for organizations that compete to for funding than those which compete for customers.
D)Is severely limited by the lack of a profit motive

Question 45

The main value of analytical approaches to strategy formulation is:

A)To identify the optimal strategy that a firm should adopt
B)To provide understanding of strategic issues
C)To substitute for manager's intuition and creativity
D)To ensure that strategic decision making is assigned to the capable people within the organization

Question 46

Which of the following is not one of the ways in which a systematic,strategy-making process improves an organization's decision making:

A)Reducing the number of choices being considered
B)Integrating and pooling the knowledge of different members of the organization
C)Facilitating the use of analytic tools
D)Providing algorithms that generate optimal solutions to strategic problems

Question 47

The two questions of "where" and "how" to compete define:

A)A firm's corporate and business strategies
B)A firm's strategic management process
C)A firm's vision and mission
D)A firm's values and culture

Question 48

Strategy assists the quality of strategic decision making by:

A)Expanding the range of decision alternatives under consideration
B)Ensuring that strategic decisions are restricted to senior executives who possess the most relevant knowledge
C)Facilitating the use of analytical tools
D)All of the above

Question 49

Business strategy defines:

A)How a firm competes in a particular industry or market
B)Which industries or markets a firm chooses to compete in
C)Both of the above
D)Neither of the above

Question 50

When identifying a company's strategy,its statements of a strategy found in its public documents need to be:

A)Treated with skepticism
B)Checked against the company's decisions and actions
C)Interpreted using modern techniques of textual analysis
D)Checked against its statements of vision and mission