Question 1

Providing top-down guidance can aid the task of implementing strategy

Accepted Answer

Providing top-down guidance can aid the task of implementing strategy by helping align 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 ensures that everyone is working towards the same goals and objectives, and prevents individuals from going off course.

Question 2

What is a good example of how NOT to facilitate strategy execution?

Accepted Answer

Tesla's resistance to standardization, despite having personnel from diverse backgrounds, is a poor strategy for execution. Standardization helps in ensuring consistency and efficiency across operations, which is crucial for scaling and maintaining quality.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

Prescribing enough policies to provide clear direction while allowing reasonable flexibility empowers organizational members to pursue company goals effectively.

Question 4

A "best practice" refers to a

Accepted Answer

A best practice is a method of performing an activity or business process that consistently delivers superior results compared to other approaches and that at least one company has demonstrated works particularly well in terms of delivering operating excellence. It is not just a policy or procedure that is effective, but a tried and tested approach that has been proven to be the best way of achieving a desired outcome.

Question 5

New strategies often entail budget reallocations because

Accepted Answer

New strategies often require reallocation of budgets because some business units may need to be downsized while others need more resources to fulfill their new roles. This means that budget priorities need to be reevaluated and adjusted accordingly. Revamping value chain activities, policy revisions, compensation incentives, and empowering employees might require additional funding, but it's not always the case. In some cases, adopting best practices and continuous improvement can even reduce costs and overall resource requirements. Therefore, options A, B, D, and E are not the best choices as they don't fully capture the need for budget reallocation that arises from strategic changes.

Question 6

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

Accepted Answer

Visible actions to reallocate operating funds and move people into different and new organizational units can signal a determined commitment to strategic change and can help catalyze and give credibility to the implementation process. While there may be anxiety and insecurity among company personnel, taking visible actions can help overcome resistance to change and encourage employees to embrace the new strategy. However, there is a risk of inadvertently creating barriers to building the needed competencies and capabilities or impeding the task of empowering employees, so careful planning and communication are necessary. It is not necessarily true that visible actions are rarely necessary unless the new strategy entails a radical shift in value chain activities.

Question 7

Merely fine-tuning the execution of a company's existing strategy normally requires

Accepted Answer

Merely fine-tuning the execution of a company's existing strategy does not necessarily require big shifts of resources or a larger allocation of resources. Instead, it may require trimming costs and shifting resources to activities that have a higher priority, which means reallocating existing resources rather than adding new ones. This approach can help the company focus on its core activities and improve performance without significantly increasing costs.

Question 8

A company's operating budget must

Accepted Answer

The operating budget should be strategy-driven in order to ensure sufficient funds are allocated towards key value chain activities that support the company's overall strategy and competitive advantage.

Question 9

Good strategy execution can involve policies and procedures manuals in order to maintain consistency in product quality and service behavior patterns to allow for

Accepted Answer

Policies and procedures manuals can provide a framework for activities that need to be strictly prescribed, while also allowing for some independent action on the part of company personnel. This can help maintain consistency in product quality and service behavior patterns, while still giving staff some freedom to make decisions and take actions that are appropriate for their specific situations. This can be especially important in businesses with multiple outlets or locations, where some variation may be necessary to meet local needs but overall consistency is still important.

Question 10

Well-conceived policies and operating procedures facilitate good strategy execution by

Accepted Answer

Enforcing consistency in how strategy-critical activities are performed ensures that there is uniformity in the execution process, which reduces errors and increases efficiency. Well-conceived policies and operating procedures help establish this consistency, making it easier for employees to understand what is expected of them and how to carry out their tasks. A lack of consistency can lead to confusion, decreased productivity, and missed opportunities.

Question 11

Managers charged with implementing and executing strategy need to be deeply involved in the budgeting and resource allocation process because of all the following reasons EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

Resource allocation specifically aims to approve requests that contribute to the strategy execution effort, not to approve them regardless of their contribution.

Question 12

NOT among the reasons that Wegmans Food Markets delivers above-average profit margins and has below-average employee turnover rates in comparison to its supermarket industry rivals is

Accepted Answer

The given reasons all contribute to Wegmans' success, except for option D. In fact, Wegmans is known for providing above-average rewards and benefits to its employees, not below-average. This contradicts option D, making it the correct answer.

Question 13

Apple decides to reallocate resources by curtailing online ad budgets and investing heavily in scratch-resistant Sapphire, the material that differentiates the Apple Watch from rival wearable computing device brands. What is MOST LIKELY the reason for Apple's reallocation of resources?

Accepted Answer

Apple's reallocation of resources signals a commitment to investing heavily in scratch-resistant Sapphire, which differentiates the Apple Watch from rival wearable computing device brands. This supports the new strategic initiative of the brand, indicating that they are prioritizing the development of new and innovative products and enhancing their competitive advantage over rivals.

Question 14

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

Accepted Answer

Prescribing policies and operating procedures help in channeling the efforts of individuals towards good strategy execution and operating excellence by limiting ineffective independent actions. This ensures that all employees in the organization follow a cohesive approach towards achieving the company's goals and objectives. Additionally, it also helps in standardizing processes and enhancing organizational efficiency.

Question 15

In 2013, Google decided to kill its 20 percent time policy, which allowed its staff to work on side projects of their choice, one day per week. The decision to end the 20 percent time policy was most likely made in order to

Accepted Answer

Ending the 20 percent time policy allowed Google to allocate more resources towards enhancing its strategy execution capabilities. This meant that employees could focus more on their main roles and responsibilities, rather than on side projects. By doing so, Google could better prioritize its resources and ensure that they were being used to meet the company's strategic goals.

Question 16

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

The ability to marshal adequate resources and allocate them properly is critical to strategy execution because changes in strategy may require a reallocation of resources, and each unit needs the proper funding to execute their part of the plan effectively and efficiently. Without proper resource allocation, strategy execution may fail.

Question 17

In prescribing policies and procedures that facilitate independent action on the part of empowered employees for good strategy execution, companies need to do ALL of the following EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

The other choices (A, B, C, and D) all suggest ways in which companies can facilitate independent action on the part of empowered employees. However, producing policy manuals that prescribe exactly how daily operations are to be conducted would be counterproductive to this goal, as it would stifle individual creativity and initiative. The other choices emphasize the importance of giving employees some degree of freedom within defined boundaries in order to execute strategy effectively.

Question 18

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

Accepted Answer

Operating budget allocations should be linked to the needs of each organizational unit to carry out its piece of the strategic plan efficiently and effectively. This ensures that resources are allocated in a way that supports the overall strategy, rather than just based on headcount or arbitrary factors.

Question 19

Imagine you are a consultant to a local donut shop chain. You have been asked to design a superior strategy execution effort for the owners of the company. What process management tool would you most likely NOT provide to the owners?

Accepted Answer

The tool that would most likely not be provided to the owners is operating practices that generate economies of scale and scope without a reconfiguration of the donut chain's current value chain activities. This is because such practices would not necessarily improve the efficiency or effectiveness of the donut chain's operations and may not align with the overall strategy of the business. The other options listed (A, B, C, and E) are all valuable process management tools that could help the owners design a superior strategy execution effort for the donut shop chain.

Question 20

Cavco Construction divests funds from its commercial property ventures to invest in gated community properties close to New York, signaling a change of strategy. Which of the following statements about Cavco is most likely true?

Accepted Answer

The statement indicates that Cavco is divesting funds from its current commercial property ventures to invest in gated community properties near New York, which suggests a new strategic direction. Therefore, option C is most likely true, as Cavco is marshalling resources to support a new strategic initiative. None of the other options seem to be supported by the information given in the statement.

Quiz 11: Managing Internal Operations