Question 1

Global strategic plans help to ensure that decision makers have a common understanding of the business and think through the impact of their decisions and actions firmwide.

Accepted Answer

Global strategic plans are designed to provide a common understanding and framework for decision making across the organization. They facilitate coordination and alignment of resources and efforts, and help to ensure that actions and decisions are consistent with the overall strategic direction of the business. By establishing clear objectives, priorities, and performance measures, global strategic plans enable decision makers to focus their efforts on the most important priorities and ensure that they are making informed and coordinated decisions that advance the interests of the organization as a whole.

Question 2

Value chain linkages must be examined not merely across activities within the company but also in terms of managing relationships with external entities such as suppliers, alliance partners, distributors, or customers within and across nations.

Accepted Answer

Value chain linkages involve managing relationships with external entities such as suppliers, alliance partners, distributors, or customers within and across nations, in addition to activities within the company. Therefore, the statement is true.

Question 3

International strategy involves decisions that deal with a single area, such as marketing or production.

Accepted Answer

International strategy involves decisions that deal with multiple areas of a company, such as marketing, production, finance, and human resources. It takes into account the differences in cultures, regulations, and economies of different countries.

Question 4

An analysis of the forces controlled by the firm will include a situational analysis and control analysis.

Accepted Answer

An analysis of the forces controlled by the firm typically involves an internal analysis, focusing on resources, capabilities, and competencies, rather than a situational analysis and control analysis, which are broader and may include external factors.

Question 5

To create a sustainable competitive advantage, an international company should try to develop competencies that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and readily substitutable.

Accepted Answer

To create a sustainable competitive advantage, an international company should try to develop competencies that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and not readily substitutable.

Question 6

Value chain analysis focuses primarily on the question, "What value does the company want to deliver to these customers?"

Accepted Answer

Value chain analysis primarily examines the activities within and around an organization, and relates them to an analysis of the competitive strength of the organization. It's about identifying ways to create more customer value, not just determining what value to deliver.

Question 7

After setting corporate objectives, the company management must define the company's vision and mission.

Accepted Answer

The company's vision and mission are typically defined before setting corporate objectives, as they provide the overarching goals and purpose that the objectives aim to achieve.

Question 8

Companies have the potential to achieve competitive advantages through leveraging their organizational knowledge across national boundaries.

Accepted Answer

By leveraging organizational knowledge across national boundaries, companies can reduce duplication of efforts, improve efficiencies, and develop innovative solutions that provide a competitive advantage. This can be done by sharing best practices, leveraging cross-cultural perspectives, and building a global knowledge network.

Question 9

Scenario planning helps to emphasize that the business environment is predictable and helps to emphasize the application of traditional perspectives when solving problems.

Accepted Answer

Scenario planning recognizes that the business environment is complex and uncertain, and encourages exploring multiple possible futures rather than relying solely on traditional perspectives.

Question 10

The ultimate managers of strategic planning and strategy making are the executive board of a corporation.

Accepted Answer

The ultimate managers of strategic planning and strategy making are typically the top executives or senior management team, including the CEO, rather than the executive board. The board of directors plays a governance role, overseeing and advising on strategy, but the active management and formulation of strategy are usually the responsibility of the company's senior executives.

Question 11

The goal of international strategy is to achieve and maintain a unique and valuable competitive position both within a nation and globally, a position that has been termed comparative advantage.

Accepted Answer

The goal of international strategy is to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage, not comparative advantage. Comparative advantage refers to the ability of a country to produce goods or services at a lower opportunity cost than others, while competitive advantage is about creating value in a way that competitors cannot easily replicate.

Question 12

The basic concept behind strategic planning is to help ensure that managers have a sound understanding of the business, the strategy, the assumptions behind the strategy, the external business environment pressures, and the company's strengths and weaknesses.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. The purpose of strategic planning is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the company's business model and environment, which enables managers to make informed and effective decisions.

Question 13

Competencies are skills or abilities required in order to adequately complete a task.

Accepted Answer

Competencies refer to specific skills or abilities that are necessary to successfully perform a particular job or task. They are typically developed through training, education, and experience, and are essential for achieving optimal performance and success in a given role.

Question 14

Knowledge that an individual has but that is difficult to express clearly in words, pictures, or formulae, and therefore difficult to transmit to others, is called explicit knowledge.

Accepted Answer

The description is actually referring to tacit knowledge, which is different from explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge can be easily expressed and transmitted to others through words, pictures, or formulae.

Question 15

International strategy helps firms to make choices about how to deploy scarce resources in order to achieve their international objectives.

Accepted Answer

International strategy involves making decisions about resource allocation in order to achieve global objectives.

Question 16

The first step in the process of strategic planning is to define the company's business and mission.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The first step in the process of...

Question 17

According to a study by McKinsey & Company, most executives worldwide agree that environmental, social, and business trends are less critical to company strategy than was the case five years ago.

Accepted Answer

According to the statement, most executives worldwide do not agree that environmental, social, and business trends are less critical to company strategy than was the case five years ago, so the statement is false.

Question 18

Scenarios are forecasts that extrapolate from past data to make predictions.

Accepted Answer

Scenarios are not simply extrapolations from past data; they are structured narratives that explore different possible futures, often incorporating both quantitative data and qualitative insights to understand how various factors might interact in complex ways.

Question 19

Although strategic planning is not a widely used management tool among global executives, according to a Bain & Company survey there is a high level of satisfaction among those executives who do utilize strategic planning.

Accepted Answer

Strategic planning is actually a widely used management tool among global executives, and surveys, including those by Bain & Company, often show that it is not only widely used but also that there is a high level of satisfaction among executives who utilize it.

Question 20

Value chain analysis is an assessment conducted on the chain of interlinked activities of an organization or set of interconnected organizations, intended to determine where and to what extent value is added to the final product or service.

Accepted Answer

Value chain analysis is indeed an assessment conducted on the chain of interlinked activities of an organization or set of interconnected organizations, intended to determine where and to what extent value is added to the final product or service.

Quiz 9: International Competitive Strategy