Question 1

Blockbuster Video was slow to adapt to the latest trends in its industry, such as DVD-by-mail and movie downloads online.When it tried to incorporate the same into its business model, it was well behind competitors like Netflix.Blockbuster might be defined as a defender, according to Miles and Snow.

Accepted Answer

The Reactor is passive and reactive, making adjustments only when finally forced to by environmental pressures.In the worst cases, they are so incapable of responding fast enough that they suffer massive sales losses and are even driven out of business.

Question 2

Determining an organization's mission is the responsibility of top management and the board of directors.

Accepted Answer

Determining the mission is the responsibility of top management and the board of directors.It is up to them to formulate a mission statement, which expresses the purpose of the organization.

Question 3

The administrative part of the adaptive cycle focuses on establishing roles and organizational processes.

Accepted Answer

The adaptive cycle portrays businesses as continuously cycling through decisions about three kinds of business problems: (1) entrepreneurial (selecting and making adjustments of products and markets), (2) engineering (producing and delivering the products), and (3) administrative (establishing roles, relationships, and organizational processes).

Question 4

In an organization's approach to planning, its mission and vision statements should be created once the strategic planning process is complete.

Accepted Answer

Mission and vision statements should be created before the strategic planning process as they provide the foundation and direction for the planning process. They serve as guiding principles for the organization's goals and objectives.

Question 5

A mission statement expresses what the organization should become and where it wants to go strategically.

Accepted Answer

An organization's mission statement identifies the goods or services it provides and will provide.A vision statement expresses what the organization should become, where it wants to go strategically.

Question 6

A steady-state career entails a slow-but-steady growth in level of responsibility and compensation.

Accepted Answer

The steady-state career is almost the opposite of a linear career: You discover early in life that you're comfortable with a certain occupation and you stay with it.Or you accept a promotion for a while, decide you don't like the responsibility, and take a step down.

Question 7

The career path that most resembles the traditional view of climbing the stairs in a corporate hierarchy is called the linear career.

Accepted Answer

The linear career resembles the traditional view of climbing the stairs in an organization's hierarchy.That is, you move up the organization in a series of jobs, each of which entails more responsibility and requires more skills.

Question 8

A vision has a clear sense of the future and the actions needed to get there.

Accepted Answer

A vision is a long-term goal describing "what" an organization wants to become.It is a clear sense of the future and the actions needed to get there.

Question 9

Planning and strategic management derive from an organization's mission and vision about itself.

Accepted Answer

Planning and strategic management derive from an organization's mission and vision about itself, as shown in Figure 5.1.

Question 10

Planning occurs only at the highest levels of an organization, being done by top managers.

Accepted Answer

Planning covers not only strategic planning (done by top managers) but also tactical planning (done by middle managers) and operational planning (done by first-line managers).

Question 11

Eastman Kodak, though it actually invented the digital camera, was slow to move into the production of this product as well as digital printers.Its continued reliance on traditional 35mm film production and processing, which resulted in its bankruptcy, makes it a reactor according to Miles and Snow.

Accepted Answer

The Reactor is passive and reactive, making adjustments only when finally forced to by environmental pressures.In the worst cases, they are so incapable of responding fast enough that they suffer massive sales losses and are even driven out of business.

Question 12

Microsoft has been accused of adapting competitors' products after those firms spent the resources and took the risks to develop them.Companies with this strategy are known as analyzers by Miles and Snow.

Accepted Answer

Analyzers let other organizations take the risks of product development and marketing and then imitate what seems to work best.For years, Microsoft has been accused of taking this approach.

Question 13

In this time of Internet connections and speedy-access computer databases, one typically has complete information for planning and decision making.

Accepted Answer

Despite modern technology, many occurrences prevent complete gathering of facts.Often you may have to "go with what you've got" and make a decision based on a plan that is perhaps only three-quarters complete.

Question 14

The process of a business cycling through decisions first to select products and markets, then about producing and delivering the products, and finally to establish roles and processes is known as the discovery cycle.

Accepted Answer

The adaptive cycle portrays businesses as continuously cycling through decisions about three kinds of business problems: (1) entrepreneurial (selecting and making adjustments of products and markets), (2) engineering (producing and delivering the products), and (3) administrative (establishing roles, relationships, and organizational processes).

Question 15

A spiral career path depends on having jobs that, while fundamentally different, build on one another.

Accepted Answer

The spiral career is, like the linear career, upwardly mobile.However, on this career path, you would have a number of jobs that are fundamentally different yet still build on one another, giving you more general experience and the skills to advance in rank and status.

Question 16

Planning gives you expectations against which you can compare your performance.

Accepted Answer

How well is your work going in an organization? You won't know unless you have some way of checking your progress.That's why you need to have some expectations of what you're supposed to do, or in other words, a plan.

Question 17

Planning helps managers to cope with events that can be predicted but is not particularly helpful when conditions are uncertain.

Accepted Answer

Planning is coping with uncertainty by formulating future courses of action to achieve specified results.

Question 18

A transitory career path involves a series of alternating promotions and demotions.

Accepted Answer

If you favor the transitory career path, you're the kind of person who doesn't want the responsibility that comes with promotion.You're a free spirit who likes the variety of experience that comes with continually shifting sideways from job to job or place to place (or you're afraid of making the commitment to doing any one thing).

Question 19

Facebook strives to be on the cutting edge of social media and is experiencing phenomenal growth.It encourages what it calls a "hacker" mindset, always looking to break down the old in favor of something better.Of Miles and Snow's basic strategy types, Facebook would be described as a prospector.

Accepted Answer

Prospectors are aggressive companies focused on developing new products or services and in seeking out new markets, rather than waiting for things to happen.

Question 20

According to Miles and Snow's basic strategy types, a defender protects its strong position in an industry by constantly seeking new opportunities for growth.

Accepted Answer

Defenders are expert at producing and selling narrowly defined products or services.They do not tend to seek opportunities outside their present markets.They devote most of their attention to making refinements in their existing operations, such as slashing prices.

Quiz 5: Planning: the Foundation of Successful Management