Chapter 6 Q

Resource similarity and _____ are factors that determine the extent to which firms will be in direct competition with each other.

Market commonality

____ are the targets that managers use to measure whether their firm has developed the core cometencies that it needs to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

Strategic reference points

Which of the following is NOT one of the five industry forces that determine an industry's overall attractiveness and potential for long-term profitability?

existing complementary products

A ____ strategy is a broad corporate-level strategic plan used to achieve strategic goals and guide the strategic alternatives that managers of individual businesses or subunits may use.

grand

Companies can achieve growth mainly by _____.

growing internally through direct expansion or creating new business

A(n) ____ strategy is a corporate strategy that addresses the question "How should we compete in this industry?"

industry level

When the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers is high, companies in the industry will ____.

most likely use a growth strategy.

Cost leadership, differentiation, and focus are the three types of ____ strategies discussed n the text.

positioning

A(n) ____ resource is a resource that is not controlled or possessed by many competing firms.

rare

Top-Flite manufactures Strata golf balls and prices these balls at about three times what ordinary golf balls cost. The Strata ball sells exceptionally well because customers perceive its patented three-layer construction to improve handling and increase distance. The patent on these golf balls gives Top-Flite a(n) _____

sustainable competitive advantage

Starbucks, the operator of Starbucks coffeehouses, also markets a line of compilation CDs and other non-coffee items. The making and marketing of the CDs and other non-coffee products would be an example of ____

unrelated diversification

An industry-level strategy that is best suited to changes in the organization's external environment is a(n) ____.

adaptive

The first step in the strategy-making process is to:

assess the need for strategic change.

According to Michael Porter, five industry forces determine an industry's overall attractiveness and potential for long-term profitability. Which of the following is one of those forces Porter identified?

bargaining power of suppliers

An organization is experiencing ____ when it is reluctant to change strategies or competitive practices that have been successful in the past

competitive inertia

The term ____ refers to the overall organizational strategy that adresses the question "What business or businesses are we in or should we be in?"

corporate-level strategy

The term _____ refers to the overall organizational strategy that addresses the question "What businesses are we in or should we be in?"

corporate-level strategy

The ____ is a portfolio strategy that managers use to categorize their corporation's business by growth rate and relative market share. The strategy helps them to decide how to invest corporate funds.

BCG matrix

In any organization, the _____ are the less visible, internal decision-making routines, problem-solving processes, and organization cultures that determine how efficiently inputs can be turned into outputs.

core capabilities

While ____ are tangible, ____ are not

distinctive competencies; core capabilities

The research on diversification in portfolio management indicates that the best approach is probably:

related differentiation

Significant cost reductions, layoffs of employees, closing of poorly performing stores, offices, or manufacturing plants, or closing or selling entire lines of products or services would be characteristic of a ____.

retrenchment

Significant cost reductions, layoffs of employees, closing of poorly performing stores, offices, or manufacturing plants, or closing or selling entire lines of products or services would be characteristics of a ____ strategy.

retrenchment

Which of the following is a mechanism used to examine external threats and opportunities facing a firm as well as its internal strengths and weaknesses?

situational analysis

Companies that are following a ____ strategy would be most likely to try to improve the way in which they sell the same goods or services to the same customers.

stability

If successful, which strategy is often followed by a growth strategy?

stability

_____ is the measure of the intensity of competitive behavior between companies in an industry.

Character of the rivalry

The positioning strategies identified by Michael Porter ____.

focus, cost leadership, and differentiation