MANAGEMENT BOOK QUESTIONS

As the company's principal general manager, Chan's title is most likely:

CEO

Who among the following is most likely a functional manager?

Jamie, who provides a substantial amount of information that enables the business to fulfill its strategic objective

Effective scenario planning would involve which of these aspects?

a decentralized approach that taps into functional managers' expertise

All of the following are examples of emergent strategies except

a formal plan to grow production levels by 2 % annually

Which of the following statements best distinguishes between the roles of general and functional managers?

a general manager is responsible for overall performance of a company; functional manager is responsible for supervising a specific operation

Which of the following would more likely be a responsibility of a general manager rather than a functional manager?

a particular product line of a division

which of the following statements about nonprofits are true?

although not in "business" to make profits, nonprofits are expected to use resources efficiently and operate effectively

By describing a future state of the organization, managers in a company

articulate its vision

Strategy formulation includes which of the following steps?

assessing the organization's internal strengths and weaknesses

Every Saturday at their grocery store of a national chain, the managers of the meat and produce departments prepared a meal in the store in front of customers who could then sample the food. They began using a few unique ingredients and having those ingredients for sale. They offered copies of the recipes, and sales of the ingredient grew significantly. When managers in the corporate offices heard of their activities, they asked them to go to other stores to start similar programs there. This is an example of

autonomous action

Which of the following is least likely to be a result of the ivory tower approach to planning

awareness of the strategic role of autonomous action by lower-level managers

General managers are found at which level of management?

business and corporate levels

KAI'S responsibilities include translating the general statements of direction and intent from the corporate level into concrete strategies for individual businesses. Kia is a _____ manager.

business-level

If FedEx is able to streamline its delivery processes to reduce the time and resources it requires more effectively than UPS, it has achieved:

competitive advantage

One of the strategic goals of a company is to obtain superior performance compared to its competitors, which results in

competitive advantage

The main levels of strategic management include which of the followig?

corporate, business, and functional

As CEO of Flurry Sales, Frances strives to make strategic planning a process that engages managers at all levels of the corporation and believes that the best planning can and should be down by business and functional managers who are closest to the facts. It is evident that Frances feels strongly about:

decentralized planning

Because of rapid and unforeseen changes that occur in the world and within an organization's operations

emergent strategies are often successful and may be more appropriate than intended strategies

In Mintzberg's model of strategy development, which of the following is true?

emergent strategies arise from autonomous action by individual managers deep within the organization

When the makers of Nyquil realized that their regular cold medicine was putting people to sleep, they rebranded it as a nighttime cold medicine. This is an example of a

emergent strategy

Which of the following would be part of scenario planning

formulating plans to address different possible futures

Kerry, a manager at a printing company, is responsible for strategies directed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of operations within the company, such as manufacturing, materials management, and customer service. These strategies fall within the category of ______ strategies

functional level

The two primary types of managers are _____ managers and _____ managers

general functional

Which of the following is one of the three main questions answered as a part of defining a business, an important first step in the process of formulating a mission?

how are customers' needs being satisfied?

In a strategic planning process, which of the following would be the last step?

implement the strategies

Which of the following statements about emergent strategies is true?

in practice, the strategies of most organizations are likely a combination of the intended and the emergent

Which of the following is a typical aspect of scenario planning?

indicators are established to track trends and identify probability of various scenarios

Quinn has an idea for a coffee shop where various types of coffee and accessories are made available to customers who prepare their own coffee rather than have a "barista" do it for them. Quinn' idea"

is a self-service business model

In a strategy process, what role does serendipity play?

it enters the process as an input to an emergent strategy

Which of the following statements about a SWOT analysis is false?

it essentially produces strategies that are incongruent with each other

Jesse is preparing to conduct a SWOT analysis as part of his company's strategic planning process. What is the purpose of a SWOT analysis?

it identifies and compares the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats

Which of the following statements is true of a customer-oriented approach defining a business?

it is more helpful in identifying major shifts in demand

If a company's major goal is to increase its market share in a highly competitive industry, which of the following characteristics of a well- constructed goal does it lack?

it is precise and measurable

All of the following would be included among scholars' criticism of the formal planning model except

its strategies arise from autonomous action by individual managers deep within the organization

As a general manager, which of the following would be included among Devon's responsobilities?

making profit-and-loss decisions for the corportation

Daniel K and his associates advocate for a technique that is particularly useful for countering cognitive biases and that requires planners to identify analogous past strategies, determine whether those strategies succeeded, and evaluate the proposed project against those prior strategic actions. This technique is known as

outside view

Emmett Pharmaceuticals is a multinational corporation. During the years 2011-2018, it increased its return on investment from $5 million to $25 million. The company was able to do this by securing several new patents, especially for drug delivery systems. The $20 million increase in it return on investment represents:

profit growth

Within the process of strategy implementation, the feedback loop,

provides managers with input for the next round of strategy formulation and implementation

A benefit of scenario planning is that is

pushes managers to think outside the box

_____ is invested by shareholders and cannot be recovered if the company fails and goes bankrupt

risk capital

The strategic planning team at Turkey Farms often assesses their strategies in terms of variables such as disease among their turkeys, a shortage of other types of met, unexpected medical research regarding protein consumption, and logistics changes. They are engaging in:

scenario planning

The drug Viagra was originally developed to constrict blood arteries to relieve the pain for people experiencing angina pectoris, or chest pain. The pill failed in this primary purpose, but the secondary side effect was dramatic, especially for men with erectile dysfunction. Its first quarter sales were $288 million. This is an example of

serendipitous discovery

Which of the following statements best explains why maximizing shareholder value is a company's ultimate goals?

shareholder provide a company with the risk capital that enables managers to buy the resources needed to produce and sell goods and services

If Jules purchases shares in Hi-Tech corporation for $40 each, and one yea later those same shares are worth $50, the increase denotes,

shareholder value

Mackenzie and the other managers at her company meet annually to decide on the actions they will take in order to increase their company's performance. This meeting determines the company's

strategy

Which of the following statements best describes the distinction between strategy formation and strategy implementation?

strategy formation involves selecting a target market, and implementation includes designing products that satisfy the needs of that target market

By the numbers, an accounting and consulting firm, has for the past five years maintained the highest profitability and profit growth among its competitors, which enables the organization to meet its goal of

sustained competitive advantage

Strategy implementation involves which of the following?

taking action at the corporate, business, and functional levels to execute a strategic plan

Which of the following statements about the strategic planning process is false?

the annual budget results should be used as input to the strategic plannng process in order to shape resource allocation

In conducting an analysis of an organization's external operating environment, a manager would focus on all of the following except?

the competencies of the organization

The top management at Juniper Systems completes an annual strategic planning process. They do not customarily consult functional-level managers about current operating issues or trends. As a result, some of their plans need later revision because they do not reflect reality. This approach is called

the ivory tower approach

All of the following would be considered a characteristic of well- constructed goals except

they leave the time period for achievement open-ended

Which of the following is an important feature of well- constructed goals?

they provide a standard against which the performance of managers can be evaluated

Zhen's management team is meeting to establish a new mission for their reorganized corporation. which of the following best described the desired outcome of this task?

they will produce a statement of what the company strives to do

Which of the following statements about effective strategic planning is true

top-level managers plan not only within the context of the current competitive environment but also within the context of the future competitive environment

Carson and other managers at his organization are meeting to review how they select customers, acquire and keep those customers, delivery services to the market, and grow the business over time. This meeting will provide?

updated business model for achieving competitive advantage

If nonprofit organizations do not use profitability as a measure of success, which of the following would provide an indication of the nonprofits' success?

using resources efficiently and operating effectively to meet performance goals

At Riley Industries, its culture is an important source of its competitive advantage and therefore management must pay close attention to upholding the ____ that created that culture

values

Terry works for a high-performing company that prides itself on championing its managers and offering them opportunities to improve their skills. In his upper-level management role, Terry consistently encourages the leadership efforts of middle-level managers by supporting their initiatives for productive change and providing opportunities for additional training and development. Terry's actions are consistent with the ____ of the corporation.

values