MGT 590 Final (Chapters 7-12) Glo-Bus
Which one of the following is NOT among the good business reasons why companies should be public-spirited and devote time and resources to social responsibility initiatives, environmental sustainability, and being good corporate citizens?
A business is obligated to act as a responsible citizen and do its fair share to promote the general welfare; otherwise it is in violation of its implied contract with society and subject to both heavy fines and an excess profits tax.
Which one of the following statements about a company's culture is false?
A company's culture, once established, tends to remain stable and entrenched over time.
Good strategy execution requires that:
A company's expenditures for operations and capital improvements be both strategy-driven (in order to amply fund competent performance of strategy-critical value chain activities) and lean (in order to operate cost-efficiently)
Which of the following statements about the culture-building roles of a company's values statement and code of ethics is NOT true?
A company's values statement and code of ethics are major factors in preventing a company from having a weak or unhealthy culture.
Which one of the following is NOT a typical characteristic of a weak company culture?
A complicated value chain and a very diverse set of core competencies-- both of which act to create multiple subcultures.
According to Figure 7.2, which of the following does NOT accurately characterize the difference between a localized multicountry strategy and a global strategy?
A global strategy involves striving to minimize worldwide shipping costs whereas a multicountry strategy entails a willingness to tolerate high shipping costs in the interest of minimizing overall production costs.
Which of the following is the best example of Related Diversification?
A manufacturer of dining room furniture acquiring a maker of patio furniture.
Which of the following is NOT one of the many strategy options for competing in the markets of foreign countries?
A profit sanctuary strategy.
From the standpoint of promoting successful strategy execution, it is important that the firm's motivation and reward system:
Accentuate positive rewards but also carry the risk of punishment for poor performance.
The degree to which organizational leaders are successful in making corrective adjustments when things are not going well hinges on:
Accurate analysis of the circumstances causing unacceptable performance, exercising good judgment in deciding when corrective adjustments are needed and deciding what adjustments to make, and good implementation of the corrective actions that are initiated.
Many companies acquire a local business as a means of entering foreign markets because:
Acquisition is quicker than creating a new subsidiary and building its entire operations from the ground up, and it may be the least risky and cost-efficient means of hurdling entry barriers.
As depicted in Figure 9.2, which one of the following is NOT a component of a social responsibility strategy?
Actions to reduce unethical business behavior and to promote the development and enforcement of a code of ethics for all businesses worldwide.
A culture that is grounded in actions, behaviors, and work practices conducive to good strategy execution:
Adds significantly to the power and effectiveness of a company's strategy execution effort.
Which one of the following is NOT among the major drivers of unethical managerial behavior?
Adverse economic and market conditions that make it difficult for companies to earn a fair profit unless they engage in unethical behavior.
Which of the following is NOT an unhealthy trait of a corporate culture?
An aversion to incentive compensation and overemphasis on having employees work in teams.
Sig Sigma programs:
Are based on three principles: All work is a process, all processes have variability, and all processes create data that explains variability.
Which one of the following statements about why instituting policies and procedures that facilitating good strategy implementation and execution is an important managerial task is FALSE?
Astutely conceived policies and procedures help promote faster development of the right kinds of core competencies and competitive capabilities.
A U.S. manufacturer that exports goods made at it's U.S. plants for shipment to foreign markets:
Becomes more cost competitive in selling its exported goods in foreign markets when the U.S. dollar declines in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting
Which one of the following statements about the process of identifying and incorporating best practices is false?
Benchmarking involves identifying which company or organization is the best performer of an activity and then trying to imitate its approach.
Which one of the following is not an example of an economy of scope?
Building a larger plant or distribution center that can be operated more cost efficiently.
Using domestic plants as a a production base for exporting goods to selected foreign country markets:
Can be an excellent initial strategy for exploring the profitability of selling goods to foreign buyers without spending much, if any, additional capital (should the company's domestic plants have unused production capacity that can be utilized to produce goods for export)
Which of the following is NOT part of the procedure for evaluating the pluses and minuses of a diversified company's strategy and deciding what actions to take to improve the company's performance?
Checking for conflict/incompatibility among the competitive strategies of the company's different businesses.
The top-level executive task of crafting a diversified company's overall or corporate strategy does NOT include which one of the following?
Choosing the most appropriate value chain for each of the company's businesses.
Making provisions for coordination of internal organizational units is an important part of organizing the work effort because:
Close cross-unit collaboration is usually needed to build core competencies and competitive capabilities-- examples include such strategically important activities as speeding new products to market and providing superior customer service that involve the efforts of company personnel in different departments and organizational units.
Which one of the following is NOT a particularly sound or valid reason why deliberate pursuit of unethical strategies and tolerance of unethical conduct is a risky business practice?
Companies that engage in shady behavior usually suffer big drops in sales revenues and are unlikely to be profitable for as many as 5 to 10 years after their unethical conduct is exposed in the media.
Which of the following statements about company subcultures is inaccurate?
Companies that have instituted a values statement and a code of ethics very rarely have subcultures.
Because buyer tastes for a particular product or service sometimes differ substantially from country to country:
Company managers must resolve the tension between the market pressures to localize the firm's product offerings country-by-country to match the tastes and preferences of local buyers and the competitive pressures to lower costs by offering mostly standardized products in all countries where a company competes.
Global competition exists when:
Competitive conditions across national markets are linked strongly enough to form a true international or world market and when leading competitors compete head to head in many different countries.
Which of the following are standout traits of a change-resistant culture?
Complacency or skepticism about the need to develop innovative new products or the value of implementing best practices, a strong preference for following rather than leading market change, and multilayered management bureaucracies that are wedded to a "we have done it this way for years" syndrome
Which of the following is NOT a standout trait of an adaptive culture?
Consensus-based decision-making and willingness to compromise core values and long-standing business principles if it means shifting to a better strategy and boosting company profitability.
In a strong culture company,
Culturally approved behaviors and ways of doing things flourish, while culturally disapproved behaviors and work practices get squashed.
The two biggest drawbacks or disadvantages of pursuing unrelated diversification strategies are:
Demanding managerial requirements and no potential for competitive advantage beyond any benefits of corporate parenting and what each individual business can generate on its own.
A profit sanctuary refers to a country market (or geographic region) where a company:
Derives substantial profit because of its strong or protected market position.
Which one of the following is NOT part of organizing a company's work effort in ways that promote successful strategy execution? (A summary of the key components of organizing the work effort appears in Figure 10.3.)
Determining how much decision making authority to give those organizational units performing strategy-critical value chain activities and where to place them in the organizational hierarchy.
Which one of the following statements about the process of developing and strengthening execution-critical resources and capabilities is FALSE?
Developing and strengthening the company portfolio of resources and capabilities is high among the organization-building priorities when a company considers what needs to be done to execute its strategy with a high degree of proficiency.
To create long-term economic value for shareholders by diversifying into one or more new businesses, a company must:
Diversify into businesses that pass the industry attractiveness test, the cost-of-entry test, and the better-off test.
An international or global competitor can strive to gain competitive advantage or counteract disadvantages by:
Doing a better job than rivals do of transferring some of its competitively powerful resources and capabilities from countries where it has established competitively strong market positions to its operations in those countries where it is competitively weaker.
Checking a diversified company's business portfolio for the competitive advantage potential of cross-business strategic fits does not involve determining whether sister business units have value chain match-ups that offer opportunities:
Employ the same basic competitive approach and pursue the same type of competitive advantage.
Which one of the following is most likely to be helpful in embedding and perpetuating a company's culture?
Expecting managers at all levels to be cultural role models and exhibit the advocated cultural norms in their own behavior.
Which one of the following is NOT something that corporate executives committed to a strategy of unrelated diversification can do to aid efforts to achieve companywide financial results above and beyond what the individual business could achieve as stand-alone entities?
Focus on acquiring businesses that offer the best opportunities for achieving global market leadership (thereby satisfying the industry attractiveness and competitive strength tests).
Strategic fit between two or more businesses exist whenever one or more activities comprising the value chains of different businesses are sufficiently similar to present opportunities:
For cross-business use of a well-known and potent brand name and/or cross-business collaboration to build new or stronger competitively valuable resources and capabilities.
Which of the following statements about implementing and executing a company's strategy is TRUE?
Good strategy execution requires team effort; all managers have strategy-executing responsibility in their areas of authority, and all employees are active participants in the strategy-executing process.
An immoral manager is one who:
Has few scruples, little or no integrity, is driven by single-minded pursuit of what is in his/her own self-interest and is willing to do anything he/she believes they can get away with.
Once a company has diversified into a collection of related or unrelated businesses and concludes that some strategy adjustments are needed, which one of the following is NOT one of the main strategy options that a company can pursue?
Have all of the company's businesses operate under a common brand name and craft new initiatives to build/enhance the reputation of this brand name worldwide.
Which of the following is the most unlikely element of a "think global, act global" approach to crafting a global strategy? (You may find the content of Figure 7.2 helpful in answering this question.)
Having relatively small plants in many countries, with each plant producing product versions for local area markets.
Which one of the following statements about the managerial task of installing well-conceived state-of-the-art information and operating systems is true?
Having state-of-the-art information system that provides company personnel with quick access to the right kinds of real-time data is integral to topnotch strategy execution and operating excellence.
One of the major benefits of using such process management tools as benchmarking, best practices, business process reengineering, TQM, and/or Six Sigma programs as part of a company's overall effort to execute strategy proficiently is to:
Help build a culture of operating excellence and lay the groundwork for gaining a competitive advantage over rivals based on superior strategy execution.
One of the disadvantages of a decentralized structure featuring employee empowerment is:
How to exercise enough control over the actions and decisions of empowered employees so that the business is not put at risk in the event that empowered employees happen to make some unwise decisions.
The idea behind benchmarking is to:
Identify companies that are the best performers of an activity and then modify and adapt their practices to fit the company's own specific circumstances and operating requirements, all the while aiming to achieve performance outcomes comparable to the best performers.
Management's handling of the process of implementing and executing a company's strategy can be considered successful:
If a company is meeting or beating its performance targets and has attained real proficiency in how strategy-critical value chain activities are performed.
Which one of the following is NOT one of the ways for a diversified company to build competitive advantage by pursuing a multinational diversification strategy?
Increased ability to build well-protected profit sanctuaries in those foreign country markets where profit margins are highest.
Total quality management (TQM)
Is a management approach that emphasizes continuous improvement in all phases of operations, 100% accuracy in performing tasks, involvement and empowerment of employees at all levels, team-based work design, benchmarking, and total customer satisfaction.
An effectively designed system of rewards and incentives:
Is management's single most powerful tool for mobilizing employee commitment to good strategy execution and operating excellence.
A "cash hog" type of business:
Is one that generates cash flows that are too small to fully fund its operations and growth-- such businesses acquire periodic cash infusions by the corporate parent to fund internal operational and financial requirements
Which of the following statements regarding the importance of making strategy-critical value chain activities the main building blocks of the organization structure is false?
It is generally agreed that the best organizational structure for a company depends on which one of the five generic competitive strategies the company has opted to pursue-- in other words, the major building blocks of the best organizational structure for a low-cost provider strategy differ from those for a broad differentiation strategy and differs yet again for focused low-cost, focused differentiation, and best-cost provider strategies.
Which one of the following is NOT one of the appeals of unrelated diversification?
It is quicker and easier to build a competitive advantage over undiversified or less-diversified companies.
When it comes to the practice of some business paying bribes and kickbacks to secure government contracts, obtain a license or permit from government agencies, or win/retain the business of customers, it is fair to say that:
It is very difficult (and logically inconsistent) for a multinational company to ethically justify such payments in countries where bribes and kickbacks are common practice when it does business in countries where such payments are illegal and/or when the company's code of ethics forbid such payments.
A company is said to be engaging in "cross-market subsidization" when:
It supports a competitive offensive in one market with resources, capabilities, and profits (cash flows) diverted from operations in other country markets.
A company's environmental sustainability strategy concerns:
Its deliberate actions to protect the environment, provide for the longevity of natural resources, maintain ecological support systems for future generations, and guard against ultimate endangerment of the planet.
The first and most important rule in designing an effective reward structure is to:
Make measures of good business performance and good strategy execution the dominating basis for evaluating individual and group efforts and for awarding incentive payments.
Which of the following statements about total quality management (TQM) is true?
Management's job in instituting a TQM program is to kindle an organization-wide search for ways to improve that involves all company personnel exercising initiative and using their ingenuity.
The use of child labor:
May be ethically permissible according to the school of ethical relativism (based on the rule of "when in Rome do as the Romans do") but does not qualify as ethically permissible business behavior according to the school of ethical universalism because is most societies, especially modern industrialized countries, such a practice is not in keeping with generally acceptable standards of business behavior.
The three categories of managers that stand out with regard to ethical and moral principles in business affairs are:
Moral managers, amoral managers, and immoral managers.
Which of the following statements about creating dynamic and competitively valuable competencies and capabilities is false?
Most companies keep the portfolio of competencies and capabilities fresh and dynamic by either acquiring another company with recently remodeled resources and capabilities or by entering into a collaborative partnership with suppliers that are highly regarded for their innovationess and cutting-edge know-how.
In situations where it is relatively easy for rivals to readily duplicate the successful features of a company's strategy (making it difficult or impossible to outstrategize rivals and beat them in the marketplace with a superior strategy), the chief way for a company to achieve a durable competitive advantage over its rivals is to:
Outexecute them by building a competitively powerful portfolio of competencies and capabilities that (1) allows the company to perform certain value chain activities in a superior fashion and (2) is time-consuming and expensive for rivals to match or trump.
Leading the drive for good strategy execution and operating excellence calls upon the manager-in-charge to:
Practice MBWA, put constructive pressure on the organization to achieve good results and operating excellence, and push corrective actions to improve strategy execution and achieve the targeted results.
Business process reengineering involves:
Radically redesigning and streamlining how an activity is performed, with the intent of achieving quantum improvements in performance.
Which of the following is NOT a shortcoming or disadvantage of a decentralized organizational structure?
Raises employee anxiety levels, this discouraging many company personnel from being deeply involved in the business and lowering their motivation levels.
The advantages of a centralized organization structure include:
Reduced potential for conflicting actions and decisions on the part of lower-level managers, facilitation of strong top management leadership in crisis situations, and tight control by the manager in charge-- it is easy to know who is accountable when things do not go well.
Which one of the following is NOT an execution-related benefit of outsourcing?
Reducing the risk of being stuck with stale or obsolete competencies and capabilities.
Which one of the following is NOT a tool that company managers can use to promote operating excellence in performing value chain activities?
Resource optimization programs.
Calculating quantitative competitive strength ratings for each of a diversified company's business units involves:
Selecting a set of competitive strength measures, weighting the importance each measure, rating the strength of each of the company's businesses one each strength measure (often using a scale of 1 to 10), multiplying the strength ratings by the assigned weight to obtain a weighted ratio, summing the weighted ratings for each business unit to obtain an overall competitive strength of the company's business units, both individually and as a group.
The principal managerial components of the strategy execution process do NOT include which one of the following tasks?
Selecting which leadership style to employ and deciding which capabilities and core competencies to emphasize in performing execution-critical value chain activities.
Which of the following are traits of a strong culture company?
Senior executives who make a conscious effort to display cultural values, principles, and behavioral norms in their own actions and who also insist that company values, business principles, and cultural norms be reflected in the decisions and actions taken by all company personnel.
According to Figure 12.2, when trying to change a problem culture, top executives should undertake such steps as:
Specifying what new actions, behaviors, and work practices should characterize the "new" culture and taking visible, forceful actions to ingrain a new set of behaviors, practices, and cultural norms.
Building an organization capable of good strategy execution entails:
Structuring the organization and work effort, staffing the organization, and acquiring, developing, and strengthening the resources and capabilities important to good strategy execution.
One of the most significant contributions to strategy-making in diversified companies that the 9-cell industry attractiveness/competitive strength matrix provides is:
That businesses having the greatest competitive strength and positioned in the most attractive industries should have the highest priority for corporate resource allocation and that competitively weak businesses in relatively unattractive industries should have the lowest priority and perhaps even be considered for divestiture.
Multinational companies:
That forbid the payment of bribes and kickbacks in their codes of ethical conduct and that are serious about enforcing this prohibition are acting in accord with the principles of the school of ethical universalism and are rejecting the principles underlying the school of ethical relativism.
According to the data in Table 9.1:
The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) scores in more than a dozen countries are higher (indicating lower perceived levels of corruption) than in the United States.
Business ethics concerns:
The application of general ethical principles and standards to the actions and decisions of businesses and the conduct of their personnel.
Which one of the following is NOT a key aspect in defining and shaping the character of a company's corporate culture?
The company's strategic vision and mission and the approach to competing that underpins it's strategy.
The things to look for in identifying a diversified company's strategy do NOT include which of the following? (You may wish to check out Figure 8.1 in answering this question.)
The competitive strategy each business is employing to try to build a competitive advantage over rivals.
According to the integrative social contracts theory,
The ethical standards a company should try to uphold are governed both by (1) a limited number of universal ethical principles widely recognized as putting legitimate ethical boundaries on actions and behavior in all situations and (2) the circumstances of local cultures, traditions, and shared values that further prescribe what constitutes ethically permissible behavior and what does not.
What makes related diversification an attractive strategy is:
The opportunity to convert cross-business strategic fits into a competitive advantage over business rivals whose operations do not offer comparable strategic-fit benefits.
Competing in one or more countries or regions of the world causes strategy-making to be more complex because of:
The risks of advance shifts, currency exchange rates, and the presence of important cross-country differences of buyer tastes, market sizes, and growth potential.
The thesis that common moral agreement among most all cultures, societies, and religions about what is ethically right and ethically wrong gives rise to ethical standards that apply to members of all societies, all companies, and all business people is associated with:
The school of ethical universalism.
Which of the following statements about Six Sigma programs is false?
There are two types of Six Sigma programs: one is for reducing costs and the other is for improving product quality.
According to the school of ethical relativism,
There can be no single set of worldwide ethical standards because what is deemed ethical or unethical depends on the religious beliefs, historic traditions and customs, core values and beliefs, and behavioral norms that prevail in particular cultures and countries.
Different businesses are said to be "unrelated" when:
They have dissimilar value chains, containing no competitively useful cross-business relationships or strategic fits.
Which of the following is NOT a typical reason why companies opt to sell their products/services or to locate some of their operations in some or many countries?
To strengthen the company's capability to employ more effective offensive and defensive strategies.
Which of the following is generally NOT among the practices that companies use to staff jobs with the best people they can find?
Weeding out the 15% lowest performing employees each year and replacing them with more talented and motivated job applicants.
In which of the following instances is diversification NOT a prime strategic option for a single-business company to consider?
When it is facing strong competitive pressures from rival companies and is currently losing money.
Operating in the markets of many different foreign countries requires company managers to confront the strategic issue of:
Whether to vary the company's competitive approach to fit specific market conditions and buyer preferences in each host country or whether to employ essentially the same competitive strategy approach in all countries
Which of the following is NOT among the important strategic issues associated with competing across national borders?
Which foreign country markets are the best candidates for becoming large and well-protected profit sanctuaries
When industry attractiveness ratings are calculated for each of the industries a multi-business company has diversified into, the results help indicate:
Which of the industries the company has diversified into are most attractive and least attractive and the overall appeal of the whole group of industries the company has diversified into.
