Mid Term p2
9 - SA - Give an example for why a firm would pursue each of the three grand strategies.
A firm would pursue business-level strategies because they can help to bring market differentiation to the company and give value added over its competitors. Pursuing corporate-level strategies can help large businesses stay afloat by deciding when to grow or shrink the company as a whole. International strategies can help growing businesses enter new foreign markets and grow the company's profitability.
8 - SA - Describe a firm's macro environment and how managers use PESTEL to understand it.
A firm's macro environment is made up of things that can affect the firm, but are largely out of the firms' control. PESTEL is an acronym to help remind managers to be mindful of how political, economic, sociocultural, technological, environmental, and legal factors can all individually affect the firm.
10 - SA - What is an organizational structure?
An organizational structure is essentially a system that helps employees know WHAT work to do, HOW the rely on and/or support co-workers, and WHY they do their work to achieve company goals. It helps connect all activities that occur within a work organization.
10 - Which change model argues that an organization is constantly developing and adapting to its environment, much like a living organism?
Complex Adaptive Systems
9 - When a company decide to shrink its operations to reduce costs in order to survive, it is employing a ____ strategy.
Defensive
10 - T/F - Transformational change refers to small refinements in current organizational practices or routines that do not challenge, but rather build on or improve, existing aspects and practices within the organization..
F
8 - T/F - A firm's internal environment contains elements that can impact the firm but are generally beyond its direct control.
F
8 - T/F - Rivalry is weakest within a strategic group, and the actions of one firm in a group generally does not elicit responses from other group members, as market share in the industry is rarely affected.
F
8 - T/F - Threats offer positive potential, however sometimes a firm is not equipped to take advantage of them which is why considering the entire SWOT is important before deciding what to do.
F
9 - T/F - Strategic objectives usually identify why a firm exists.
F
9 - T/F - Strategy and goals statements together are the first building blocks in defining why a firm exists and in developing a plan to accomplish what the firm wants to accomplish.
F
9 - T/F - The SMART framework can be applied to business or personal goals. A good goal should be specific, measurable, applicable, rewarded, and time-bound.
F
9 - T/F - The vision statement describes the strategy a firm will use to follow its vision along with a description of why do they exists.
F
9 - SA - Why are good goals important to the planning process?
Good goals are important to the planning process because they set a "finish line." You have to know where you want to get before you can plan how to get there.
8 - SA - When does a firm have a competitive advantage over its rivals?
If a firm can provide a good or service that is valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and organized to capture value, the good or service provides a competitive advantage to the firm.
8 - Which term best describe a group of firms all making similar products or similar services?
Industry
10 - ABC Products has a highly vertical organizational structure that is designed to generate a high degree of standardization and control. ABC Products can be described to have which of these structures?
Mechanistic
9 - Which of these takes the why of a vision statement and gives a broad description of how the firm will try to make its vision a reality?
Mission Statement
8 - "O" in VRIO refers to which of these?
Organization
8 - "R" in VRIO refers to which of these?
Rarity
9 - _____ is (are) the big-picture goals for the company.
Strategic Objectives
10 - T/F - An organization with a horizontal structure is also known as a flat organization because it often features only a few levels of organizational hierarchy.
T
10 - T/F - Culture change, among the most difficult kinds of changes to create within an organizational system, often involves reshaping and reimagining the core identity of the organization
T
10 - T/F - Kotterâ s change model aligns with mechanistic view of structure and thus it may be especially useful in organizations where there is a strong, hierarchical structure.
T
10 - T/F - Strategic planning and implementation is perhaps the most common type of organization-level change.
T
8 - T/F - A firm's resources and capacities are the unique skills and assets it possesses.
T
8 - T/F - To react to change more easily and develop products consumers want, managers and consultants engage in environmental scanning.
T
9 - T/F - The BCG Matrix has recommendations for businesses in each quadrantâ for example, a business in the dog quadrant should be sold or closed. Cash cows provide income to the corporation, and stars provide growth.
T
10 - What are the fundamental dimensions of change?
The first is structural change, which deals with the changes in formal relations within the organization. The second is technological change, which has to do with how emerging technologies can affect the way the company does it's work, along with many other things. The third type of change is cultural change, which has to do with changing the core identity of the organization, it is very difficult and can take many years to accomplish.
10 - Which of these refers to significant shifts in an organizational system that may cause significant disruption to some underlying aspect of the organization, its processes, or structures?
Transformational change
10 - _______ change is unintentional and is usually the result of informal organizing.
Unplanned change
9 - Which term describes the set of activities that firm managers undertake in order to try to put their firms in the best possible position to compete successfully in the marketplace?
Value Chain
9 - Which of the following is the first step of strategic management process?
Vision and Mission statements
10 - Weber proposed all of these elements of bureaucracy that serve as a foundation for determining an appropriate structure EXCEPT:
structural change.
8 - When a Sally assesses the external competitive environment facing her firm, she labels anything that would make it harder for her firm to be successful as a(n) _______.
threats
8 - "W" in the SWOT analysis stands for ______.
weaknesses
