Strategic Management Ch 1 and 2

engaging the services of staffing firms to maintain the company's personnel data

Which of the following is not among the principal managerial tasks associated with managing the strategy execution process?

adhering to abandoned strategy elements

Which of the following is not an element of a company's realized business strategy?

Sticking with an outdated business model

Which of the following is not one of the most frequently used strategic approaches to building a sustainable competitive advantage?

The need to respond to short-term swings in the stock market

Which of the following is not typically a trigger to an evolving strategy?

entails setting both financial and strategic objectives and putting balanced emphasis on their achievement.

A balanced scorecard for measuring company performance

(1) specifies a customer value proposition, (2) develops a profit formula

A company's business model

management's vision mapping out where a company is headed, the company's financial and strategic objectives, and management's strategy to achieve the objectives and move the company along the chosen strategic path.

A company's strategic plan consists of

a strategy that yields a competitive advantage over rivals is a company's most reliable means of achieving above-average profitability and financial performance.

A creative, distinctive strategy that delivers a sustainable competitive advantage is important because

is a company's most reliable ticket to above-average profitability.

A strategy that distinguishes a company from its rivals and provides a sustainable competitive advantage

fits the company's internal and external situation, builds sustainable competitive advantage, and boosts company performance

A winning strategy is one that

lacking in analysis—based more on managerial emotion and excessive ambition than on what is realistically achievable

According to both the text discussion and the summary in Table 2.3, which of the following is NOT a common shortcoming of company vision statements?

overseeing the company's financial accounting and financial reporting practices

Accounting scandals that led to investigations of such well-known companies as AOL Time Warner, Global Crossing, Enron, Qwest Communications, and WorldCom resulted in the conviction of a number of corporate executives and the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. In these cases, the board of directors did not fulfill which of the following important obligations?

business strategy, functional area strategies, and operating strategies.

As Figure 2.2 shows, the strategy-making hierarchy in a single business company consists of

need to be broken down into performance targets for each of the organization's separate businesses, product lines, functional departments, and individual work units.

Company objectives

a strong independent board of directors that was responsible for making independent judgments about the validity and wisdom of management's proposed strategic actions.

Corporate governance failures at Volkswagen included all of the following except

ensures consistency in strategic approach among businesses of a diversified, multibusiness corporation.

Corporate strategy

strategic outcomes are leading indicators of a company's future financial performance and business prospects.

Establishing and achieving strategic objectives merits very high priority on management's agenda because

be intensely involved with and responsible for leading strategy-making, strategy-executing process

Every corporation should have a strong, independent board of directors that does all of the following except

the best test of managerial excellence and the best recipe for making a company a standout performer

Excellent execution of a successful strategy is

changing market conditions, development of internal capabilities and competencies, and allocation of financial resources.

In answering the question "How well does the strategy fit the company's situation," management must be willing and ready to address such issues as

blending deliberate actions to improve the company's competitiveness and financial performance and unplanned reactions to changing circumstances and fresh market conditions.

It is normal for a company's realized strategy to end up

decide whether to continue or change the company's strategic vision, objectives, strategy and/or strategy execution methods.

Management is obligated to monitor new external developments, evaluate the company's progress, and make corrective adjustments in order to

how well its management team charts direction, develops effective strategic moves, and pursues daily operating excellence.

Nothing affects a company's ultimate success or failure more fundamentally than

the relatively narrow strategic initiatives and approaches for managing key operating units (plants, distribution centers, geographic units) and specific operating activities (the management of specific brands, supply chain-related activities, and website sales and operations).

Operating strategies consist of

long-run objectives should take precedence, unless the achievement of one or more short-run performance targets has unique importance.

When trade-offs have to be made between achieving long-term and achieving short-term objectives,

these enable a company to attract sufficiently large numbers of buyers who have a lasting preference for its products or services over those offered by rivals, despite the efforts of competitors to offset that appeal and overcome the company's advantage.

Strategies that yield sustainable competitive advantage are important because

a mission statement typically concerns an enterprise's present business scope and purpose —"who we are, what we do, and why we are here"—whereas the focus of a strategic vision is on the direction the company is headed and what its future product-customer-market-technology focus will be.

The difference between a company's mission statement and the concept of a strategic vision is that

is the actions and moves to gain a competitive edge over rivals in the marketplace

The heart and soul of any strategy

determine how to support particular activities in ways that support the overall business strategy and competitive approach.

The primary role of a functional strategy is to

a job for a company's whole management team—senior executives plus the managers of business units, operating divisions, functional departments, manufacturing plants, and sales districts (as per the strategy-making hierarchy shown in Figure 2.2).

The task of crafting a strategy is

when elements of the strategy give buyers lasting reasons to prefer a company's products or services over others

When can a company achieve sustainable competitive advantage?

Scrutinize the company's existing strategies on a regular basis to ensure they offer a good strategic fit, create a competitive advantage, and result in above-average performance.

When evaluating proposed or existing strategies, managers should

Is the strategy well matched to the company's situation, helping the company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, and resulting in better company performance?

Which of the following questions ought to be used to distinguish a winning strategy from a so-so or flawed strategy?

A company's realized strategy is typically a blend of deliberate/planned initiatives and emergent/unplanned reactive strategy elements.

Which of the following statements about a company's realized strategy is true?

Strategy at its essence is about competing differently — doing what rival firms do not do or cannot do.

Which of the following statements about a company's strategy is true?

concrete and unambiguous (leaves no doubt as to what the company is trying to accomplish for shareholders)

Which one of the following is not a characteristic of an effectively worded strategic vision statement (see Table 2.2)?

directing senior executives as to what the company's long-term direction, objectives, business model, and strategy should be, and, further, closely supervising senior executives in their efforts to implement and execute the strategy

Which one of the following is not among the chief duties/responsibilities of a company's board of directors insofar as the strategy-making, strategy-executing process is concerned?

choosing a strategic intent

Which one of the following is not an integral part of the managerial process of crafting and executing strategy?

How to prove to shareholders that the company's business model is viable

Which one of the following is not related to actions and approaches that comprise a company's strategy?

sets forth how its strategy and operating approaches will create value for customers, while at the same time generate ample revenues to cover costs and realize a profit.

viable business model