Management Chapter 6 QUIZ

Bob's Assembly is a hardware manufacturer. It specializes in builders' hardware for doors, cabinets, windows, and bathrooms. Bob's Assembly products are economical and more durable than 95% of its competitors' products. This scenario illustrates the concept of _____. A. strategic dissonance B. distinctive competence C. core capability D. competitive inertia

B

Break Technologies has five strategic business units (SBUs)—computers, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and televisions. Its computers unit is quite profitable in spite of operating in a slow-growing market, and it is profitable enough to provide funds for the operation of the other business units as well. In the context of the BCG matrix, which of the following categories of SBUs best describes the computers unit? A. stars B. cashcows C. Dogs D. Question Marks

B

Which of the following statements is true of direct competition? A. It encourages the production of perfectly imitable resources. B. It minimizes the effects of industry competition. C. It is determined by market commonality and resource similarity. D. It uses cost leadership to produce a specialized product for limited customers.

C

Spade and Marcher Corp. manufactures and sells toy guns. These toy guns are a perfect imitation of real weapons. Inspired by Spade and Marcher's success, Hudy & Sons, an arms manufacturer in Korowlla, starts to manufacture toy guns too. Which of the following adaptive strategies is used by Hudy & Sons? A. Reactors B. Prospectors C. Defenders D. Analyzers

D

TinkTV, PopoNet, and Kreti Broadcast are merging together to form a large television network called Tale Broadcast. This was done in an attempt to increase profitability by combining the customers and services owned by the three companies. Which of the following grand strategies does the given scenario best exemplify? A. The stability strategy B. The acquisition strategy C. The retrenchment strategy D. The growth strategy

D

Which of the following can help managers improve the speed and accuracy with which they determine the need for strategic change? A. Fostering competitive inertia B. Limiting design iterations C. Promoting strategic alliances with leading firms D. Looking for signs of strategic dissonance

D

BLANK is one of the grand strategies that focuses on increasing profits, revenues, market share, or the number of places in which a company does business.

Growth Strategy

BLANK is the positioning strategy of providing a product or service that is sufficiently different from competitors' offerings that customers are willing to pay a premium price for it.

Differentiation

BLANK are used by managers to measure whether their firm has developed the core competencies that it needs to achieve a sustainable competitive

Strategic Reference Points

A situational analysis is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in an organization's internal environment and the opportunities and threats in its external environment. (T/F)

T

Growth, stability, and retrenchment are all types of portfolio strategies that companies use to decide which businesses they should be in. (T/F)

F

Strategic reference points are the less visible, internal decision-making routines, problem-solving processes, and organizational cultures that determine how efficiently inputs can be turned into outputs. (T/F)

F

BoundStar and ClipKlik are two of the biggest companies in the smartphone industry. When BoundStar launched a new ultra-slim smart phone, ClipKlik also shortly launched a super-sleek smartphone. Phones launched by both the companies are similar in quality and build. ClipKlik will be able to remain competitive in the market though BoundStar launched its phone before ClipKlik. Which of the following strategies was used by ClipKlik to defend its market share? A. a response strategy B. An amalgamation strategy C. An acquisition strategy D. A recovery strategy

A

In the context of portfolio strategy, _____ is the purchase of a company by another company. A. acquisition B. divestiture C. demerger D. restructuring

A

PeoplePapers, a greeting cards manufacturing company, has retail stores in most parts of the country. It hires its employees from the best universities around the world and uses the best equipment in its manufacturing processes. In this scenario, the organization's processes, its employees, and its equipment are examples of its: A. Resources B. reserves. C. overheads. D. variable costs.

A

Which of the following statements is true of a portfolio strategy? A. It is a corporate-level strategy with the purpose of reducing risk in the entire collection of stocks. B. It emphasizes on improving the way in which the company sells the same products. C. It focuses on turning around very poor company performance by significant cost reductions. D. It measures the intensity of competitive behavior among companies in an industry.

A

Which of the following statements is true of analyzers? A. They are a blend of the defender and prospector strategies. B. They are the first to bring innovative new products to market. C. They do not follow a consistent strategy. D. They react to changes in their external environment after they occur.

A

is a competitive advantage that other companies have tried unsuccessfully to duplicate and have, for the moment, stopped trying to duplicate. A. Sustainable competitive advantage B. Core competency advantage C. Comparative advantage D. Revealed competitive advantage

A

In the context of adaptive strategies, which of the following best describes prospectors? A. They seek moderate, steady growth by offering a limited range of products and services to a well-defined set of customers. B. They seek fast growth by searching for new market opportunities, encouraging risk taking, and being the first to bring innovative new products to market. C. They try to simultaneously minimize risk and maximize profits by following or imitating the proven successes of firms. D. They develop and follow a single strategy for extensive periods of time, irrespective of any changes taking place in the industry.

B

SkyScape, a company that manufactures computer processors, launched a new product called ChipOne. This launch was a countermove against another product launched by GreenChip, SkyScape's competitor. Which of the following strategies was used by SkyScape to defend its market share? A. An acquisition strategy B. A response strategy C. An amalgamation strategy D. A recovery strategy

B

Which of the following best defines a SWOT analysis? A. It measures the tangible rather than the intangible assets of an organization. B. It involves assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in an organization's internal environment. C. Its aim is to review internal processes independently of the external industry environment. D. It is conducted by regulatory agencies to measure the performance of organizations.

B

Which of the following best defines strategic dissonance? A. It is a risk-seeking strategy that aims to create and acquire companies in completely unrelated businesses. B. It is a discrepancy between a company's intended strategy and the strategic actions taken by managers while implementing that strategy. C. It is a reluctance to change strategies or competitive practices that have been successful in the past. D. It is a corporate-level strategy that minimizes risk by diversifying investment among various businesses or product lines.

B

Which of the following conditions must be met if a firm's resources are to be used to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage? A. The resources must be controlled by other competing firms B. The resources must be valuable, rare, and nonsubstitutable C. The resources must be low-cost and commutable D. The resources must be perfectly imitable

B

Which of the following is the first step of a strategy-making process? A. Conducting situational analysis B. Assessing the need for strategic change C. Choosing strategic alternatives D. Evaluating strategic alternatives

B

Which of the following is the last step of a strategy-making process? A. Assessing the need for strategic change B. Choosing strategic alternatives C. Conducting situational analysis D. Evaluating strategic alternatives

B

Which of the following statements is true of the BCG matrix? A. It focuses on increasing profits or the number of places in which a company does business. B. It is used to categorize a corporation's businesses by growth rate and relative market share. C. It is used to guide the strategic alternatives that managers of individual businesses may use. D. It focuses on improving the way in which a company sells the same products to the same customers.

B

is a measure of the intensity of competitive behavior among companies in an industry. A. Threats of new entrants B. Character of the rivalry C. Bargaining power of firms D. Threat of substitute products

B. Character of the rivalry

A competitive advantage becomes a sustainable competitive advantage when: A. a company collaborates with its competitors to obtain a larger market share. B. market commonality is large, and companies have overlapping products or services. C. other companies cannot duplicate the value a firm is providing to customers. D. a company uses a competitive move designed to reduce a rival's market share or profits.

C

FreeSpirit is a global consumer products company. It manufactures a number of new products ranging from personal care to food and beverages. Its products are sold all across the world, and it continuously keeps searching for new markets to sell its products. It has also doubled its investment to market its products, and it invests heavily in social media and other advertisement mediums. In the context of adaptive strategies, FreeSpirit is most likely to be categorized as a(n) _____. A. reactor B. analyzer C. Prospector D. Cost leader

C

Which of the following best defines competitive inertia? A. It is a risk-seeking strategy that aims to create and acquire companies in completely unrelated businesses. B. It is a corporate-level strategy that minimizes the risk by diversifying investment among various businesses or product lines. C. It is a reluctance to change strategies or competitive practices that have been successful in the past D. It is a discrepancy between a company's intended strategy and the strategic actions managers take when implementing that strategy.

C