MGMT 3200 Ch. 5

An industry-level strategy that is best suited to changes in the organization's external environment is a(n)____.

adaptive

NTL is the largest cable company in the United Kingdom. The company has recently declared bankruptcy and needs to engage in restructuring in order to give it more flexibility and allow it to raise capital. Since it has identified the need for strategic change, what would be the organization's next step in this strategy-making process?

conducting a situation analysis

According to Michael Porter, five industry forces determine an industry's overall attractiveness and potential for long-term profitability. Which of the following is one of those forces Porter identified?

bargaining power of suppliers

Which of the following is NOT one of the five industry forces that determine an industry's overall attractiveness and potential for long-term profitability?

existing complementary products

A ____ strategy is a broad corporate-level strategic plan used to achieve strategic goals and guide the strategic alternatives that managers of individual businesses or subunits may use.

grand

McDonald's uses a ____ strategy (a kind of grand strategy) as it increases its profits in France by offering uniquely French products such as Croque McDo, the McDonald's version of a popular French grilled sandwich.

growth

Deutsche Bank became the world's largest bank through mergers with Bankers Trust, a transatlantic banking operation. Since both banking companies had similar core capabilities, this would be classified as an example of ____.

related diversification

A ____, also called a SWOT analysis for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in an organization's internal environment and the opportunities and threats in its external environment.

situational analysis

When The Home Depot opened stores in Canada, it ran a series of ads featuring an animated hammer that showed that the U.S.-based home improvement store had the lowest prices. According to Michael Porter, which of the following positioning strategies did The Home Depot adopt to deal with existing Canadian stores that sold similar products?

cost leadership

Which of the following organizations are most directly in competition with each other?

FedEx and UPS

When the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers is high, companies in the industry will ____.

find it more difficult to be profitable

Which of the following must be met if a firm's resources are to be used to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage?

imperfectly imitable resources

A(n) ____ strategy is a corporate strategy that addresses the question "How should we compete in this industry?"

industry-level

Companies in the chemical industry are struggling to attract the most talented college graduates. One of the biggest challenges facing these companies is attracting new talent to organizations with an "old economy" image. A situational analysis would term this challenge a(n) ____.

internal weakness

In a situational analysis, a strategic group is a group of ____ that top managers choose for comparing, evaluating, and benchmarking their company's strategic threats and opportunities.

other firms within an industry

Cost leadership, differentiation, and focus are the three types of ____ strategies discussed in the text.

positioning

Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc. introduced the first major production mountain bike in 1980. Two-thirds of its profits come from the sale of mountain bikes. Specialized bikes have a large share of a fast-growing market. According to the BCG matrix, specialized mountain bikes would be classified as ____.

stars

Top-Flite manufactures Strata golf balls and prices these balls at about three times what ordinary golf balls cost. The Strata ball sells exceptionally well because customers perceive its patented three-layer construction to improve handling and increase distance. The patent on these golf balls gives Top-Flite a(n) ____.

sustainable competitive advantage

Among companies who use the adaptive strategies, ____ blend the strategies used by ____.

analyzers; defenders and prospectors

Clorox Corporation controls 60 percent of the bleach market. Imagine you are an entrepreneur who was considering developing and marketing a new brand of bleach. Which of Michael Porter's industry forces should you be most concerned about?

character of the rivalry

The term ____ refers to the overall organizational strategy that addresses the question "What business or businesses are we in or should we be in?"

corporate-level strategy

Deutsche Bank is the largest bank in the world. Would this give it a sustainable competitive advantage?

no, because size is not a criteria for sustainable competitive advantage

An organization is experiencing ____ when there is a discrepancy between upper management's intended strategy and the strategy actually implemented by the lower levels of management.

strategic dissonance

If successful, which strategy is often followed by a growth strategy?

retrenchment

Significant cost reductions, layoffs of employees, closing of poorly performing stores, offices, or manufacturing plants, or closing or selling entire lines of products or services would be characteristic of a ____ strategy.

retrenchment

An organization is experiencing ____ when it is reluctant to change strategies or competitive practices that have been successful in the past.

competitive inertia