Principles of Management Exam 2

Those who manage the work on the front lines are most involved with what component of the planning process

operational planning

The managerial tools for ________ include a SWOT analysis, forecasting, and VRIO analysis

organizational assessment

Knowing the future is uncertain, Sofia should engage in ________ so her family's business will have a set of goals and tasks that should lead to desired outcomes.

panning

In a SWOT analysis, organizational strengths are

skills and capabilities that give a company advantages in executing its strategies

How often should a company revise its strategic plan?

1-2 years

A short-term goal usually spans ________ while a long-term goal typically spans ________

12 months 1-5 years

________ is a technique used to help groups generate multiple ideas and alternatives for solving problems

Brainstorming

An organization's ________ expresses the need the firm will fill, the operations of the business, its components and functions, and the expected revenues and expenses

Business model

In the BCG matrix, Kroger would be in the category of ________ due to being the largest retailer in the relatively stable grocery market

Cash Cow

Executive Office Supply, a small family-owned company, sells high-priced desks, some as expensive as $10,000, to executives in its area. Very few companies have chosen to market this product, and Executive Office Supply has enjoyed record profits over the last 25 years. Because Executive Office Supply is a small, successful company, you would advise them not to utilize strategic planning

False

When Zappos.com says it aims "to simultaneously deliver happiness to customers, employees, vendors, shareholders, and the community," it is stating its code of ethics

False

Bahir's ________ is to sell 80% of his old merchandise prior to ordering more inventory from the wholesaler.

Goal

________ bias causes people to view events as being more predictable than they really are

Hindsight

Which of these is an example of a means-end chain

Implementing a cleaning schedule to ensure all parts of the restaurant are deep cleaned each month is a means to earning the highest cleanliness rating during the next health inspection

Which of the following satisfies the SMART goals criteria

In the next quarter, our Tucson sales agent will increase sales by 10 percent

Kickstarter, a global crowdfunding platform, states that its purpose as an organization is "to help bring creative projects to life." This is the company's

Mission statement

________ can be another term used for a goal

Objective

As factory supervisor, Miguel wants all 150 workers to complete a required training before the end of the fiscal year which is one month away. He sets a goal of training 15 workers each day. What is Miguel doing

Planning

CorrectTalk is a company that provides security and communications technology to jails and prisons. Over the last several months, CorrectTalk's profits have dropped and the company seems to be moving in the wrong direction. The owner recognizes that he wrongly assumed that his clients would need more technology and that his installation teams frequently have internal conflict. These issues are a result of

Poor Planning

________ is a technique used to predict future outcomes based on historical data and analytics techniques

Predictive analytics

Breyona keeps a close eye on her company's internal and external environments to identify better ways of doing business and to discover possible opportunities for new products. In which activity is Breyona engaged

SWOT Analysis

The three key principles of ________ are the creation of a unique and valuable position, trade-offs in competing, and creating a "fit" among activities

Strategic positioning

Haya operates a car dealership, and she has been working to come up with ways to overcome the incredibly high competition her business faces. There are six other dealerships within a one-mile radius. So far, Haya has thought of doing a car giveaway event, adding extended warranties on every new car that is sold, or running advertisements through the mail. Haya is at which stage of the decision-making process

Thinking of alternative solutions

Jamir's Diner is a popular café that specializes in home-cooked meals, friendly service, and a menu that contains vegan and vegetarian dishes (menu items that no other restaurant in the area offers). Jamir's Diner is engaging in strategic positioning by offering the unique menu items of vegan and vegetarian dishes

True

Mateo, a florist, recently learned about strategic management and wants to implement this process for his flower shop. Mateo should begin by establishing mission, vision, and values statements

True

The basic idea of a business that explains which customer needs will be met, how the functions and operations will be organized, and how money will flow in and out is called a business model

True

With satisficing, managers look for alternatives until they find one that is satisfactory, not optimal

True

Executives, often referred to as the "C-Suite," should focus their decision making on which of the following

What products and services shall we offer

You have an idea for a company that sources fruits from local farms to make fresh juices that will be sold on a subscription-based service to households within a 100-mile radius. How will you know if your company has a sustainable advantage

You will produce and deliver juice more effectively than competitors

A decision tree is

a graph of decisions and their possible consequences; it is used to create a plan to reach a goal

Satisficing is the tendency of

a group to settle on a decision that is "good enough"

Ichiro is an on-site coordinator for the International Olympics Committee. Ichiro is good at his job because he regularly seeks new ideas and contrary opinions. He tolerates ambiguity well while being quite task-focused. Ichiro's decision-making style is best described as

analytical

Managers can use the VRIO framework to

analyze a firms competitive potential

Decisions are sometimes based on an initial figure due to

anchoring and adjustment bias

James and En-Chi are selling their home. They listed their house three months ago at an extremely high selling price, a price they randomly chose. They do not want to reduce the price to reflect what the market shows their home is really worth. James and En-Chi are participants in ________ bias

anchoring and adjustment bias

Bruno knows that one of the reasons people do not return to his home appliance store is because of the slow service. How would a SWOT analysis classify the slow service at Bruno's store

as a weakness

Zene is a chef and owner of a popular restaurant. Zene frequently visits competing restaurants to observe how they are doing things. He told one of his managers, "I eat dinner at a lot of restaurants because I want to know what is going on. I am always concerned that one of our competitors will surprise us with a new service or menu item, like ours but better." In which activity is Zene engaging

assessing current reality

For organizational goal setting to be effective, goals must

be applied organizational wide

Kumail initiated MBO in his company 12 months ago. Now, Kumail about to conduct his first-ever performance appraisals with his employees. Which of the following statements would you offer to Kumail as advice?

be sure to reward employees who meet goals

________ is the process by which a company compares its performance with that of high-performing organizations

benchmarking

According to Porter, the cost-focus and focused-differentiation strategies have what in common

both focus on narrow markets

________ is the idea that proposes that the ability of decision makers to be rational is limited by numerous constraints, such as complexity, time, cognitive capacity, values, skills, habits, and unconscious reflexes

bounded rationality

Which of the following lists represent ways to improve group problem solving as identified by decision-making experts

brainstorming, dialectic method, post-mortems

The BCG matrix is a means of evaluating strategic business units based on their

business growth rates and share of the markets

A decision is a

choice made from among available alternatives

The ________ model assumes managers will make logical decisions that are the optimal means of furthering the organization's best interests

classical

When people seek information to support their point of view and discount data that do not, they are subject to ________ bias

conformation bias

After reviewing her department's results, Laurel decided that she needed to cut more costs for the department to meet its profitability goal for the year. Eliminating the unplanned advertising expenses is one way to

correct deviations in the plan

When organizations endeavor (1) to keep their costs (and hence the prices of their products or services) below those of competitors and (2) to target a wide market, they are utilizing a ________ strategy

cost-leadership

To maximize profitability and competitiveness, firms must

create alignment across all levels of strategy

A local gymnastics studio offers dance, tumbling, trampolines, and competitive cheer training for kids of all ages. To recruit students for these lessons, the studio also hosts birthday parties, afterschool care, and swim lessons. These offerings interact to

create fit among the activities

Reggie's Records uses time-series forecasts, such as past holiday sales and the strength of store sales this year, to predict future sales based on patterns of historical data. Reggie's is using

data analytics

At the strategic level of planning, managers must pay attention to the environment outside the organization, be future oriented, and

deal with uncertain and competitive conditions

A person's ________ reflects the combination of how he or she perceives and responds to information.

decision making style

Over the course of 40 years, Bradley grew his company to six package shipping stores. With his retirement approaching and increased competition from national brands, he decided to reduce the number of locations to two. Bradley's closing of four locations represents a

defensive strategy

Max was recently promoted to production manager at a busy boat factory. As a department manager, Max had proven himself to be very efficient, and he had a logical and practical approach to solving problems. Max has a reputation for being decisive and getting things done. Most of the factory's employees like Max, but they feel he exercises too much control over them. Max most often uses a(n) ________ decision-making style

directive

Goal displacement, satisficing, and groupthink are

disadvantages of group decision making

Nikos, the office manager of a large optometrist clinic, recently purchased a used copier. It seems as if Nikos becomes more committed to the copier every time it jams, even though employees are having many troubles with it. Nikos is likely struggling with the ________ bias

escalation of commitment

When Zion wrote the football coach's contract for over two million dollars, he included targets for conference wins and bowl appearances that had to be met before any bonus payments would be released. Zion was trying to avoid ________ bias.

escalation of commitment

In order, the steps of the strategic-management process are

establish the mission, vision, and values statements; assess the current reality; formulate the grand strategy; implement the strategy; and maintain strategic control

When evaluating the alternatives of a decision, managers need to base decisions strictly on cost, quality, and feasibility

false

Duracell, a company well-known for manufacturing alkaline batteries, derives its strategic position from which source

few needs, many customers

Operational planning should be completed by ________, and tactical planning is done by ________

first line managers, middle managers

Growth, stability, and defensive strategies are common ________ strategies

grand

The advantages of ________ are having a greater pool of knowledge, gaining different perspectives, gaining intellectual stimulation, having a better understanding of decision rationale, and having a deeper commitment to the decision

group decision making

Jordan likes working in as an insurance underwriter because it has structure and certainty, and the daily work is routine. Jordan probably

has a low tolerance for ambiguity

After a week as an executive assistant, Christopher was thinking about quitting. He was dismayed at the ________ shown by his boss, the CEO, who was overconfident and narcissistic

hubris

After three summers working for a local landscaping business, Scott suggested that his boss add snow removal as an extra service. With this holistic hunch, Scott was acting on ________ that snow removal might be a good addition to the service offerings

intuition

Nonrational decision-making models, such as ________, describe how managers sometimes make decisions

intuition

When managers apply the continuous feedback loop known as the planning/control cycle, which management functions are implied

leading and organizing

The process for motivating employee performance in which the manager and employee jointly set objectives for the employee, the manager develops action plans, the manager and employee periodically review the employee's performance, and the manager makes a performance appraisal and rewards the employee according to the results achieved is known as

management by objective

A forecast is a

projection of the future

A(n) ________ links low-level goals, such as providing free estimates within 24 hours, to higher-level goals, such as decreasing the cost of customer acquisition

means end chain

Michael Porter proposed that business-level strategies originate with the primary competitive forces in the firm's environment; these forces are the threats of

new entrants, substitute products or services, bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, and competitive rivalries.

With the community interested in eating healthy, Karima thought a restaurant centered on her grandmother's Mediterranean-style recipes would be popular. Her decision was uncertain, but it felt "right" to honor her grandmother by opening this restaurant. Karima is enacting

non rational decision making

The three levels of ________ are strategic, tactical, and operational.

planning

To ensure that his plans are moving his company in the right direction, Joaquin can apply a

planning/control cycle

LaShawn and his partner, Nathan, have decided to update their firm's computer network, although they have no expertise in this area. Recently, they discussed the many constraints on their decision, such as the complexity of technology, limited time and money, imperfect information, and our conflicting goals. These limitations are hindrances to

rational decision making

________ is another term for a defensive strategy

retrenchment strategy

A SWOT analysis is a

search for the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats affecting an organization

Managers can use an operating plan to

segment strategic goals into short term targets

In the BCG matrix, ________ are companies that have high growth and high market share, and are definite keepers

stars

Which sequence of goals is consistent with "cascading" goals that begin at the top of the organization

strategic divisional departmental individual

After establishing values statement, what is the next step in planning

strategic planning

The CEO of Alliance Manufacturing said to her new vice president of finance, "In the past, I had resistance to new ideas by employees who felt that our plans threatened their influence or their jobs. So, when you tell your collections department that we just hired a collection agency to handle bad debt, you may have to sell your collections manager and his associates on using the agency. You should emphasize the fact that nobody is going to be laid off." Selling middle and supervisory managers on changes to overcome their resistance is often a necessary part of

strategy implementation

Managers who redo budgets, rethink processes, or revise policies are

taking corrective action, which will constitute a feedback loop

When the university's provost sets a major student retention goal, the cascading-goals process would occur if the

the dean set retention goals

To ensure a quality group decision, the manager appointed Elijah to the role of devil's advocate in the decision-making process. What is expected of Elijah

to take the role of the critic

With the holiday season approaching, Denelle reviews holiday sales from the last five years to determine how much inventory to purchase and how many employees to schedule during peak sales times. Denelle is conducting a

trend analysis

Which of these questions should be answered by your company's mission statement?

what are our major strengths