Strategic Management Basics Quiz

Which of the following would be considered a component of a company's Business-level strategy?

Setting competitive product pricing strategy

A business organization's structure, importantly, needs to facilitate the work conversations and collaborations that are necessary for the business to function effectively.

True

Enterprise-level strategy is NOT directly concerned with:

How its products compete in any of its various markets

Key elements of any sound Strategic Management Process include:

All of the above Implementation Mission Development Internal and External Situation Analysis

An organization's "structure" is, in essence, how executive and employee roles, authority, power and responsibilities are assigned, controlled, and coordinated, and how the information needed to run things efficiently flows between individuals and work units throughout the enterprise. While the need for structure is clear, the best structure for any business or organization will include which of the following:

All of the above The type of competitive and physical/geographic context the business exists in The company's stage of developent Who its members are and what they believe in and value

What factor did we discuss in class as driving the difference between Strategic Management processes that were implemented in 1990, and the way the process is implemented today?

Developing information technologies

Which of the following is an example of a generic Enterprise-level Strategy option?

Diversification

Strategic Management involves making decisions, and the resulting actions, at what three levels of strategy? (Starting with the decisions most likely to be made at the CEO level): _____________ or "corporate", _____________, and _____________ or "functional" level strategy. (Please note: Exact spelling and sequencing of your answers are important to getting the answers correct)

Enterprise Business Operating

A company's mission statements are important only to the company's internal constituencies, not to its external stakeholders.

False

Business-level Strategy is concerned with creating the strategic mix of businesses the parent company is investing in.

False

Enterprise-level Strategy mainly deals with issues such as "how efficient" the organization is.

False

The essential difference between "Strategy" and "Tactics" is that strategy refers to how plans will get implemented, while tactics involve some purposeful attempt, involving a plan, to achieve an objective or set of objectives.

False

Which of the following is a part of a company's work at the Operating-level?

R&D

The "classic" strategic management model fell out of favor in practice for all but which of the following reasons?

The process was seen as too "organic"

A company's "Business Model" is the way the business generates revenue and makes a profit from its operations, and is inherent in the way the company generates revenues and in its cost structure. A company with multiple business units should thus usually develop a different business model for each business.

True

Alfred Chandler thought that "pattern recognition, born of "curiosity," was the trait that distinguished the best leaders and managers from the rest.

True

Former rock star and current US intelligence analyst Jeff Baxter stated in the video speech shown in class that creativity in solving complex problems involves not only a thorough analysis of the problem, which includes breaking the problem down into smaller more easily dealt with parts, but then also a synthesis or thinking through and reorganizing the smaller analytical pieces of the problem as a way of finding fresh perspectives and perhaps innovative solutions.

True

Margaret Heffernan argues in her obituary of Alfred Chandler that "Business failures occur when pattern recognition stops, when business leaders fall for their own publicity or when the business becomes too narcissistic ..."

True

The Business Week article "Strategic Planning", referring to an earlier name for what we now call "Strategic Management", states that in its earliest form of practice, Strategic Management was largely assumed to be a "cerebral" function. This, in the sense that it was the sole responsibility of the leader and other elite executives in a firm, who, if they only thought hard enough and did the correct analyses, they could come up with the correct answers to their problems.

True

The fact that your Capstone Simulation company will begin with 5 products, one in each of the five distinct business segments all within the electronic sensor industry, is best thought of as an example of what should be labeled a "Related Diversification" strategy at the Enterprise-level.

True