Chapter 2: The Strategic Management Process

Which of the following best describes a Level 5 manager in the Level-5 leadership pyramid? A) Asoka is the CEO of Green Machines Inc.; he has helped his company in gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage through ethical decision making. B) Dmitri is an employee at Infinite Circle Inc.; he has helped his team achieve their targets by contributing to the team's efforts. C) Luigi is part of the marketing team at RT Corp.; he has been given the charge of managing a team of three, so he will be promoted to a manager's position next month. D) Connie is an employee who just started her career at DK Inc.; she has already been appreciated for her knowledge and skills in the new company.

A) Asoka is the CEO of Green Machines Inc.; he has helped his company in gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage through ethical decision making.

After carefully assessing the market potential for hybrid motorcycles, it was decided at the corporate headquarters of HyCycles Inc. that the company would be launching a hybrid version of all its motorcycle models within the next two years. This would mean that each strategic business unit under the company would be involving in its own research and development efforts. Which of the following strategies in the planned emergence model does this best illustrate? A) intended strategy B) unrealized strategy C) tactical strategy D) emergent strategy

A) intended strategy

Top-down strategic planning as an approach to the strategic management process will be most effective when the A) size of the firm is large. B) top management wants to decentralize decision making. C) environment is constantly changing. D) probability of black swan events is high.

A) size of the firm is large.

A traditional top-down strategic planning process typically begins with A) strategic leaders adjusting a company's vision and mission based on environmental analysis. B) functional managers formulating functional strategies for their respective departments. C) employees who have close contact with customers taking autonomous actions. D) employees at the operational level identifying problems within an organization.

A) strategic leaders adjusting a company's vision and mission based on environmental analysis

The CEO of Juliet Computers was the child of parents who had difficulty making enough money to support their family. As a result, he and his siblings did not have access to many advantages that children from wealthier families had. This CEO, therefore, emphasized making affordable computers that could be bought by low-income households. Which of the following does this example demonstrate? A) scenario planning B) Level-5 leadership pyramid C) upper-echelons theory D) dominant strategic planning

C) upper-echelons theory

How are the two approaches, strategic planning and scenario planning, different from the strategy-as-planned-emergence approach? A) Unlike strategic planning and scenario planning, strategy as a planned emergence model does not begin with a strategic plan. B) Unlike strategic planning and scenario planning, strategy as a planned emergence model is a rational top-down planning approach. C) Strategy as a planned emergence model was introduced before strategic planning and scenario planning. D) Relative to strategic planning and scenario planning, strategy as a planned emergence model is a less formal and less stylized approach to the development of strategy.

D) Relative to strategic planning and scenario planning, strategy as a planned emergence model is a less formal and less stylized approach to the development of strategy.

In Strategy Highlight 2.2, what type of strategy did Diana, the Starbucks store manager in southern California, use to develop the new iced beverage for her store? A) She created a dominant strategy plan. B) She used scenario planning. C) She used a rational planning approach to strategy planning. D) She used an emergent strategy.

D) She used an emergent strategy.

The executives at Red Couture Inc. are developing strategic plans to address plausible future situations like rise in the prices of cotton and synthetic fabrics by 20 percent, appreciation in the value of the dollar, increase in the cost of labor by 30 percent, and increase in demand for the company's products. By doing so, the company will be well prepared with its planned responses if any of these situations occurs in the future. Thus, Red Couture is employing ________ as the approach to the development of strategy. A) top-down strategic planning B) pattern recognition C) reverse engineering D) scenario planning

D) scenario planning

T/F: The autocratic strategic management process exhibited by the former head of Apple, Steve Jobs, is best described as an emergent strategy.

False

T/F: Under the strategy as a planned emergence model, even entry-level employees can help generate strategic initiatives.

True