MGNT 428
Which of the following firms most likely has the lowest bargaining power as a buyer?
A cell phone company that requires highly customized software for its phones
EZ Solutions Inc. has been operating in the country of Jamtland for almost a decade. The nation is currently experiencing an economic downturn. Which of the following is the most likely benefit of this economic condition for Ez Solutions Inc?
Ez Solutions Inc. willhave better access to highly skilled human capital at a lower cost
Which of the following statements best supports the fact that even during a period of low demand in the U.S. automotive industry, excess capacity remained?
GM and Chrysler, despite their bankruptcy, restructured instead of exiting the industry.
Which of the following questions would a firm's business strategy ideally answer?
How should we compete?
Which of the following is a feature of a fragmented industry?
It consists of many small firms
Which of the following is not true concerning a customer-oriented mission?
It defines the means of how a customer need will be met.
Too Fast Inc. a motorcycle company, is the market leader due to its superior engine technology and service orientation. These unique qualities have helped the company generate revenues that are consistently higher than other firms in the same industry. Which of the following can be concluded about Too Fast Inc. from this scenario?
It has competitive advantage over the other firms.
Which of the following statements is true of an oligopoly?
It is often analyzed using game theory
Stan has been recently promoted to the position of a team lead at an insurance company. This promotion was based on his boss's assessment that Stan is capable of conveying the company's vision and mission to groups. As a result, he can guide groups to superior performance. From this scenario, we can say that Stan is currently at ___ of the Level-5 leadership pyramid.
Level 4
____________ are industry-specific factors that separate one strategic group from another.
Mobility barriers
Which of the following has contributed to Tesla's competitive advantage in terms of stock appreciation?
Reinvesting profits to continually design and produce better electric vehicles
____ is an important tool because it allows a manager to recognize, prioritize and address the needs of various stakeholders
Stakeholder impact analysis
______ is best described as executives' use of power and influence to direct the activities of others when pursuing organizational competitive advantage.
Strategic Leadership
When the Alta Velocidad Enspanola (AVE) was completed, it impacted Spain's local airline industry. Which of the following statements about the five forces does this reflect?
Substitutes made it difficult for generating a profit potential in Spain's airline industry
If a company chooses to keep its vision customer-oriented rather than product-oriented, what will be the implication of that decision?
The company will tend to be more flexible when adapting to changing environments
Which of the following actions of an automobile firm will be considered as a strategic commitment?
The firm investing 8 years and $4 billion to develop a range of hybrid cars with which it will compete in the future
Which of the following statements will effectively guide a strategist?
The principles of strategic management can be applied universally to all organizations
Incubent firms can benefit from several important sources of entry barriers. Economies of scale are one such source. Which of the following is an implication of economies of scale for incumbent firms?
They can demand better terms from their suppliers
Which of the following statements is true of customer-oriented visions?
They define a business in terms of providing solutions to people's needs
Why are black swan events such as accounting scandals and the global financial crisis perceived as caused by cheap credit and subprime mortgages offered by financial institutions, bad for business?
They erode the implicit trust between the corporate world and society.
Which of the following statements accurately brings out the difference between an organization's vision and mission?
Vision defines what the organization wants to accomplish ultimately, whereas the mission defines the means by which vision is accomplished
Organizational core values are the answer to which of the following questions?
What commitment do we make to act both legally and ethically?
Which of the following statements related to a firm's stakeholders is not true?
While external stakeholders are those who make contributions toward the firm, internal stakeholders are those who reap all the benefits
In which of the following cases was a company at a major competitive disadvantage?
Without a clear strategic position, Sears tried to be too many things for too many types of customers.
What term is used to describe cooperation by competitors who want to achieve a strategic objective?
co-opetition
strategic-group mapping establishes that
competitive rivalry is strongest between firms that are within the same strategic group
Some scholars have added a six force to Porter's Five Forces model. This sixth force, ______, is believed to add value to the original product offering (or service) when the two are used in tandem.
complement
All of the following below are examples of external stakeholders except
employees
Which of the following is a philanthropic responsibility of a firm?
exhibiting corporate citizenship
A fragmented industry turns into a consolidated industry when
firms reduce competition within the industry through mergers and acquisitions
product- oriented vision statements provide managers with
goals to improve service
The amount that savers are paid for use of their money and the amount that borrowers pay for that use is best described as a
interest rate
An organization's ________ describes what the organization actually does- the products and services it plans to provide, and the markets in which it will compete
mission
According to the upper-echelons theory
organizational outcomes reflect the values of the top management team.
Restrictions imposed by the government, such as export quotas on certain products, are a part of the ________ environment of the PESTEL framework.
political
A consolidated industry turns into a fragmented industry when
restrictive government policies are introduced in the industry
All of the following are examples of internal stakeholders except.
suppliers
Which of the following groups will not be considered a company's internal stakeholder?
suppliers
Which of the following does a firm possess when it can outperform other firms in the same industry or the industry average over a prolonged period of time? -consistent power position -long term capital gain -strategic positioning -sustainable competitive advantage
sustainable competitive advantage
A diagnosis of the competitive challenge, an element of a good strategy, is primarily accomplished through strategy
Analysis
Generally speaking, which of these situations is likely to lead to greater profits?
an industry with fewer but larger competitors
Which of the following statements is true of the level-5 leadership pyramid?
each level of leadership builds upon the previous one in the pyramid.
Which of these is a way to reconfigure a value chain?
entering an industry by offering sporting events on streaming video when competitors are offering them through the cable hookups
The metaphor of a black swan best applies to
events that are considered highly unexpected and highly impactful when they do occur
Gadgets n' Stuff Inc. is a vendor who supplies machine parts to an appliance manufacturing company. In return, Gadgets n' Stuff Inc. relies on the company for its revenue and is affected by any decisions taken by the company. In this scenario, Widgets Inc. is a(n) _______ for the appliance manufacturing company.
external stakeholder
The pattern of faulty and biased decision making that occurs in groups whose members strive for argument at the expense of good decision making is called
groupthink
ABC Hardrives Inc., All Digital Inc., and FastFax Corp. are all companies that manufacture and sell consumer electronics. They procure their component parts from a similar set of suppliers in China and sell the final product to customers with similar needs. Thus the three companies together are part of a
industry
When a firm integrates the competitive strategies of cost-leadership and differentiation, it will most likely result in
tradeoffs that work against each other
A good strategy should be able to provide products and services to customers at an attractive price point while maintaining internal costs, resulting in
value creation
According to the Level-5 leadership pyramid, the Level 2 manager is a
contributing team member
EatNow is a fast-food restaurant that has recently entered the hospitality industry. Since most of its competitors are pursuing a low-cost position and doing well, EatNow also wants to adopt the same strategy. Which of the following will be a likely implication of this decision?
EatNow will face low profit potential
Which of the following real-world examples best supports the statement that strategic commitments to a specific industry may be the result of political rather than economic considerations?
A number of European governments created Airbus through direct subsidies to provide a countervailing power to Boeing
How has Walmart staked out a unique strategic position?
By cutting costs to offer lower prices than competitors
Which of the following statements does the upper-echelons theory support?
Executive interpret situations through the lens of their unique perspectives, shaped by personal circumstances, values and experiences
How do complements affect a primary product or service?
They increase the demand for the primary product
Which of the following statements about competitive advantage is not true? -A firm will have a sustainable competitive advantage when it outperforms its competitors over a prolonged period of time. -A firm can gain a competitive advantage by providing goods similar to its competitors' goods at a lower price - A firm's competitive advantage is always absolute, not relative - A firm's past performance does not guarantee its future performance
a firm's competitive advantage is always absolute, not relative.
Which of the following groups is most likely to be considered a firm's internal stakeholder?
board members
In the 1980s, Japanese competitors brought better-quality chips to the market at lower cost, threatening Intel Corporation's position of DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips. When the functional managers at Intel came up with the simple rule of producing whichever product delivered the higher margin, the front-line managers shifted Intel's production capacity away from the low-margin DRAM business. This ____ emerged as a consequence of the firm's resource allocation process.
bottom-up strategy
The board of directors of Qwik Inc., a company that has a large product mix, has decided to get actively involved in research and development for the next three financial years. Budget for each business unit under the company will be allocated from the headquarters in proportion to its previous performance. The board has also decided to liquidate those units that have failed to perform so far. Which of the following strategies does this scenario best illustrate?
corporate strategy
MicroChips Corp. is a company that supplies microprocessors to 2020 Processors Inc., a computer hardware company. When 2020 Processors Inc. demands lower prices for the microprocessors, MicroChips Corp. makes it clear that it would profit more from launching its own brand of laptops and desktops in the market. Fearing the competition it would then face from MicroChips Corp., 2020 Processors Inc. decides to buy the microprocessors at the quoted price itself. In this scenario, MicroChips Corp., as a supplier, has exercised its bargaining power by threatening to
forward integrate
The greater the difference between value creation and cost, the
greater a firm's economic contribution
A firm's ___ strategy is likely to fall by the wayside because of the unpredictable events and turn into unrealized strategy.
intended
Which of the following is a stakeholder attribute that managers should consider at every step in a stakeholder impact analysis?
legitimacy
When an organization briefly describes what they do and how they do it, they have more than likely articulated their
mission statement
In the restaurant industry, a large number of restaurants cater to similar customer needs. However, each restaurant makes its product unique by offering a different cuisine, a different ambience, organic ingredients, or different services like home delivery. This differentiation allows each restaurant to set its own prices. Thus, the restaurant industry best illustrates a
monopolistically competitive structure
Owners of coffee plantations in the country of Cantonica grow their own coffee beans and supply them to various stores and restaurants all over the country. There are many plantation owners supplying to a huge number of companies, and they are typically unable to differentiate their products from one another. They also do not have the power to fix their own prices in the industry. In addition, these suppliers can only achieve competitive parity and not a competitive advantage. Thus, the coffee bean industry in Cantonica best illustrates a ____________ structure.
perfectly competitive
A firm is likely to have a competitive advantage when it:
provides services that consumers will value more than those of its rivals
The annual net profit after taxes for Tele Corp., a multinational conglomerate, is $5.5 billion. As legal owners, which of the following stakeholder groups has the most legitimate claim on this profit?
shareholders
Within the context of strategic management it is important to understand that black swan events in the past have demonstrated that
stakeholders can affect or be affected by a firm's actions
Evaluating the data collected from environmental analysis, the corporate executives of BigPharma Inc. realized that it was the right time to expand the business. The company's vision was accordingly adjusted from "To Be the Best in the Pharmaceutical Industry" to "To Make Good Health Accessible to Everyone around the Globe." To support the new vision, the executives decided that the company would first enter the Asian market where its growth potential would be huge. To further support these decisions, the general managers of different SBUs and the functional managers formulated their own stratregies. Which of the following approaches to the development of strategy does this best illustrate?
top-down strategic planning
A company's vision primarily states
what the company wants to ultimately accomplish
Which of the following statements is true of strategy?
Actions that allow a firm to address a competitive challenge are strategy.
____________ tends to be more fierce when exit barriers in the industry are high, resulting in some firms being locked into the industry.
Competitive rivalry