Business Consulting
Exam Solutions
Course Introduction
Business Consulting provides students with an in-depth understanding of the principles, processes, and skills required to advise organizations on improving performance and achieving their strategic goals. The course covers topics such as problem analysis, project management, client interaction, change management, and the development of actionable recommendations. Students engage in case studies and simulations to practice consulting methodologies and learn to apply frameworks for diagnosing business issues across various industries. Emphasis is placed on communication, teamwork, and ethical considerations, preparing students to deliver value as effective consultants.
Recommended Textbook
Crafting and Executing Strategy Concepts and Cases 21st Edition by Thompson
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Chapter 1: What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important
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112 Verified Questions
112 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A new entrant in a market dominated by established players introduces itself with copycat products of another competitor. Would this strategy work in the long term for the firm? Justify your answer.
Answer: Mimicking the strategies of successful industry rivals-with either copycat product offerings or maneuvers to stake out the same market position-rarely works. Rather, every company's strategy needs to have some distinctive element that draws in customers and produces a competitive edge. Strategy, at its essence, is about competing differently-doing what rival firms don't do or what rival firms can't do.
Q2) The customer value proposition lays out the company's approach to
A) meeting profitability guidelines without the risk of losing customers.
B) operating efficiently given the current level of customers.
C) embracing rival company approaches to gaining customers.
D) satisfying customer wants and needs at a price customers will consider a good value.
E) assuring that the company makes enough profits based on its per-unit cost.
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: Leading the Process of Crafting and Executing Strategy
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116 Verified Questions
116 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A strategic vision constitutes management's view and conclusions about the company's
A) long-term direction and what product-market-customer mix seems optimal.
B) business model and the kind of value that it is trying to deliver to customers.
C) justification of why the business will be a moneymaker.
D) past and present scope of work.
E) long-term plan for outcompeting rivals and achieving a competitive advantage.
Answer: A
Q2) Which of the following is NOT an advantage of setting "stretch" objectives?
A) helping to avoid mediocre results
B) pushing company personnel to be more inventive and innovative
C) helping clarify the company's strategic vision and strategic intent
D) helping a company be more focused and intentional in its actions
E) spurring exceptional performance and helping build a firewall against contentment with modest performance gains
Answer: C
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4
Chapter 3: Evaluating a Companys External Environment
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137 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify at least three benefits of constructing a strategic group map.
Answer: A strategic group consists of those industry members with similar competitive approaches and positions in the market. Companies in the same strategic group can resemble one another in a variety of ways. For example, they may have comparable product-line breadth, emphasize the same distribution channels, depend on identical technological approaches, or offer buyers essentially the same product attributes or similar services and technical assistance. Evaluating strategy options entails examining what strategic groups exist, identifying the companies within each group, and determining if a competitive "white space" exists where industry competitors are able to create and capture altogether new demand. As part of this process, the number of strategic groups in an industry and their respective market positions can be displayed on a strategic group map.
Q2) Identify and briefly explain any two of the factors that influence the strength of competition from substitute products.
Answer: Competitive pressures from substitutes are stronger when:
-Good substitutes are readily available and attractively priced.
-Substitutes have comparable or better performance features.
- Buyers have low costs in switching to substitutes.
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Evaluating a Companys Resources and Competitive Position
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127 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What two factors inhibit the ability of rivals to imitate a firm's most valuable resources and capabilities?
A) social ambiguity and causal uncertainty
B) social simplicity and causal complexity
C) collective complexity and causal ambiguity
D) social complexity and causal ambiguity
E) social simplicity and causal uncertainty
Q2) How are a company's organizational capabilities developed and enabled?
A) by strengthening the traditions that company executives are committed to maintaining
B) through deployment of a company's resources or some combination of its resources
C) by talking openly about the problems of the present company and determining how new behaviors will improve performance
D) by shifting from decentralized to centralized decision-making
E) by urging company personnel to search outside the company for work practices and operating approaches that may be an improvement over what the company is presently doing
Q3) Explain why a weighted competitive strength assessment is important.
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Chapter 5: The Five Generic Competitive Strategies: Which
One to Employ
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120 Verified Questions
120 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) For a company's competitive strategy to succeed in delivering favorable performance and the intended competitive edge over rivals, it has to be well-matched to a company's internal situation and underpinned by an appropriate set of resources, know-how, and competitive capabilities. True or false? Explain your answer.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A low-cost leader's basis for competitive advantage is
A) lowest possible prices for comparable products.
B) a low-cost/moderate price approach to gain the biggest market share.
C) high buyer switching costs.
D) meaningful lower overall costs than rivals on comparable products.
E) higher unit sales than rivals.
Q3) Describe the strategy of striving to be the industry's overall low-cost provider. What does a company have to do to achieve low-cost provider status?
Q4) What are the distinctive features of a broad differentiation strategy? Under what circumstances is a broad differentiation strategy appealing?
Q5) Identify cost drivers in a company's value chain. Explain how these drivers impact a firm's generic strategy.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Supplementing the Chosen Competitive
Strategy: Other Important Business Strategy Choices
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Sample Questions
Q1) Alliance management is considered an organizational capability and A) develops over time, out of effort and learning.
B) decreases a company's knowledge assets.
C) creates successful strategic alliances.
D) decreases a company's knowledge capabilities.
E) rapidly transfers assets into the strategic alliance.
Q2) What is the goal of signaling a challenger that strong retaliation is likely in the event of an attack?
A) to alleviate their fears by committing to reduce the costs of value chain activities
B) to cause the challenger to begin the attack instead of waiting
C) to dissuade challengers from attacking or diverting them into using less threatening options
D) to create collaborative relationships with challengers
E) to insulate other firms from adverse impacts resulting from the challenge
Q3) What is a blue-ocean strategy, what is its appeal, and what is its drawback?
Q4) Strategic offensives should, as a general rule, be grounded in a company's strategic assets and employ a company's strengths to attack rivals. Define and discuss the term strategic assets and its significance in gaining a competitive advantage.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Strategies for Competing in Foreign Markets
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131 Verified Questions
131 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Profit sanctuaries are country markets or geographic regions where a company
A) can rank the competitive advantage opportunities in each industry.
B) possesses good strategic fit with other businesses and identifies the value chain where this fit occurs.
C) derives substantial profits because of its protected market position or unassailable competitive advantage.
D) creates substantial investment strategies because it is losing competitive advantage over competitors.
E) invests its dividends in expanding its foreign market presence.
Q2) What are the pros and cons of using strategic alliances to try to enhance a company's ability to compete in foreign markets?
Q3) What is it called when a company sells its goods in foreign markets at prices that are below the prices at which it normally sells in its home market or well below its full costs per unit?
A) dumping practices
B) price-clearing system
C) clearance sale
D) discounting practices
E) competitive advantage
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Chapter 8: Diversification: Strategies for Managing a Group of Businesses
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify and briefly discuss each of the three options for entering new businesses. What are the driving choice parameters for entry into new businesses and which one is the most popular in the sense of being used most frequently?
Q2) Relative market share is
A) calculated by dividing a company's percentage share of total industry sales volume by the percentage share held by its largest rival.
B) calculated by adjusting a company's revenue share up or down by a factor proportional to whether their quality/customer service factors are above/below industry averages.
C) calculated by dividing a company's market share (based on dollar volume) by the industry-average market share.
D) particularly useful in identifying cash cows, which have big relative market shares (above 1.0), and cash hogs, which have low relative market shares (below 0.5).
E) calculated by subtracting the industry-average market share (based on revenue) from the company's market share to highlight relative share above/below the industry
Q3) Explain the difference between a cash cow business and a cash hog business.
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Ethical Business Strategies, Social Responsibility, and
Environmental Sustainabil ITY
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115 Verified Questions
115 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the advocates of ethical relativism,
A) if the use of underage labor and/or the payment of bribes/kickbacks are acceptable in a particular culture/society/country, then a case can be made that it is morally correct and ethical for a company to use these practices in conducting its business activities in that culture/society/country.
B) each company should have the flexibility to set its own standards for deciding whether the use of underage labor and/or the payment of bribes/kickbacks are ethically acceptable or not.
C) if the use of underage labor and/or the payment of bribes/kickbacks are not legal but locally acceptable in a particular country, then it is morally correct and ethical for a company to use these practices in that country.
D) each industry should go by standards established by competitors for deciding whether the use of underage labor and/or the payment of bribes/kickbacks are ethically acceptable or not.
E) it is very clear that the use of underage labor or the payment of bribes and kickbacks are ethically impermissible-local customs, behavioral norms, and traditions absolutely cannot be taken into account.
Q2) What is the case for why business strategies should be ethical?
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Chapter 10: Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution
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Sample Questions
Q1) Management's handling of the strategy implementation/execution process can be considered successful
A) when the internal organization develops two or more core competencies in performing value chain activities.
B) if and when the company meets or beats its performance targets and shows good progress in achieving its strategic vision for the company.
C) if the company's culture is strong and strategy-supportive.
D) if management is able to marshal adequate resources to put the strategy in place within 6 to 12 months.
E) if managers and employees express strong support for the company's strategy and long-term direction.
Q2) Identify and briefly discuss four of the recommended practices companies have used to recruit and retain the best employees to make the rank-and-file employees a genuine competitive asset.
Q3) Identify and discuss the basic tenets, the chief advantages, and the chief disadvantages of centralized organizational structures.
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Chapter 11: Managing Internal Operations: Actions That Promote
Good Strategy Execution
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about Six Sigma quality programs is true?
A) While Six Sigma programs often improve the efficiency of numerous operating processes, there is evidence that the approach can stifle innovative activities.
B) Six Sigma is a philosophy of managing a set of business practices that emphasizes continuous improvement in all phases of operations and 100 percent accuracy in performing tasks.
C) Six Sigma's DMAIC process is a particularly good vehicle for improving performance when there are only small variations in how well an activity is performed.
D) The focus of Six Sigma programs is on the development of new products or new business processes but not on improving existing products or business processes.
E) Six Sigma is a system of statistical procedures for eliminating 92 percent of the variability in how a task is performed.
Q2) How do well-conceived policies and procedures aid the task of implementing and executing strategy? Explain how well-conceived policies and procedures facilitate organizational change and good strategy execution.
Q3) What is the potential long-term payoff of total quality management (TQM)?
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Corporate Culture and Leadership: Keys to Good Strategy Execution
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112 Verified Questions
112 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT a typical characteristic of a weak company culture?
A) a lack of values and principles that are consistently preached or widely shared
B) a tendency among employees to view their jobs as just a way of making a living
C) co-worker peer pressure to do things in a particular way
D) few widely revered traditions and few culture-induced norms
E) no strong employee allegiance to what the company stands for or to operating the business in well-defined ways
Q2) A strongly implanted culture provides a huge assist in executing strategy because company managers can use the traditions, beliefs, values, common bonds, or behavioral norms
A) as levers to mobilize commitment to executing the chosen strategy.
B) as reinforcement for convincing staff that the strategy is sound and molded in tradition.
C) to ensure the staff will embrace the new strategy like they have in the past.
D) to manipulate jobholders into thinking traditions are important.
E) as disciplinary measures in making the employees perform better and achieve targets.
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