Competitive Strategy
Solved Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Competitive Strategy examines the frameworks and analytical tools that firms use to achieve and sustain competitive advantage in dynamic markets. The course explores how organizations identify and leverage their core competencies, analyze industry structures, evaluate rivals, and make strategic decisions such as market entry, diversification, and positioning. Through case studies and real-world examples, students learn to assess different competitive environments, anticipate competitor moves, and formulate strategies that drive superior performance and long-term success.
Recommended Textbook
Strategic Management Text and Cases 6th Edition by Gregory Dess
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12 Chapters
1213 Verified Questions
1213 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Strategic Management Creating Competitive Advantages
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101 Verified Questions
101 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/3021
Sample Questions
Q1) Social responsibility is the idea that organizations are only accountable to stockholders.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Supplier stakeholders are concerned with
A) assurance of a continued relationship with the firm.
B) employee benefits.
C) safe working conditions.
D) capital appreciation.
Answer: A
Q3) New value creation is a major engine for economic growth and is the main focus of ________ strategy.
A) portfolio
B) corporate-level
C) business-level
D) entrepreneurial
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: Analyzing the External Environment of the Firm
Creating Competitive Advantages
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109 Verified Questions
109 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The bargaining power of suppliers is enhanced under which following market condition?
A) no threat of forward integration
B) low differentiation of the supplier products
C) greater availability of substitute products
D) dominance by a few suppliers
Answer: D
Q2) The bargaining power of suppliers increases as
A) threat of forward integration by suppliers increases.
B) importance of buyers to supplier group increases.
C) switching costs for buyers decrease.
D) more suppliers enter the market.
Answer: A
Q3) Which is considered a force in the five-forces model?
A) increased deregulation in an industry
B) the threat of government intervention
C) recent technological innovation
D) rivalry among competing firms
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Assessing the Internal Environment of the Firm
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109 Verified Questions
109 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/3023
Sample Questions
Q1) Comparing your firm with all other firms in your industry assesses ________ performance.
A) excessive
B) consistent
C) relative
D) non-comparable
Answer: C
Q2) A firm that takes on too much long-term debt to finance operations will see an immediate impact on its indicators of ________ financial leverage.
A) short-term
B) long-term
C) relative
D) comparable
Answer: B
Q3) Inbound logistics include which of the following?
A) machining and packaging
B) repair and parts supply
C) promotion and packaging
D) warehousing and inventory control
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Recognizing a Firm's Intellectual Assets Moving
beyond a Firm's Tangible Resources
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112 Verified Questions
112 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The use of information technology (e.g., email) has increased in recent years in many organizations. This has helped to
A) make more effective use of time in every situation.
B) communicate information efficiently.
C) restrict social network growth.
D) create smaller social networks.
Q2) Sharing knowledge and information throughout the organization can be a means of A) conserving products and services.
B) continuing with outdated products.
C) conserving resources.
D) overusing email.
Q3) Managing a knowledge intensive workforce is very challenging. The best way for a firm to manage its workforce is to
A) retain knowledge workers by increasing rewards.
B) ensure that it pays higher salaries than its rivals.
C) balance efforts in attraction, selection, and retention of top talent.
D) attract the brightest employees and train them often.
Q4) Intellectual property rights are the tangible property owned by a firm.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Business-Level Strategy Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantages
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105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Underestimating expenses associated with coordinating value-creating activities in the extended value chain can be a result of ________ integration of cost leadership and differentiation.
A) good
B) poor
C) intentional
D) structured
Q2) Discuss how each stage of the industry life cycle (introduction, growth, maturity, and declinecan play a role in decisions that managers must make at the business level. Provide anexample for each stage.
Q3) One aspect of using a cost leadership strategy is that experience effects may lead to lower costs. Experience effects are achieved by
A) spreading out a given expense or investment over a greater volume.
B) hiring more experienced personnel.
C) repeating a process until a task becomes easier.
D) competing in an industry for a long time.
Q4) What are the pitfalls of the overall cost leadership strategy? Provide an example for each pitfall and explain why it is a pitfall.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Corporate-Level Strategy Creating Value through Diversification
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102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Through joint ventures, firms can directly acquire the assets and competencies of other firms.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Marriott International purchase of Starwood Hotels for 13.6 billion USD is an example of a(n)
A) acquisition.
B) divestiture.
C) unrelated diversification.
D) related diversification.
Q3) Portfolio management frameworks, such as the BCG matrix, share which of the following characteristics?
A) Businesses are plotted on a 3-dimensional grid.
B) Grid dimensions are based on external environments and internal capabilities-market positions.
C) Position in the matrix suggests a need for sharing synergies.
D) They are most helpful in helping businesses develop types of competitive advantage.
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Page 8
Chapter 7: International Strategy Creating Value in Global Markets
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107 Verified Questions
107 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not a motivation for a company to pursue international expansion?
A) It wishes to increase the size of the potential markets for its products and services.
B) It wishes to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities to increase profit.
C) It wishes to optimize value-chain activities to enhance performance, reduce costs, and reduce risk.
D) It wishes to increase foreign market penetration by developing products for the home market.
Q2) Discuss the role of market size in motivating a company to pursue international expansion. Use statistics to illustrate your explanation.
Q3) According to the textbook, ________ economic integration has progressed at a faster pace than ________ economic integration.
A) global; international
B) international; regional
C) regional; global
D) regional; inter-regional
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Chapter 8: Entrepreneurial Strategy and Competitive Dynamics
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94 Verified Questions
94 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Unilever has taken a dominant position (65 percent market share) in the Vietnamese laundry detergent market by employing an investment and marketing campaign that decimated the marketposition of the local, incumbent competitors. According to the Stalk and Lachenauer book, this is an example of ________ strategy.
A) plagiarize with pride
B) deceive the competition
C) raise competitor costs
D) unleash massive and overwhelming force
Q2) Small businesses create the majority of new jobs in the U.S. economy.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What are competitive dynamics and how does this explain why strategies evolve in response to actions of close competitors?
Q4) Which of the following terms is used to refer to opportunities that are practical and physically possible?
A) durable
B) valuable
C) sustainable
D) achievable
Chapter 9: Strategic Control and Corporate Governance
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91 Verified Questions
91 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not one of the characteristics of reward and incentive systems?
A) They represent a poor means of influencing the culture of an organization.
B) They focus efforts on high priority tasks.
C) They motivate high levels of individual and collective task performance.
D) They represent an effective control mechanism.
Q2) Which of the following is the primary drawback of traditional strategic control systems?
A) They are only appropriate when the environment is stable and simple.
B) Goals and objectives cannot be measured with a high level of certainty.
C) They lead to complacency.
D) They lack the flexibility needed to adjust to changes in the environment.
Q3) For young managers who see themselves as free agents, behavioral controls such as rewards and culture can be an effective way to enhance organizational loyalty.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Discuss several actions that can have a positive influence on board of director dynamics as the board works to both oversee and advise management.
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Chapter 10: Creating Effective Organizational Designs
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86 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A strategy of related diversification requires most firms to organize around geographical areas or product lines. This type of organizational growth leads to a(n) ________ structure.
A) divisional
B) functional
C) matrix
D) international
Q2) Structures help to ensure that ________ are used effectively in accomplishing the mission of the organization.
A) strategies
B) relationships
C) resources
D) boundaries
Q3) Complicated working relationships, intense power struggles, and excessive reliance on group processes are disadvantages of which type of organizational structure?
A) divisional
B) matrix
C) holding company
D) functional
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Strategic Leadership Creating a Learning
Organization and an Ethical Organization
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104 Verified Questions
104 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Former GVO marketing director, David Lieberman, tells a story about a new product idea proposed by a creative person. The idea was loved by everyone except a high-ranking manufacturingrepresentative who rejected the idea because the new proposal involved a color change which he implied would create a spare-parts problem. Because his experience in manufacturing involved cost cutting, lean inventories and focus, he could not conceive of how this new product proposal would be good for innovation. This is an example of what kind of organizational barrier?
A) vested interests in the status quo
B) personal time constraints
C) behavioral barrier
D) systemic barrier
Q2) Texas Instruments teaches ethics to its employees. They include all levels of the organization in the exchange of knowledge and auditing of behaviors. This is a good example of a(n) ________ ethics program.
A) compliance-based
B) integrity-based
C) conformance-based
D) behavioral-based
Q3) What is the difference between individual ethics and organizational ethics?
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Managing Innovation and Fostering Corporate
Entrepreneurship
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93 Verified Questions
93 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) One of the potential pitfalls of real options analysis is that managers may have the incentive and know-how to game the system.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The innovation dilemma known as "seeds versus weeds" refers to
A) choosing to pursue radical rather than incremental innovations.
B) choosing to pursue product rather than process innovations.
C) promoting organizational stars onto innovation teams rather than involving all employees in innovation efforts.
D) choosing to pursue investment in one innovative idea over another.
Q3) The Kraft Heinz Company makes MiO Drops. This is an example of a high-tech source of innovation.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Product innovations are commonly associated with a differentiation strategy.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Explain why the seeds versus weeds dilemma is important.
Page 14
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