Management Consulting Test Questions
Course Introduction
Management Consulting explores the principles, frameworks, and practical skills required to analyze organizational challenges and deliver effective advisory solutions to businesses and nonprofits. The course covers key consulting methodologies, industry best practices, client relationship management, problem-solving techniques, and the fundamentals of project management. Through case studies, simulations, and teamwork, students learn to diagnose issues, design interventions, and communicate actionable recommendations, preparing them for roles in consulting firms or as internal consultants within various sectors.
Recommended Textbook
Crafting and Executing Strategy Concepts and Readings 20th Edition by Arthur Thompson
Available Study Resources on Quizplus
12 Chapters
1272 Verified Questions
1272 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/2727
Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
101 Verified Questions
101 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54364
Sample Questions
Q1) In crafting a company's strategy,managers:
A) face the biggest challenge of how closely to replicate strategies of successful companies in the industry.
B) have comparatively little freedom in choosing the "hows" of strategy.
C) are wise not to decide on concrete courses of action in order to preserve maximum strategic flexibility.
D) need to come up with a sustainable competitive advantage that draws in customers and produces a competitive edge over rivals.
E) are well-advised to be risk-averse and develop a "conservative" strategy-"dare-to-be-different" strategies are rarely successful.
Answer: D
Q2) A company's strategy is NOT concerned with management's choices about how to:
A) attract and please customers.
B) stake out the same market position as successful rival companies.
C) grow the business.
D) compete successfully.
E) conduct operations and improve the company's financial and market performance.
Answer: B
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 3
Chapter
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
106 Verified Questions
106 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54363
Sample Questions
Q1) Business strategy concerns:
A) how to gain and sustain a competitive advantage for a single line of business.
B) defining what set of businesses to be in and why.
C) selecting a business model to use in pursuing business objectives.
D) selecting a set of stretch financial and strategic objectives for a particular line of business.
E) choosing the most appropriate strategic intent for a specific line of business.
Answer: A
Q2) The task of crafting a company's strategy is typically a job for the company's whole management team,not just a small group of senior executives.True or false? Explain and support your answer.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
4
Chapter 3: Evaluating a Companys External Environment
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54362
Sample Questions
Q1) Identify and briefly explain any three factors that intensify competitive pressures stemming from the threat that new firms will enter the industry.
Answer: Threat of entry is a stronger force when incumbents are unlikely to make retaliatory moves against new entrants and entry barriers are low.Entry barriers are high (and threat of entry is low)when:
Incumbents have large cost advantages over potential entrants due to: - High economies of scale
- Significant experience-based cost advantages or learning curve effects
- Other cost advantages (e.g.,favorable access to inputs,technology,location,or low fixed costs)
Customers have strong brand preferences and/or loyalty to incumbent sellers. Patents and other forms of intellectual property protection are in place. There are strong network effects.
Capital requirements are high.
There is limited new access to distribution channels and shelf space.
Government policies are restrictive.
There are restrictive trade policies.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 4: Evaluating a Companys Resources, Capabilities,and Competitiveness
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
111 Verified Questions
111 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54361
Sample Questions
Q1) Resource and capability analysis is designed to:
A) ascertain the internal marketplace of non-distinct divisions of the company.
B) ascertain which of a company's resources and capabilities are competitively valuable.
C) stimulate demand for a product.
D) ascertain to what extent a competitor can sustain a competitive advantage.
E) stimulate economic growth for companies within the industry.
Q2) A sustainable competitive advantage is gained:
A) when a company has durable competitive assets that are central to its strategy and superior to those of rival firms.
B) when a company has sufficient resources to expedite its strategy.
C) when a company realizes its inherent weaknesses are transformable to advantages.
D) when a company can stand out relative to rivals because of resource utilization.
E) when a company has resources in well-populated geographical locations
Q3) Why is it important for company managers to develop a "worry list" of strategic issues and problems that they need to address and resolve? What should they consider to develop this list?
Q4) Why do a company's core competencies matter in crafting strategy?
Page 6
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 5: The Five Generic Competitive Strategies
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
109 Verified Questions
109 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54360
Sample Questions
Q1) A focused low-cost strategy seeks to achieve competitive advantage by:
A) outmatching competitors in offering niche members an absolute rock-bottom price.
B) delivering more value for the lesser money than other competitors.
C) performing the primary value chain activities at a lower cost per unit than can the industry's low-cost leaders.
D) dominating more market niches in the industry via a lower cost and a lower price than any other rival.
E) serving buyers in a narrow piece of the total market (target market niche) at a lower cost and lower price than rivals.
Q2) A broad differentiation strategy works best in situations where:
A) technological change is slow-paced and new or improved products are infrequent.
B) buyer needs and uses of the product are very similar.
C) buyers incur low costs in switching their purchases to rival brands.
D) buyers have a low degree of bargaining power and purchase the product frequently. E) technological change is fast-paced and competition revolves around rapidly evolving product features.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 6: Strengthening a Companys Competitive Position
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54359
Sample Questions
Q1) All firms are subject to offensive challenges from rivals.Which of the following is NOT among the intent of the best defensive move?
A) Lower the risk of being attacked
B) Weaken the impact of any attack that occurs
C) Pressure challengers to aim their efforts at other rivals
D) Help protect a competitive advantage
E) Harm the firm's competitive position
Q2) What does a company racing for global market leadership need strategic alliances for?
Q3) What are the strategic disadvantages of a forward vertical integration strategy?
Q4) Which of the following is NOT an example of a company that uses blue-ocean market strategy?
A) eBay's online auction industry
B) NetJets' fractional jet ownership
C) Drybar's hair blowouts
D) Cirque de Soleil's live entertainment
E) Walmart's logistics and distribution
Q5) What are the strategic advantages of a backward vertical integration strategy?
Q6) Identify and explain at least two drawbacks to forming a strategic alliance.
Q7) What are the general strategic objectives of merger and acquisition strategies? Page 8
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 9
Chapter 7: Strategies for Competing in International Markets
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
117 Verified Questions
117 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54358
Sample Questions
Q1) The strength of a "think local,act local" multidomestic strategy is that:
A) it matches a company's competitive approach to prevailing market and competitive conditions in each country market, country by country.
B) it employs strategies that are almost totally different from and also unrelated to its strategies in other countries.
C) it operates independent plants, located in different countries, thus promoting greater achievement of scale economies.
D) it avoids host country ownership requirements and import quotas.
E) it eliminates the costs and burdens of trying to coordinate the strategic moves undertaken in one country with the moves undertaken in the other countries.
Q2) Identify and briefly describe a local company's strategic options in competing against global challengers.
Q3) Explain why an acquisition is better than a greenfield venture.
Q4) Explain why the strategies of firms that expand internationally are usually grounded in home-country advantages or core competencies.
Q5) Briefly identify the special features of competing in foreign markets.
Q6) When is a global strategy "superior" to a multidomestic strategy?
Page 10
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 8: Corporate Strategy
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
107 Verified Questions
107 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54357
Sample Questions
Q1) Businesses with strategic fit with respect to their supply chain activities perform better together because of all of the following EXCEPT:
A) the potential for skills transfer in procuring materials.
B) the sharing of resources and capabilities in logistics.
C) the benefits of added collaboration with common supply chain partners.
D) the added leverage gained with shippers when securing volume discounts on incoming parts and components.
E) the increased allocation and allotment of support activities and specialized resources and capabilities.
Q2) The essential requirement for different businesses to be "related" is that:
A) their value chains exhibit competitively valuable cross-business commonalities.
B) the products of the different businesses are bought by many of the same types of buyers.
C) the products of the different businesses are sold in the same types of retail stores.
D) the businesses have several key suppliers in common.
E) the production methods they employ both entail economies of scale.
Q3) Explain the difference between a cash cow business and a cash hog business.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 11
Chapter 9: Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility,
Environmental-Sustainability, and Strategy
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
96 Verified Questions
96 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54356
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT a particularly sound or valid reason why a company's strategy should be ethical?
A) An unethical strategy reflects badly on the character of the company personnel involved.
B) Senior executives fear public embarrassment if caught doing something perceived as unethical.
C) An ethical strategy is in the self-interest of shareholders, partly because an unethical strategy can damage a company's reputation and partly because unethical behavior can be very costly in terms of fines and penalties.
D) Customers shun companies known for their shady behavior and ethically upstanding company personnel are repulsed by a work environment where unethical behavior is condoned.
E) A strategy that is unethical in whole or in part is morally wrong.
Q2) Apart from "the business of business is business,not ethics" kind of thinking,there are three other primary factors that contribute to a drive toward unethical business behavior.Identify and explain the three factors.
Q3) What is the difference between ethics and business ethics?
Q4) What is the case for why business strategies should be ethical?
Page 12
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 10: Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54355
Sample Questions
Q1) Superior strategy execution capabilities are:
A) easy for rivals to copy.
B) socially simple..
C) develop quickly.
D) easy to achieve.
E) hard to imitate.
Q2) Which of the following is a disadvantage of a decentralized organizational structure?
A) Increasing the size of the corporate bureaucracy
B) Reducing a company's response times to changing external events
C) Discouraging lower-level managers and rank-and-file employees from exercising initiative
D) Putting the organization at risk if higher-level management is unaware of their actions
E) Creating more layers of management
Q3) Who has strategy execution responsibility and who is ultimately responsible for making sure that the task of implementing and executing the strategy goes well?
Q4) List the 10 principal managerial components of the strategy-implementing/strategy-executing process.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 13
Chapter 11: Managing Internal Operations
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
99 Verified Questions
99 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54354
Sample Questions
Q1) Visible actions to reallocate operating funds and move people into different and new organizational units:
A) can be dysfunctional in trying to implement a new strategy because of the anxiety and insecurity that big changes in budgets cause among company personnel.
B) signal a determined commitment to strategic change and can help catalyze and give credibility to the implementation process.
C) run the risk of inadvertently creating barriers to building the needed competencies and capabilities.
D) tend to impede the task of empowering employees and shifting to a new, more strategy-supportive culture.
E) are rarely necessary in implementing a new strategy unless the new strategy entails a radically different set of value chain activities.
Q2) Identify and describe ways that policies and procedures facilitate strategy execution.
Q3) Identify five guidelines for creating an incentive compensation system that will help drive successful strategy execution.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
14
Chapter 12: Corporate Culture and Leadership
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
101 Verified Questions
101 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/54353
Sample Questions
Q1) All of the following are examples of leadership actions or managerial practices taken to foster a results-oriented,high-performance culture EXCEPT:
A) treating employees as individuals with no regard for their rank or contributions.
B) building morale and fostering pride.
C) setting stretch objectives and clearly communicating expectations for reaching targets.
D) using motivational techniques and compensation incentives to inspire employees.
E) using the tools of benchmarking, best practices, business process reengineering, TQM, and Six Sigma to focus attention on continuous improvement.
Q2) A hallmark of a strong-culture company is:
A) strictly enforced policies and procedures.
B) a strongly entrenched competitive strategy.
C) the dominating presence of certain deeply rooted values and norms of behavior that are widely shared.
D) decentralized decision-making and empowered employees.
E) a deep commitment to benchmarking, best practices, and operating excellence.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
15