Management Consulting
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Management Consulting explores the key concepts, frameworks, and practical skills essential for analyzing organizational challenges and delivering value-added solutions to clients. The course covers the consulting process from problem identification and hypothesis development to data collection, analysis, and the presentation of actionable recommendations. Students will examine various consulting models, client management strategies, and ethical considerations, while engaging in real-world case studies and projects. Through interactive workshops and group work, participants will develop critical thinking, communication, and project management skills necessary for successful careers in management consulting or as internal change agents within organizations.
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Crafting and Executing Strategy Concepts and Readings 20th Edition by Arthur Thompson
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Chapter 1: What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important
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Q1) Different companies across different industries adopt any one of the five generic strategies to gain competitive advantage.Which of the following is most likely to use a low-cost provider strategy?
A) A fashion clothing line uses sought-after designers and natural fabrics.
B) A mortgage company specializes in lending money for second homes.
C) An online retailer delivers organic groceries overnight.
D) A baby products retailer sells unassembled baby furniture produced in China.
E) A dairy products manufacturer uses exotic substitutes to produce lactose-free dairy products.
Answer: D
Q2) An established company in a market decides to donate a part of its profits to a children's charity to improve its market image.Soon after it launched a website that offers new clothes,accessories,and books that could be donated to various children's charities by interested parties.The company gained positive publicity and its sales went up.What would you say about this strategy?
Answer: The company has adopted a proactive strategy and used its existing market position to create a new market opportunity.This planned initiative improved the company's financial performance and secured a competitive edge.
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Chapter
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Q1) Which is more important to a company's future financial performance-the achievement of strategic objectives or the achievement of financial objectives? Why?
Answer: A good financial performance,by itself,is not enough.Of equal or greater importance is a company's strategic performance-outcomes that indicate whether a company's market position and competitiveness are deteriorating,holding steady,or improving.A stronger market standing and greater competitive vitality-especially when accompanied by competitive advantage-is what enables a company to improve its financial performance.
Explanation:
Q2) What a company's top executives are saying about where the company is headed long term and about what the company's future product-market-customer mix will be:
A) indicates what kind of business model the company is going to have in the future.
B) constitutes the strategic vision for the company.
C) signals what the firm's financial strategy will be.
D) serves to define the company's present scope of operation.
E) indicates what kind of products the company will offer in the future.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Evaluating a Companys External Environment
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Q1) In which of the following instances are industry members NOT subject to stronger competitive pressures from substitute products?
A) The costs to buyers of switching over to the substitutes are low.
B) Buyers are dubious about using substitutes.
C) The quality and performance of the substitutes is well-matched to what buyers need to meet their requirements.
D) Buyer brand loyalty is weak.
E) Substitutes are readily available at competitive prices.
Answer: B
Q2) What are the five competitive forces that comprise the five forces model of competition?
Answer: The five forces framework holds that competitive pressures on companies within an industry come from five sources.These include (1)competition from rival sellers,(2)competition from potential new entrants to the industry,(3)competition from producers of substitute products,(4)supplier bargaining power,and (5)customer bargaining power.
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Chapter 4: Evaluating a Companys Resources,
Capabilities,and Competitiveness
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Q1) The payoff of doing a thorough SWOT analysis is:
A) identifying whether the company's value chain is cost-effective vis-à-vis the value chains of rivals.
B) helping strategy-makers benchmark the company's resource strengths against industry key success factors.
C) enabling a company to assess its overall competitive position relative to its key rivals.
D) revealing whether a company's market share, measures of profitability, and sales compare favorably or unfavorably vis-à-vis key competitors.
E) assisting strategy-makers in crafting a strategy that is well-matched to the company's resources and capabilities, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being.
Q2) Why do a company's core competencies matter in crafting strategy?
Q3) What are the four tests that should be used to measure the competitive power of a company's resource strengths?
Q4) 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?
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Chapter 5: The Five Generic Competitive Strategies
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Q1) A broad differentiation strategy generally produces the best results in situations where:
A) buyer brand loyalty is low.
B) few rival firms are following a similar differentiation approach.
C) new and improved products are introduced only infrequently.
D) most rivals are pursuing a differentiation strategy and are seeking to differentiate their products on most of the same features and attributes.
E) perceived value of a product is not of great importance.
Q2) Explain how the keys to sustaining a broad differentiation strategy differ from the keys to sustaining a best-cost producer strategy.
Q3) 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.
Q4) What strategy would you recommend for a small-sized company entering a highly segmented market,each segment with a complex set of needs and spending power?
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Chapter 6: Strengthening a Companys Competitive Position
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Q1) Capturing the benefits of strategic alliances is not easy,but success generally is a function of all of the following factors,EXCEPT:
A) being sensitive to cultural differences
B) managing the learning process and allowing for emerging circumstances
C) picking a good partner with good chemistry
D) recognizing that the alliance must benefit both sides
E) ensuring the division of work is directly apportioned to appropriate skill sets
Q2) The strategic impetus for forward vertical integration is to:
A) gain better access to end users and better market visibility.
B) achieve the same scale economies as wholesale distributors and/or retail dealers.
C) control price at the retail level.
D) bypass distributors and dealers and sell direct to consumers at the company's website.
E) build a core competence in mass merchandising.
Q3) What are the strategic disadvantages of a forward vertical integration strategy?
Q4) What does a company racing to stake out a strong position in an industry of the future need strategic alliances for?
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Chapter 7: Strategies for Competing in International Markets
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Q1) Which of the following strategies identifies a multidomestic approach?
A) Texas Instruments strongly encourages its trading partners to use the UN/EDIFACT standard.
B) Hard Rock Cafes in Hawaii offer fish tacos and ahi tuna sandwich.
C) Coca Cola's general market approach is controlled from Atlanta.
D) Nestle established its own distribution network in China.
E) Air Asia adapts its price to industry pressures.
Q2) A global strategy is one in which a company performs all of the following tasks,EXCEPT:
A) employs the same basic competitive approach in all countries where it operates.
B) sells much of the same products everywhere.
C) strives to build global brands.
D) coordinates its actions worldwide with strong headquarters control represents a think-global, act-global approach.
E) uses local brand names to cater to a country's specific needs.
Q3) Explain why an acquisition is better than a greenfield venture.
Q4) How does a transnational strategy differ from a multidomestic or a global strategy?
Q5) When is a global strategy "superior" to a multidomestic strategy?
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Chapter 8: Corporate Strategy
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Q1) Which of the following is a diversified business with one major "core" business and a collection of small related or unrelated businesses?
A) A broadly diversified enterprise
B) A narrowly diversified enterprise
C) A multi-business enterprise
D) A high compensation/low risk enterprise
E) A dominant business enterprise
Q2) A company can best accomplish diversification into new industries by:
A) outsourcing most of the value chain activities that have to be performed in the target business/industry.
B) acquiring a company already operating in the target industry, creating a new business from scratch, or forming a joint venture with one or more companies to enter the target industry.
C) integrating forward or backward into the target industry.
D) shifting from a strategic group comprised mostly of single-business companies to a strategic group comprised of diversified companies.
E) employing an offensive strategy with new product innovation as its centerpiece.
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Chapter 9: Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility,
Environmental-Sustainability, and Strategy
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Q1) Integrated social contracts theory maintains that:
A) there is no such thing as "moral free space"-all ethical standards are determined by societal norms, and individuals have an implied social contract to live up to these standards.
B) few nations or cultures have common moral agreement on what is ethically right and wrong.
C) there should be no absolute limits put on what actions and behaviors fall inside the boundaries of what is ethically or morally right and which actions/behaviors fall outside.
D) adherence to universal ethical norms always takes precedence over local ethical norms.
E) .ethical relativism should always be adhered to before ethical universalism when dealing within boundaries of a country's culture and norms.
Q2) Identify and explain the three schools of thought about ethical standards for companies with international operations.
Q3) What are the differences between the school of ethical universalism and the school of ethical relativism?
Q4) 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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Q1) Which of the following is NOT accurate as concerns a company's competencies and capabilities?
A) Competencies and capabilities that grow stale can impair competitiveness unless they are refreshed, modified, or even phased out and replaced in response to ongoing market changes and shifts in company strategy.
B) Core competencies have to be tweaked and adjusted to keep them fresh and responsive to changing customer needs and market conditions.
C) The imperatives of keeping capabilities in step with ongoing strategy and market changes make it appropriate to view a company as a bundle of evolving competencies and capabilities.
D) Even after core competencies and competitive capabilities are in place and functioning, company managers can't relax. They still have to wrestle with when and how to recalibrate existing competencies and capabilities and when and how to develop new ones.
E) When a company succeeds in hiring talented employees and training them properly, competencies and capabilities tend to develop quickly and, once put in place, can last for a decade or more.
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Chapter 11: Managing Internal Operations
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Q1) Six Sigma quality control:
A) is a strategy implementer's best, most reliable tool for simultaneously achieving top-notch product quality and low manufacturing costs.
B) consists of a disciplined, statistics-based system aimed at producing not more than 2.5 defects per million iterations for a manufacturing or assembly process.
C) consists of a disciplined, statistics-based system aimed at producing not more than 3.4 defects per million iterations for any business process.
D) consists of a disciplined, statistics-based system aimed at fewer than 5.0 complaints per million customer transactions.
E) is a powerful tool for companies whose customers are very picky about product quality and product performance and who can't afford for the product they use to break down and require repairs.
Q2) With an example,explain how the Six Sigma process of define,measure,analyze,improve,and control (DMAIC)works.
Q3) Identify and describe ways that policies and procedures facilitate strategy execution.
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Chapter 12: Corporate Culture and Leadership
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Q1) To ensure the proficient implementation of strategy in an organization,top-level executives can best achieve this by delegating authority to middle and lower-level managers and by creating a sense of empowerment among employees.True or false? Explain and justify your answer.
Q2) Values and ethical standards not only must be explicitly stated but they also must be deeply ingrained into the corporate culture.True or false? Explain.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Companies with multinational operations and/or newly acquired businesses typically have:
A) strong cultures.
B) multiple cultures (or subcultures) rather than a single culture.
C) weak cultures.
D) adaptive cultures.
E) low-performance cultures.
Q4) Identify and briefly discuss four steps that managers can take to change a culture that is out of step with the company's strategy.
Q5) What are the distinctive features of adaptive corporate cultures?
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