Strategic Management
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
Strategic Management explores the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of cross-functional decisions that enable organizations to achieve their long-term objectives. The course surveys key concepts such as competitive analysis, internal and external environmental assessment, strategic choice, and corporate governance. Students learn to apply strategic frameworks and tools to real-world business scenarios, developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary for effective leadership. Emphasis is placed on the dynamic nature of the global business environment and the importance of ethical decision-making in strategy development.
Recommended Textbook
Strategic Management 5th Edition by Graham Hubbard
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14 Chapters
449 Verified Questions
449 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What is strategy?
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34 Verified Questions
34 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is 'strategy'? Is it relevant to all types of organisations?
Answer: Strategy is defined in many different ways. We define strategy as those decisions that have high medium-term to long-term impact on the activities of the organisation, including the analysis leading to the resourcing and implementation of those decisions, to create value for key stakeholders and to outperform competitors (page 4). The strategy is to assist an organisation to achieve its long-term aims. The essential question in strategy is to understand why some organisations perform better than others (page 5).
Strategy is relevant to all types of organisations regardless of their size (large and small), ownership structure (private and public) and aim (profit and not-for-profit). The development and focus of strategy will, however, vary according to organisation type. For businesses, profits and shareholders are more important than for other types of organisations, but stakeholders, performance and beating competitors (current or potential) are important for all organisations (page 4).
Q2) There are three levels of strategy.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Analysing business strategy: creating value
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The business model of an organisation:
A) takes the value proposition and incorporates it into a specific value chain of activities
B) is a process for modelling the success of the organisation's strategy
C) determines how the organisation will create customer value
D) can be difficult to identify in low-cost manufacturing firms
Answer: A
Q2) A vision statement is a statement that:
A) tells it like it is
B) is thorough and exhaustive
C) represents a realistic concept of the short-term position of the company D) should be memorable and inspire employees
Answer: D
Q3) The 'odd one out' among these statements is:
A) vision and mission
B) strategic intent
C) tactical foresight
D) core purpose
Answer: C
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4
Chapter 3: Analysing the external environment
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33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If it is difficult or costly to withdraw from an industry,competitors may decide to stay in the industry even if they are making losses.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) A 'five forces' analysis will suggest that profitability should be high when:
A) all five forces are high
B) all five forces are low
C) the two 'powers' cancel out the two 'threats'
D) industry rivalry is intense
Answer: B
Q3) Industry life cycle models aim to explain organisation and industry growth and decline over time.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) An industry is defined as a group of organisations producing close substitutes.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: Analysing the organisations resources and capabilities
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33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) One of the limitations of functional analysis is that it follows conventional thinking and is likely to uncover only strategic capabilities.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The definition of 'strategic capabilities' does NOT require that they:
A) create value for customers
B) create value for shareholders
C) are better than those of most competitors
D) are difficult to imitate or replicate
Q3) Strategic capabilities:
A) create competitive advantage
B) create sustainable competitive advantage
C) are possessed by every firm in the industry
D) are easy to imitate or replicate
Q4) Compare and contrast the assumptions of conventional economics with those of the 'resource-based view' of competition.Can they be reconciled or are they contradictory?
Q5) Assess the relevance of SWOT analysis from the 'resource-based view' of organisations.
Q6) Explore the links between resources,capabilities and strategic capabilities. Page 6
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Page 7
Chapter 5: Measuring strategic organisation performance
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33 Verified Questions
33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The best use of performance measurement systems with several variables would be obtained by the development of ___ ___ ___ ___ of relationships between variables:
A) analysis of variance models
B) variance and analysis models
C) cause and effect models
D) sensitivity and polarity models
Q2) Issues in Hubbard et al.'s critique of 'shareholder value' in measuring strategic success do NOT include:
A) unlisted companies
B) organisations that do not have shareholders
C) reliability of shareholder dividend reinvestment
D) measures of shareholder return to use
Q3) The common factors that all the 'success' studies did NOT include were:
A) all exhibit financial success
B) internal process and strategy implementation are crucial
C) a focus on people, products and performance
D) a focus on a clear strategy that is consistent over time
Q4) What conditions limit performance comparisons with the world's best practice? Explain.
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Chapter 6: Gap analysis and business-level strategic options
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32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A focus strategy can be achieved by competing on the basis of:
A) broad product line, customer or geographic segmentation, focused functional capability
B) narrow product line, customer or geographic segmentation, focused functional capability, keeping costs down
C) narrow product line, customer or geographic segmentation, focused production capability
D) small profit margin, customer or geographic segmentation, focused functional capability
Q2) In order to adopt 'premium pricing' strategy,it is important not to view organisational products and services as 'commodities'.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The risks of a low-cost strategy do NOT include:
A) too narrow a focus on profit margins
B) too narrow a focus on cost control
C) cost leadership is not sustained
D) focus strategy is able to offer even lower costs
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Chapter 7: Strategic decision making
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31 Verified Questions
31 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In relation to ambiguity in decision making:
A) the rational model is based on the assumption that information is known
B) causality of events is ambiguous C) both of the above
D) none of the above
Q2) One of the 'mainstream' sub-sets of Hubbard,Rice and Galvin's 'model of effective decision making' does NOT follow the order:
A) involve several people, agree on goals, search, evaluate risk
B) make decision, engage implementers, communicate decision, assess outcomes C) search, evaluate risk, make decision, communicate decision D) none of the above
Q3) The inability to understand how decisions are made limits the ability to predict how future decisions will be made.
A)True
B)False
Q4) 'If a critical decision has to be made,give me a strong leader over a senior management committee any day!' Do you agree or disagree? Discuss and give reasons for your answer.
Q5) The rational model of decision making is not always used by managers.Why?
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Chapter 8: Dynamic competitive strategy
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33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following industries would you consider is experiencing a declining stage of industry evolution?
A) food manufacturing
B) fixed line telecommunications
C) Internet search
D) nanotechnology
Q2) Define and explain D'Aveni's 'hypercompetition' concept.What are the major competitive arenas for it to occur?
Q3) One of the key principles of game theory is:
A) knowledge of major competitor organisations
B) differentiation between one-period games and repeated interaction games
C) reasoning backwards to the expected actions of competitors to any move
D) all of the above
Q4) Within a strategic game,players indicate their perceptions of the competitive situation by:
A) a series of bluffs
B) signalling
C) a competitive fog
D) surrendering
Q5) Consider the relevance of game theory in understanding business strategy.
Page 11
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Chapter 9: Corporate/multi-business strategy
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Aw and Eng,diversification in Asia compared to Europe leads to different performance.
A)True
B)False
Q2) According to Hubbard,Rice and Galvin,one of the reasons for a single business wanting to diversify is that:
A) the macro environment becomes conducive to mounting a takeover
B) the industry's competitive environment becomes attractive to consolidation
C) the business has an exact capability match to the diversification opportunity
D) the diversification allows managers to improve their compensation
Q3) The golden rule of corporate strategy can be expressed as:
A) Value (A + B) < Value (A) + Value (B) + Coordination Costs (A + B)
B) Value (A + B) > Value (A) + Value (B) + Coordination Costs (A + B)
C) Value (A + B) < Value (A) + Value (B) - Coordination Costs (A + B)
D) Value (A + B) > Value (A) + Value (B) - Coordination Costs (A + B)
Q4) Increasing market share for current products in current markets is:
A) related diversification
B) horizontal integration
C) product development
D) market penetration
Page 12
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Chapter 10: Acquisitions and alliances
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32 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Consider the distinct steps of the acquisition process and explain if all steps are equally important.
Q2) According to Hubbard,Rice and Galvin,in many industries the winners will be the companies that:
A) avoid joint ventures because they are difficult to manage
B) only form partnership with companies which know how to manage joint ventures successfully
C) outsource the management of joint venture
D) most quickly learn to manage joint venture effectively
Q3) Leveraged buyout is a(n)___ of an organisation using a large percentage of debt to fund the ___.:
A) merger, acquisition
B) acquisition, acquisition
C) acquisition, merger
D) merger, merger
Q4) Explain the differences between absorption and preservation acquisitions.
Q5) Identify the reasons for creating joint ventures.
Q6) Ownership of 51% of shares gives same level of control as 100% ownership.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: International strategy
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27 Verified Questions
27 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Stopford and Wells found that firms may transition from an international division form to the use of a:
A) worldwide product division
B) area division
C) both of the above
D) none of the above
Q2) A global strategy:
A) assumes a high need for customer responsiveness and a low need for coordination
B) focuses on different means to achieve the best cost and quality positions
C) is assessed first at the market level and then at the local product level
D) operates as a series of local hierarchies that answer to a global partnership
Q3) Describe the four alternative approaches used to manage worldwide operation.
Q4) An excellent set of production and sourcing decisions that firms confront would include the following except:
A) from where should the firm supply the target market
B) should the firm produce in one plant or many, related or autonomous
C) where should research and development be located
D) what sort of marketing mix should be used
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14
Chapter 12: Capabilities,systems and structure
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33 Verified Questions
33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Implementation is an integral part of strategic management.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In suggesting how to analyse an informal network,Krackhardt and Hanson suggested conducting a confidential survey of employees about: A) who they work with, who they avoid, who they give help or advice to B) who they like, who they seek help or advice about, who they dislike C) who they seek help or advice from, who they talk to, who they trust, D) none of the above
Q3) Information systems determine what the organisation is told about what is happening.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Compare and contrast the McKinsey 7S model of strategic implementation with Hubbard et al.'s 'winning wheel'.
Q5) Is outsourcing an ethical practice? Discuss.
Q6) 'The role and importance of performance-based reward systems in affecting the behaviour has changed.' Comment.
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Chapter 13: Leadership,people and culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Sustainability is an element of implementation,but not a criterion for decision making about implementation choices.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Hubbard,Galvin and Rice's definition of leadership does NOT include the ability to:
A) motivate others to buy into the leader's vision
B) develop a vision of the future for the organisation
C) get a vision of the future for the organisation implemented
D) articulate a vision of the history of the organisation
Q3) The board of directors is:
A) a club for top managers
B) voted in by the employees
C) a form of scrutiny of the organisation imposed by the government
D) voted in by the shareholders
Q4) Hubbard,Rice and Galvin suggest that leadership style will vary when:
A) the organisation lacks the time and resources to make the change
B) change is being forced from within
C) change is being forced from the outside
D) the environment is simultaneously stable and turbulent
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Chapter 14: Change management
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The change capability that Turner and Crawford found to be essential for success was the ability to:
A) delegate the process of change effectively
B) coerce people into supporting the change effort through fear of consequences
C) develop the skills and resources needed to effect change
D) visualise the changed organisation before it existed
Q2) Quinn's logical incrementalism model:
A) involves a change process based on objective and rational processes, using small steps to achieve the required change
B) involves a process of incrementally assessing changes in the strategic environment
C) does not involve analysis but rather involves incremental changes followed by incremental assessments
D) sees radical change as a sequences of incremental changes
Q3) Change always involves more rewards to match extra work.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Briefly describe the variables that a general model of the process of change management needs to consider.
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