Strategic Planning
Exam Solutions
Course Introduction
Strategic Planning examines the processes and tools used by organizations to set long-term goals, determine actions to achieve those goals, and mobilize resources to execute the necessary actions. The course covers the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of organizational strategies in both competitive and non-profit environments. Topics include vision and mission development, environmental scanning, SWOT analysis, strategy formulation and execution, and performance measurement. Through case studies and practical exercises, students learn to align strategic goals with operational plans and adapt strategies in response to changing internal and external factors.
Recommended Textbook
Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage 4th Edition by Jay B. Barney
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11 Chapters
1100 Verified Questions
1100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/636
Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Strategy and the Strategic Management
Process?
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/12060
Sample Questions
Q1) A firm that earns below average accounting performance,performance that is less than the industry average,generally experiences a competitive disadvantage.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) The correlation between economic and accounting measures of competitive advantage is generally low.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Green Frog is an environmentally friendly firm in the cosmetics industry that has decided to undertake a strategic planning project.It wants to ensure that it performs the process correctly and so intends to start the process with the first step of the strategic planning process,which is
A) crafting a mission statement.
B) setting objectives.
C) measuring performance.
D) defining its business level strategy.
Answer: A
Page 3
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Chapter 2: Evaluating a Firm's External Environment
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/12061
Sample Questions
Q1) Based on the above description,the hardwood furniture industry can best be described as a(n)________ industry.
A) emerging
B) fragmented
C) consolidated
D) declining
Answer: B
Q2) According to the S-C-P model,attributes of the industry structure within which a firm operates define the range of options and constraints facing a firm.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) If you were to purchase a new Apple iPod and were unable to use your previously downloaded library of digital music with your new iPod,this would be an example of a customer-switching cost you would incur to use Apple's product.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 3: Evaluating a Firm's Internal Capabilities
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/12062
Sample Questions
Q1) If a resource or capability is valuable and rare but not costly to imitate,exploiting this resource will generate a sustainable competitive advantage for a firm.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) In the end,competitive advantage is so important to a firm's success,it must remain the sole property of senior management.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) A firm's formal reporting structure,its formal and informal planning and its controlling and coordinating systems are examples of which type of resources?
A) Financial resources
B) Physical resources
C) Human resources
D) Organizational resources
Answer: D
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Cost Leadership
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify how cost leadership helps neutralize each of the major threats in an industry.
Q2) When managers committed to an incorrect course of action increase their commitment to this action even as its limitations become manifest,this is known as
A) de-escalation of commitment.
B) diseconomies of scale.
C) escalation of commitment.
D) economies of scale.
Q3) The link between cumulative volumes of production and cost has been formalized in the concept of the learning curve.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Productive inputs are any supplies used by a firm in conducting its business activities.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the responsibilities of the CEO in a functional organization?.
Q6) Identify which bases of cost leadership are more likely to be rare and costly to imitate.
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Chapter 5: Product Differentiation
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/12064
Sample Questions
Q1) Product features,by themselves,are
A) usually not a source of temporary competitive advantage,but they can be a source of a sustainable competitive advantage.
B) usually not a source of either a temporary competitive advantage,or a source of a sustainable competitive advantage.
C) usually can be a source of both a temporary competitive advantage and a source of a sustainable competitive advantage.
D) usually not a source of sustained competitive advantage,but they can be a source of a temporary competitive advantage.
Q2) The U-form structure used to implement a product-differentiation strategy
A) rarely uses temporary cross-divisional and cross-functional teams to manage the development and implementation of new,innovative,and highly differentiated products.
B) has simple reporting relationships.
C) often uses temporary cross-divisional and cross-functional teams to manage the development and implementation of new,innovative,and highly differentiated products.
D) has a small corporate staff.
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Chapter 6: Vertical Integration
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify the organizational structure that is used to implement a vertical integration strategy and why from a CEO's perspective coordinating functional specialists to implement a vertical integration strategy almost always involves conflict resolution and how this conflict can be resolved.
Q2) A firm's vertical integration strategy is rare when few competing firms are able to create value by vertically integrating in the same way.
A)True
B)False
Q3) When Apple,Inc.opened retail stores to sell its computers and iPods,this was an example of
A) forward vertical integration.
B) backward vertical integration.
C) forward horizontal integration.
D) backward horizontal integration.
Q4) Identify three reasons why a firm may be able to create value through vertical integration when most of its competitors are not able to create value through vertical integration.
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Chapter 7: Corporate Diversification
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/12066
Sample Questions
Q1) When a firm operates in multiple industries simultaneously,it is said to be implementing a
A) product diversification strategy.
B) product-differentiation strategy.
C) geographic market diversification strategy.
D) geographic market differentiation strategy.
Q2) Identify two potential substitutes for corporate diversification and discuss how each can provide benefits similar to corporate diversification.
Q3) The businesses within a diversified firm always gain cost-of-capital advantages by being part of a diversified firm's portfolio.
A)True
B)False
Q4) When less than 90 percent of a firm's revenues are generated in a single product market and when a firm's business share few,if any,common attributes,then that firm is pursuing a strategy of unrelated corporate diversification.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Organizing to Implement Corporate
Diversification
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The M-form structure is designed to create checks and balances for managers that increase the probability that a diversified firm will be managed in ways consistent with A) the interests of all of its stakeholders.
B) an exclusively short-term perspective.
C) an exclusively long-term perspective.
D) the interests of its equity holders.
Q2) Discuss the role of accounting measures of divisional performance,identify three different standards of comparison that can be used when evaluating the accounting performance of a division along with the strengths and weaknesses of each standard,and describe the potential weaknesses of accounting measures of divisional performance.
Q3) Another name for the M-form is the multidivisional structure.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The divisions of an M-form organization are true
A) profit-and-loss centers.
B) functional units.
C) matrix teams.
D) organic structures.
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Chapter 9: Strategic Alliances
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) When the probability of cheating in a cooperative relationship is greatest,a(n)________ is the preferred form of cooperation.
A) equity agreement
B) licensing agreement
C) joint venture
D) distribution agreement
Q2) Define a strategic alliance and identify and differentiate between three broad categories of strategic alliances.
Q3) All of the following are methods firms can use to reduce the threat of cheating in strategic alliances except
A) contracts.
B) equity investments.
C) joint ventures.
D) tacit collusion.
Q4) Discuss when strategic alliances may be costly to directly duplicate.
Q5) Strategic alliances can help create the social setting within which tacit collusion may develop.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Mergers and Acquisitions
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Mergers and acquisitions designed to create vertical integration should be managed through the M-form structure.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A ________ is a compensation arrangement between a firm and its senior management team that promises these individuals substantial cash payment if their firm is acquired and they lose their jobs in the process.
A) white knight agreement
B) greenmail agreement
C) shark repellent
D) golden parachute
Q3) The market for corporate control is the market that is created when multiple firms actively seek to acquire one or several firms.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Identify and differentiate between the five different FTC categories of mergers and acquisitions.
Q5) How are poison pills different from shark repellents?
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Chapter 11: International Strategies
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Japanese retail distribution has historically been much more ________ than the system that exists in the United States or Western Europe.
A) closely held
B) fragmented
C) consolidated
D) open
Q2) Describe the transnational strategy.
Q3) Distribution problems are typically limited to developing economies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which one of the following is not a structural option for firms pursuing international strategies?
A) Corporate federation
B) Decentralized federation
C) Transnational structure
D) Centralized hub
Q5) Is learning from international operations automatic for firms? Why or why not?
Q6) In 2008,about a third of Wal-Mart's profits came from outside the United States.
A)True
B)False
Page 13
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