Strategic Planning
Exam Solutions
Course Introduction
Strategic Planning is a comprehensive course designed to equip students with the essential concepts and tools for formulating, implementing, and evaluating organizational strategies. The course examines the strategic management process, including environmental scanning, situation analysis, strategy formulation, and execution. Students learn to assess internal and external organizational factors, set long-term objectives, and make effective decisions based on data-driven insights. Through case studies, simulations, and collaborative projects, the course emphasizes analytical thinking, problem-solving, and leadership skills necessary to drive sustainable competitive advantage in dynamic business environments.
Recommended Textbook
Strategic Management 6th Edition by Graham Hubbard
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14 Chapters
557 Verified Questions
557 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Strategy
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/47066
Sample Questions
Q1) In 1985 Michael Porter suggested three generic strategies:
A)low delivered cost,differentiation and focus
B)low price,differentiation and focus
C)low production cost,high quality and focus
D)low cost,differentiation and targeting
Answer: A
Q2) Performance of an organisation is based solely on financial performance.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Briefly explain the three levels of strategy.
Answer: There are three levels of strategy:corporate,business and functional.Corporate strategy deals with issues related to the portfolio mix of businesses held by a multi-business organisation/corporation.Business strategy deals with how one particular organisation positions itself relative to its competitors to create sustainable competitive advantage within its industry.Most strategic issues exist at the business level.Functional strategy deals with how each function of the business will contribute towards achieving the business strategy that has been set.The three levels of strategy should be consistent with each other.
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Analysing Business Strategy: Creating Value
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41 Verified Questions
41 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Hay and Williamson argued that for a strategy to be effectively understood and accepted:
A)the strategy should provide direction in the form of a worthwhile,relevant goal
B)it should help work teams see the leverage provided by the interaction of their own tasks and initiatives occurring elsewhere in the organisation
C)it can be used by shop stewards as guidance for trade-offs in collective bargaining deals
D)it facilitates communication by establishing a common language which everyone can use
Answer: D
Q2) What is a value proposition for customers and what is it based on?
Answer: In any market,there will be different segments of customers valuing different benefits.Strategically,the organisation needs to establish the value proposition that it is offering its customer segments.A value proposition is the benefits that are to be offered to a particular customer group for a particular product.It is based on an assessment of: -the benefits that the customer desires and will pay for -the value the customer places on each of those benefits
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Analysing the External Environment
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43 Verified Questions
43 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Porter claims that ___ contribute(s)to intensity of industry rivalry:
A)barriers to exit
B)switching costs
C)absolute cost advantage
D)differentiation of outputs
Answer: A
Q2) 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
Q3) What are the benefits of scenario planning as an alternative to the five forces model?
Answer: Scenario planning tries to build plausible alternative views of the future for the industry,based on identifying the key environmental influences and drivers of change,but configuring their importance differently in each scenario.For instance,one approach might be a no change-incremental change-rapid change set of scenarios.
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Chapter 4: Analysing the External Environment
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41 Verified Questions
41 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the resource-based view,a necessary condition for competitive advantage is that:
A)resources are heterogeneous and immobile between organisations
B)all resources are unique
C)all resources can be imitated
D)all resources are interchangeable
Q2) Describe the links between resources,capabilities and strategic capabilities.
Q3) The features of 'benchmarking' explained by Hubbard,Rice and Galvin exclude:
A)comparing organisational performance against other organisations
B)comparing against the 'best in class' performer
C)ease in identifying the world best practice organisation
D)comparing the performance of one or more specific activities
Q4) Hubbard,Rice and Galvin suggest that the ways in which capability performance may be compared are:
A)external peer review,intra-industry comparisons,benchmarking,cost driver analysis
B)internal self-perception,intra-industry comparisons,benchmarking,cost driver analysis,competitive intelligence
C)internal self-perception,inter-industry comparisons,benchmarking,competitive analysis
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Chapter 5: Measuring Strategic Organisation Performance
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37 Verified Questions
37 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Accounting-based information is historical and may not be a good guide to future performance.
A)True
B)False
Q2) 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
Q3) The normal view of 'long terms' now implies:
A) three to five years
B) five to ten years
C) three years
D)more than ten years
Q4) The shareholder value approach sees the question of investing as a capital budgeting decision.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: GAP Analysis and Business-Level Strategic Options
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41 Verified Questions
41 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) 'Not to grow' is an inappropriate organisational desire.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Describe how different key issues regarding stakeholder involvement for public sector strategy setting impact implementation outcomes.
Q3) 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
Q4) In order to adopt 'premium pricing' strategy,it is important not to view organisational products and services as 'commodities'.
A)True
B)False
Page 8
Q5) Describe how to build a well-defined business model.
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Chapter 7: Strategic Decision-Making
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38 Verified Questions
38 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In relation to cognitive maps:
A)their use avoids the need for personal experience,both actual and educational B)managers try to interpret events in ways that make them consistent with pre-existing beliefs
C)if an event is too much like prior experience,wrong conclusions may be drawn D)industry recipes have been developed to cover only those facts relevant to an industry
Q2) A wide variety of conceptual approaches for decision-making are being developed.Discuss what some of them are and what they have in common.
Q3) Individual values cannot conflict with each other.They may conflict with those of the organisation.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Information asymmetry happens when one party knows more relevant information than another,often placing one at a serious disadvantage.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the steps in the development of good strategy?
Q6) 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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39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Before attempting to develop a business strategy based on some aspect of green or social sustainability,the organisation should ask whether it can be or will be copied.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following is not one of the three principles that could be combined by an organisation to predict an 'end game' outcome for an industry or situation whereby an organization can reverse engineer the behavior required to achieve the best outcome for itself,based on the expected end game?
A)Consider the expected reactions of competitors to any move that is made by the organisation and reason backwards.
B) Know the competitor organizations as well as your own.
C) Differentiate between one-period games and repeated-interaction games.
D)Consider penalties placed on other organizations and implement a traditional strategic approach to counteract these types of interactions.
Q3) Describe the PARTS model set forth by Nalebuff and Brandenburger.
Q4) Consider the relevance of game theory in understanding business strategy.
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Corporatemulti-Business Strategy
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) ___ is the extent to which the organisation can use the capabilities that it already has in other businesses:
A)Economies of scale
B)Economies of scope
C)Capability development
D)None of the above
Q2) According to Aw and Eng,diversification in Asia compared to Europe leads to different performance.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The GE business strength-industry attractiveness nine-cell matrix is a technique for classifying businesses into a three horizons portfolio of strategy of corporations.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The dimensions of the BCG growth-market share matrix are:
A)real industry growth and real market share
B)real organisational growth and relative market share
C)real industry growth and relative market share
D)real industry profitability and relative market share
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Chapter 10: Acquisitions and Alliances
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41 Verified Questions
41 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Joint venture is NOT used to achieve which of the following purposes:
A)strengthening the firm's existing business
B)taking the firm's existing products into new markets
C)obtaining new products that can be sold in the firm's existing markets
D)controlling the business of the partners
Q2) Success of merger and acquisition is determined by the quality of strategic analysis,search and valuation.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Explain what causes acquisitions to occur in waves and give examples.
Q4) In cross-border acquisitions,due diligence should only focus on cultural compatibility issues.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Joint venture is NOT formed to:
A)gain benefits over other partners
B)allow a firm to achieve economies of scale
C)allow a firm to access to resources
D)provide a firm with joint research and development opportunities
Q6) Identify the reasons for creating joint ventures.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: International Strategy
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In order to compete internationally,firms need to possess some degree of understanding of numerous cultures.
A)True
B)False
Q2) 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
Q3) In strategic practice and analysis,'global' means between nations or between at least two different countries.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In some countries,the loss of control of technology is a critical problem with licensing.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe the four alternative approaches used to manage worldwide operation.
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Chapter 12: Capabilities, Systems and Structure
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39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) General systems theory argues that most ___ that occur are the result of ___ problems,not just the ___ that we observe.
A)incidents,deliberate,accidents
B)problems,systemic,symptoms
C)symptoms,underlying,incidents
D)accidents,collateral,outcome
Q2) Hubbard et al.claim that their model of implementation builds on the original 7S model with the fundamental aim to:
A)alert all elements so that the strategy being pursued is able to be implemented efficiently
B)align all elements so that the strategy being pursued is able to be implemented efficiently
C)alert all elements so that the strategy being pursued is able to be implemented effectively
D)align all elements so that the strategy being pursued is able to be implemented effectively
Q3) There are no problematic issues to deal with in introducing reward systems.
A)True
B)False
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14
Chapter 13: Leadership, People and Culture
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43 Verified Questions
43 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) From a strategic perspective,both leadership and management tasks are equally important.
A)True
B)False
Q2) People in an organisation might be assessed in terms of their 'fit' with a proposed strategy:
A)by a survey of what they think,how well they are prepared and understand requirements
B)by a resource or competency audit to change the attitudes of people to the strategy
C)both of the above
D)none of the above
Q3) The UK Cadbury report on the role of directors recommended that roles of the board chair and CEO should be merged.
A)True
B)False
Q4) There are four levels of leadership.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Assess how 'top management teams' can function effectively.
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Chapter 14: Change Management
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39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A learning perspective views change as:
A)occurring through a series of leaps of faith
B)using feedback to inform previous actions
C)achieving only small results from large steps,due to resistance to change
D)using feedback to alter the organisation's behaviour
Q2) Do you agree that 'failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition' might lead to the failure of transformation change management? Provide an example to support your view.
Q3) Kotter's reasons why change fails do NOT include:
A)allowing too much complacency
B)permitting obstacles to block the vision
C)declaring victory too late
D)failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition
Q4) ___ and ___ organisations are best placed to be able to cope with the changes required.
A)Decentralised,resourceful
B)Creative,centralised
C)Resilient,adaptable
D)Small,diversified
Q5) Explain the cognitive perspective of change.
Page 16
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