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| 1 | |
Strategy-making is |
| | A) | primarily the responsibility of the company founder or CEO. |
| | B) | the responsibility of a company's chief executive officer and outside consultants. |
| | C) | primarily the responsibility of a company's strategic planning staff. |
| | D) | first and foremost the responsibility of a company's board of directors. |
| | E) | more of a collaborative group effort that involves managers and key employees throughout the company. |
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| 2 | |
Which one of the following is not an integral part of the managerial process of crafting and executing strategy? |
| | A) | Developing a strategic vision |
| | B) | Choosing a strategic intent |
| | C) | Setting objectives and crafting a strategy to achieve them |
| | D) | Evaluating performance and initiating corrective adjustments in the company's long-term direction, objectives, strategy, or execution in light of actual experience, changing conditions, new ideas, and new opportunities |
| | E) | Implementing and executing the chosen strategy efficiently and effectively |
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| 3 | |
A strategic vision for a company |
| | A) | involves how fast to pursue the chosen strategy and reach the targeted levels of performance. |
| | B) | consists of thinking through what it will take to make the chosen strategy work as planned. |
| | C) | Describes "where we are going" by delineating the course and direction management has charted for the company's future product-customer-market-technology focus. |
| | D) | spells out how the company is going to get from where it is now to where it want to go and when it is expected to arrive. |
| | E) | concerns management's view of how to transition the company's business model from where it is now to where it needs to be. |
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| 4 | |
The difference between a company's mission statement and the concept of a strategic vision is that |
| | A) | the mission statement lays out the desire to make a profit, whereas the strategic vision addresses what strategy the company will employ in trying to make a profit. |
| | B) | a mission statement deals with "where we are headed " whereas a strategic vision provides the critical answer to "how will we get there?." |
| | C) | a mission deals with what a company is trying to do and a vision concerns what a company ought to do. |
| | D) | a mission statement typically concerns an enterprise's present business scope and purpose—"who we are, what we do, and why we are here"—whereas the focus of a strategic vision is on the direction the company is headed and what its future product-customer-market-technology focus will be. |
| | E) | a mission is about what to accomplish for shareholders whereas a strategic vision concerns what to accomplish for customers. |
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| 5 | |
Which one of the following is not a characteristic of an effectively-worded strategic vision statement (see Table 2.1)? |
| | A) | Directional (is forward-looking; describes the strategic course that management has charted and the kinds of product-market-customer-technology changes that will help the company prepare for the future) |
| | B) | Concrete and unambiguous (leaves no doubt as to what the company is trying to accomplish for shareholders) |
| | C) | Graphic (paints a clear picture) |
| | D) | Easy to communicate (ideally, explainable in 10 minutes) |
| | E) | Focused and flexible (specific enough to provide managers with guidance in making decisions and allocating resources but stops short of a once-and-for-all-time statement because the strategic path may need to be changed as as market-customer-technology circumstances change) |
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| 6 | |
According to both the text discussion and the summary in Table 2.2, which of the following is not a common shortcoming of company vision statements? |
| | A) | Incomplete or vague—short on specifics |
| | B) | Too reliant on superlatives (best, most successful, recognized leader, global or worldwide leader, first choice of buyers) |
| | C) | Too broad—so umbrella-like and all-inclusive that the company could head in most any direction, pursue most any opportunity, or enter most any business |
| | D) | Lacking in analysis—based more on managerial emotion and excessive ambition than on what is realistically achievable |
| | E) | Not distinctive—provides no unique company identity; could apply to companies in any of several industries (or at least several rivals operating in the same industry or market arena) |
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| 7 | |
A company's objectives |
| | A) | convert the strategic vision into specific performance targets—well-stated objectives are quantifiable, or measurable, and contain a deadline for achievement. |
| | B) | are typically established after a company decides on a strategic vision and strategy so that they will entail performance targets that truly signal business success. |
| | C) | are best stated in general terms (maximize profits, reduce costs, increase sales) rather than quantifiable terms (increase after-tax profits by 10% in 2 years, grow sales revenues by 20% annually) so that managers will have the latitude to adjust target outcomes to levels that can be achieved. |
| | D) | should place far more emphasis on financial performance targets than strategic performance targets. |
| | E) | All of these. |
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| 8 | |
Establishing and achieving strategic objectives merits very high priority on management's agenda because |
| | A) | strategic outcomes provide better benefits to shareholders in both the short-run and the long-run. |
| | B) | a company can't have a shrewd strategic vision without having aggressive and competitively astute strategic objectives. |
| | C) | strategic outcomes are leading indicators of a company's future financial performance and business prospects. |
| | D) | well-chosen strategic objectives help managers craft a good strategy. |
| | E) | a company cannot achieve its strategic intent and strategic vision or gain a competitive advantage over rivals without having and achieving strategic objectives. |
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| 9 | |
A balanced scorecard for measuring company performance |
| | A) | entails balancing the pursuit of good bottom-line profit against the pursuit of non-profit objectives (although achieving profitability targets is nearly always given greater emphasis). |
| | B) | involves putting equal emphasis on the achievement of financial objectives, strategic objectives, and social responsibility objectives. |
| | C) | entails setting both financial and strategic objectives and putting balanced emphasis on their achievement. |
| | D) | helps prevent the pursuit of strategic objectives from dominating the pursuit of financial objectives. |
| | E) | is necessary in order to prevent the drive for achieving financial objectives from weakening the attention paid to social responsibility, community citizenship, and other worthy goals. |
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| 10 | |
Company objectives |
| | A) | need to be broken down into performance targets for each of its separate businesses, product lines, functional departments, and individual work units. |
| | B) | are needed only in those areas directly related to a company's short-term and long-term profitability. |
| | C) | help answer the question "Where do we want to go." |
| | D) | are determined the geographic and business scope of the company's operations. |
| | E) | should be set in a manner that does not conflict with the performance targets of lower-level organizational units. |
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| 11 | |
The task of crafting a strategy is |
| | A) | the function and responsibility of a few high-level executives. |
| | B) | more of a collaborative group effort that involves all managers and sometimes key employees striving to arrive at a consensus on what the overall best strategy should be. |
| | C) | the function and responsibility of a company's strategic planning staff. |
| | D) | a job for a company's whole management team—senior executives plus the managers of business units, operating divisions, functional departments, manufacturing plants, and sales districts (as per the strategy-making hierarchy shown in Figure 2.2). |
| | E) | first and foremost the function and responsibility of a company's board of directors. |
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| 12 | |
As per Figure 2.2, the strategy-making hierarchy in a single business company consists of |
| | A) | business strategy, divisional strategies, and departmental strategies. |
| | B) | business strategy, functional area strategies, and operating strategies. |
| | C) | business strategy and operating strategy. |
| | D) | managerial strategy, business strategy, and divisional strategies. |
| | E) | corporate strategy, divisional strategies, and departmental strategies. |
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| 13 | |
Functional strategies |
| | A) | describe the mission and strategic intent of each key functional piece of the business. |
| | B) | concern what to do about resolving the specific strategic issues and operating problems a business confronts in each key part of its business—R&D, production, sales and marketing, finance, information technology, human resources, and so on. |
| | C) | are normally crafted by the executive in charge of the overall business and approved by the company's board of directors. |
| | D) | add detail to the overall business strategy and specify what resources and organizational capabilities are needed to put the business strategy into action. |
| | E) | are concerned with what competitive capabilities to build in support of the overall company strategy and what to do to unify the firm's skills, competencies, and resource strengths across all the various key pieces of a company's business. |
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| 14 | |
Operating strategies concern |
| | A) | what a company's various operating departments plan to do to help execute the company's overall strategy. |
| | B) | the strategic intent of each operating unit. |
| | C) | the relatively narrow strategic initiatives and approaches for managing key operating units (plants, distribution centers, geographic units) and specific operating activities (the management of specific brands, supply chain-related activities, and website sales and operations). |
| | D) | the specific actions a company's various operating departments plan to take to unify efforts to achieve a sustainable competitive. |
| | E) | what a company will do once its strategic plan is adopted and approved by the company's board of directors. |
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| 15 | |
Which of the following is not among the principal managerial tasks associated with managing the strategy execution process? |
| | A) | Ensuring that policies and procedures facilitate rather than impede effective execution |
| | B) | Installing information and operating systems that enable company personnel to perform essential activities |
| | C) | Exerting the internal leadership needed to drive implementation forward |
| | D) | Engaging the services of staffing firms to maintain the company's personnel data |
| | E) | Tying rewards and incentives directly to the achievement of performance objectives |
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| 16 | |
Perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard that are used to organize company activities illustrated by strategy maps include |
| | A) | financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth. |
| | B) | all elements of the company's strategic plan. |
| | C) | leadership development and strategic planning. |
| | D) | suppliers, buyers, new entrants, and substitute products. |
| | E) | business strategies, functional strategies, and operating strategies. |
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| 17 | |
Leading the drive for good strategy execution calls upon managers to |
| | A) | be very personable and an active listener. |
| | B) | be a charismatic, decisive decision-maker that subordinates will wish to emulate. |
| | C) | delegate little to subordinates and exert a strong, highly visible influence on the company's approaches to strategy execution. |
| | D) | put constructive pressure on the company's human resources department to develop incentives that are likely to boost employee morale. |
| | E) | practice MBWA, put constructive pressure on the organization to achieve good results, and display ethical integrity and spearhead social responsibility initiatives. |
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| 18 | |
What separates companies that make a sincere effort to be good corporate citizens from companies that are content to do only what is legally required of them |
| | A) | are shareholders who insist that senior executives practice corporate citizenship and social responsibility. |
| | B) | is a strong board of directors that is committed to avoiding ethical scandals. |
| | C) | is pressure from environmental groups capable of executing a successful boycott of a company's products or services. |
| | D) | is pressure from customers who expect the companies they do business with to be socially responsible in their actions. |
| | E) | are company leaders who believe that making a profit is not good enough and that performance should also include social and environmental metrics. |
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| 19 | |
Management is obligated to monitor new external developments, evaluate the company's progress, and make corrective adjustments in order to |
| | A) | decide whether to continue or change the company's strategic vision, objectives, strategy and/or strategy execution methods. |
| | B) | determine whether the company has a Balanced Scorecard for judging its performance. |
| | C) | determine what changes should be made to its Strategy Map. |
| | D) | determine whether the company's business model is well matched to changing market and competitive circumstances. |
| | E) | stay on track in achieving the company's mission and strategic vision. |
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| 20 | |
Which one of the following is not among the chief duties/responsibilities of a company's board of directors insofar as the strategy-making, strategy-executing process is concerned? |
| | A) | Directing senior executives as to what the company's long-term direction, objectives, business model, and strategy should be and, further, closely supervising senior executives in their efforts to implement and execute the strategy |
| | B) | Overseeing the company's financial accounting and financial reporting practices |
| | C) | Evaluating the caliber of senior executives' strategy-making/strategy-executing skills |
| | D) | Being inquiring critics and exercising strong oversight over the company's direction, strategy, and business approaches |
| | E) | Instituting a compensation plan for top executives that rewards them for actions and results that serve stakeholders' interests, most especially those of shareholders |
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