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1. Good strategy combined with good strategy execution ( )
A.
offers a surefire guarantee for avoiding periods of weak financial performance.
B. are the two best signs that a company is a true industry leader.
C. are more important management functions than forming a strategic vision and setting objectives.
D. are the most trustworthy signs of good management.
E. signals that a company has a well-qualified, effective strategic planning staff.
2.The most trustworthy signs of a well-managed company are ( )
A. financial and strategic objectives with a challenging degree of organizational stretch.
B. aggressive pursuit of new opportunities and a willingness to take bold risks.
C. good strategy-making combined with good strategy execution.
D. a visionary mission statement and a willingness to pursue offensive strategies rather than defensive strategies.
E. being one of the top three market share leaders in the industry.
3. A company's strategic vision ( )
A. reflects management's aspirations for the company's future profitability and the future well-being of shareholders.
B. reflects management's views and conclusions about "what businesses we want to be in, where we are headed, and the kind of company we are trying to create."
C. entails coming up with a catchy phrase or slogan that conveys to customers, investors, and employees how the company intends to be competitively successful.
D. specifies what performance targets the company should to try to achieve and what the deadline is for achieving them.
E. reflects management's strategic plan for the organization and how it plans to implement it.
4. A company's strategic vision ( )
A. indicates what activities the organization intends to pursue and the course management has charted for the future.
B. sets forth the long-range financial and strategic performance targets the organization seeks to achieve.
C. indicates the boundaries of the company's present business.
D. reflects how strategic objectives are to be achieved.
E. is a statement that conveys to outsiders the general direction in which an industry is headed and management's beliefs about the company's future profit prospects.
5. The elements of forming a company mission and strategic vision include ( )
A. defining and understanding what business a company is really in.
B. deciding on a long-term strategic course for the company to pursue.
C. communicating the vision and mission in ways that are clear, exciting, and inspiring.
D. All of these.
E. None of the above.

6. Judgments about what strategy to pursue need to be based on ( )
A. which strategy entails the least market and competitive risk.
B. solid analysis of a company's external environment (especially industry and competitive conditions) and internal situation (especially its resource strengths and weaknesses, competitive capabilities, and market position).
C. whether a company's present competitive position is strong or weak.
D. which competitors have the best strategy and pose the biggest competitive threat.
E.the industry's dominant economic and business characteristics.
7. The purpose of assessing a company's external environment and internal circumstances is to ( )
A. draw out those features in a company's internal/external environment which most determine its competitive threats and business risks.
B. help managers be responsive to industry and competitive conditions.
C. decide how best to undermine the competitive positions of rival firms.
D. determine whether the company's objectives are sufficiently challenging.
E. help managers craft a strategy that is well-matched to its situation.
8. The foremost reason for accurately diagnosing a company's internal and external situation is to ( )
A. identify the industry's dominant economic characteristics.
B. evaluate forces in motion in the industry that are likely to alter buyer preferences and expectations.
C. draw management's attention to those features in a company's internal/external environment that ought to drive managerial choices about the company's long-term direction, objectives, and strategy.
D. assess the strength of each one of the five competitive forces.
E. decide how good the company's long-term profit prospects are.
9.In evaluating a company's internal situation and market position, it is important to ( )
A.conduct a SWOT analysis.
B. assess the company's competitive strength vis-a-vis rivals.
C. determine how well the firm's present strategy is working and why.
D. identify the strategic issues the company faces.
E. All of these are relevant.
10. Which of the following is not a component of company situation analysis?
( )
A. Evaluating how well is the present strategy is working
B. Environmental scanning and driving forces analysis
C. An assessment of whether the company's costs and prices are competitive.
D. Evaluating the company's competitive strength and competitive position
E. Pinpointing what strategic issues the company's management needs to address
11. A company has competitive advantage whenever( )
A. it is the acknowledged market share leader.
B. it is the industry's most active user of offensive strategies.
C. it has an edge over rivals in attracting customers and defending against competitive

forces.
D. it is not vulnerable to preemptive strikes and is well-positioned to cope with the guerrilla competitive tactics of rivals.
E. it has greater financial resources than its rivals.
12. To succeed in building a competitive advantage, a company's strategy must
( )
A. aim at charging a premium price for a superior product/service.
B. aim externally at providing buyers with what they perceive as superior value--a good product at a lower price or a better product that is worth paying more for.
C. aim internally at performing value chain activities differently than rivals and building resources and capabilities that they cannot readily match.
D. aim at becoming the market share leader.
E. Both b and c.
13. The most important drivers shaping a company's strategic options fall into two broad categories( )
A. a company's core competencies and the make-up of its value chain.
B. the company's financial condition and its current reputation/image with buyers.
C. the nature of industry and competitive conditions and the firm's own resources, competitive capabilities, market position, and best opportunities.
D. a company's internal strengths and weaknesses and its external opportunities and threats.
E. the company's competitive strength vis-a-vis rivals and which strategic group it is in.
14. Which of the following is not usually a characteristic of a young, emerging industry? ( )
A. There are no rules of the game; there's much uncertainty about how the industry will function, and statistical information about the industry is hard to come by.
B. Technological know-how is freely shared and there is no competitive advantage attached to patents and proprietary technology.
C. There is uncertainty regarding which of several competing technologies will prove to be the most efficient.
D. Many potential buyers expect first-generation products to be rapidly improved and delay their purchase until technology and product design mature.
E. Entry barriers tend to be relatively low.
15. The task of crafting corporate strategy for a diversified company includes
( )
A. deciding when and how to enter new businesses.
B. choosing what actions to take to boost the combined performance of the businesses the firm has diversified into.
C. finding ways to capture the synergy among related business units and turn it into competitive advantage.
D. establishing investment priorities and steering corporate resources into the most attractive business units.
E. All of these.

16. Which one of the following is not one of the elements of crafting corporate strategy for a diversified company? ( )
A. Deciding when and how to enter new businesses
B. Choosing the appropriate value chain for each business the company has diversified into
C. Finding ways to capture the synergy among related business units and turn it into competitive advantage
D. Establishing investment priorities and steering corporate resources into the most attractive business units
E. Choosing what actions to take to boost the combined performance of the businesses the firm has diversified into
17. The procedural steps in evaluating and critiquing a diversified company's strategy include ( )
A. applying the industry attractiveness test.
B. determining the competitive strength of each business in the portfolio to see which ones are strong contenders in their respective industries.
C. crafting new strategic moves to improve the performance of the total business portfolio via acquisitions, divestiture, or shifts in internal priorities and resource allocation.
D. evaluating the strategic and resource fits among sister businesses in the company's portfolio.
E. All of the above.
18. The strategy implementer's overriding objective is to ( )
A. convert the strategic plan into action and exerting the leadership to get on with what needs to be done to achieve the targeted strategic and financial results.
B. select which core competencies and competitive capabilities to build into the organization structure.
C. ensure that strategy is adjusted in ways that avoid conflicts with established policies and procedures.
D. develop a detailed implementation plan that set forth what every department and every manager needs to do to promote better execution of the company's strategy.
E. All of these.
19. From a strategy-implementing perspective, the role of budgets is to ( )
A. exert tight control over how the company's financial resources are allocated to its various value chain activities.
B. make sure that each organization unit has the resources needed to carry out its part of the strategic plan.
C. ensure the creation of needed core competencies and organizational capabilities.
D. prevent wasteful spending.
E. make sure that unneeded projects go unfunded and that unnecessary organizational units are disbanded.
20. Which one of the following is not a fundamental part of a company's culture?
( )
A. The manner in which it deals with employees, unions, stockholders, customers,

vendors, and the communities where it operates
B. The traditions the organization maintains
C. The values and business principles that management preaches and practices
D. The company's strategy
E. The peer pressures that exist and the legends and stories that people repeat about company happenings
21. Explain why strategy-making is not a proper task for strategic planners?
22. Identify and briefly discuss the relevance of each of the six broad factors that shape strategy.
23. What are some of the major factors that enter into an assessment of whether an industry does or does not have long-term attractiveness?
24. Explain why a weighted competitive strength assessment is conceptually superior to an unweighted one.
25. How is a competitive advantage built? Why do competitive advantages, once built, tend to erode? What does it take to sustain a competitive advantage?
26. Explain why a global competitor with multiple profit sanctuaries is well positioned to outcompete a domestic competitor whose only profit sanctuary is its home market.
27. What are the distinguishing characteristics of a multinational diversification strategy? What are the advantages of pursuing multinational diversification?
28. Shareholder interests are generally best served by concentrating corporate resources on businesses that can contend for market leadership. True or false.
Explain your answer.
29. When it proves infeasible to outcompete rivals by crafting a superior strategy, the next best avenue to beating them out for industry leadership is to outexecute them--that is, beat them with superior strategy implementation. True or false.
Explain.

30. What action steps can managers take to build a total quality culture and instill a strong commitment to continuously improving how strategy is being executed?
31. What is the CEO's role in enforcing ethical behavior? in setting ethical standards?