CH 3 Flashcards
Industry analysis is also referred to as external strategic management audit.
True
An external audit focuses on identifying and evaluating trends and events within the control of management.
False
The aim of an external audit is to develop an exhaustive list of every possible factor that could influence the business.
F
4) External audits attempt to identify key variables that offer actionable responses.
T
Five major categories of external variables are: 1) economic forces; 2) social and cultural
forces; 3) political, governmental and legal forces; 4) technological forces; and 5) demographic forces.
F
As many managers and employees as possible should be involved in the process of performing an external audit.
T
To perform an external audit, a company first must gather competitive intelligence and information about social, cultural, demographic, environmental, economic, political, legal, governmental and technological trends.
T
8) Freund argues that key external factors must not be hierarchical.
F
Research findings suggest that a greater percentage of a firm’s profitability can be explained
by the industry than can be explained by the firm’s internal factors.
F
An economic trend in the Arab world is an increasing number of two-income households.
T
11) Economic factors do not have much impact on the attractiveness of strategies.
F
An increase in interest rates is directly related to an increase in both discretionary income and the demand for discretionary goods.
F
13) In Arab countries that are oil producers, government expenditures increase and jobs become more readily available when oil revenues increase.
T
In some Arab countries, companies that depend heavily on imports benefit greatly when the dollar falls against the yen and euro.
F
Decreasing demands for oil will significantly impact the economies of many countries in the
Middle East region, as these countries are either oil producers or labor exporters for the oil- producing countries.
T
The Arab region is experiencing little change in terms of social priorities and population changes.
F
The Arab world, in general, has a high rate of birth; and the youth demographic group is one of the largest in the population.
T
With about 60 percent of its population under 25 years of age, the Arab world is one of the most youthful regions in the world.
T
19) All Arab countries share a similar culture and have the same ethnic and religious beliefs.
F
Social and demographic trends are not shaping the way the Arabs live, work, produce, and consume
F
Although the Arab world has one of the highest rates of expansion of the youth demographic in the world, the growing percentage of the older segment is apparent in some countries.
T
In 2050, approximately a quarter of the populations are expected to be aged 60 years and older in five Arab countries.
T
Political, governmental, and legal factors are considered key threats for most small and large organizations.
F
Political forecasts can be the most important part of an external audit for firms that depend heavily on government contracts.
T
In addition to liberalization, Arab executives have shown an interest in asking their respective governments to join the World Trade Organization and in protecting the environment.
T
Mass communication and high technology are creating similar patterns of consumption in
diverse cultures worldwide, which means that many companies may find it difficult to survive by relying solely on domestic markets.
T
Within the European Union (EU), tax rates have been standardized to end competitive tax breaks among member countries.
F
The Internet is changing the very nature of many industries by altering product life cycles and changing the historical trade-off between production standardization and flexibility.
T
In practice, critical technology decisions are too often delegated to lower organizational levels or are made without an understanding of their strategic implications.
T
Competition in virtually all industries can be described as intense, and sometimes as cutthroat in the Arab world.
T
“Innovate or evaporate; particularly in technology-driven businesses, nothing quite recedes like success” is a characteristic of the most competitive companies.
T
Corporate intelligence can be defined as a systematic and ethical process for gathering and analyzing information about the activities and general business trends of the competition, to
further a business’s own goals.
F
33) Internal opportunities can be represented by major competitors’ weaknesses.
F
An effective CI program allows all areas of a firm to access consistent and verifiable information in making decisions.
T
Competitive intelligence is not considered corporate espionage because 95 percent of the
information a company needs to make strategic decisions is available and accessible to the public.
T
Because companies are fearful of corporate espionage, cooperative agreements between competitors are becoming less popular.
F
Market commonality is the extent to which the type and amount of a firm’s internal resources are comparable to a rival
F
According to Michael Porter, five competitive forces create vital opportunities and threats to
organizations: 1) new entrants; 2) substitute products or services; 3) bargaining power of
suppliers; 4) bargaining power of buyers; and 5) rivalry among existing firms.
T