Chapter 1 - Concept of Strategy

Question 1

For both individuals and organizations, successful strategies are characterized by:

Answer 1

Clear, long‐term goals; understanding the competitive environment; awareness of internal strengths and weaknesses; and effective implementation

Question 2

The successful careers of both Queen Elizabeth II and Lady Gaga may be attributed to the fact that both:

Answer 2

Have a consistency of direction based on clear goals

Question 3

Individuals that achieve outstanding success in one area of their lives (e.g. in their career, in acquiring wealth, in social success, in spiritual development, or in family relationships) also tend:

Answer 3

To be unsuccessful in other areas of their lives

Question 4

The main problem of SWOT as a framework for strategy analysis is that:

Answer 4

It is often difficult to distinguish opportunities from threats, and strengths from weaknesses

Question 5

Strategic fit refers to:

Answer 5

The consistency of a firm’s strategy with its external and internal environments

Question 6

The principal similarity between business and military strategy is that:

Answer 6

They share common concepts and principles

Question 7

The main reason for the transition from corporate planning to strategic management during the late 1970s and early 1980s was:

Answer 7

A more turbulent business environment that became increasingly difficult to predict

Question 8

When the environment becomes more turbulent and unpredictable:

Answer 8

Strategy becomes an increasingly important as a source of direction

Question 9

Which of the following is not one of the ways in which a systematic, strategy‐making process improves an organization’s decision making:

Answer 9

Providing algorithms that generate optimal solutions to strategic problems

Question 10

The primary distinction between corporate strategy and business strategy is:

Answer 10

Corporate strategy is concerned with where the firm competes; business strategy with how it competes in particular markets

Question 11

Public statements by companies and their executives about their strategy:

Answer 11

Need to be combined with more objective data relating to companies’ actions and decisions.

Question 12

The two questions of “where” and “how” to compete relate to:

Answer 12

The distinction between corporate and business strategy a firm’s values and culture

Question 13

The challenge of “competing with dual strategies” refers to:

Answer 13

Simultaneously positi0ning for today while preparing for the future

Question 14

The relationship between intended strategy and emergent strategy is best described as:

Answer 14

A process in which intended strategy is adapted as it is implemented

Question 15

The main value of analytical approaches to strategy formulation is:

Answer 15

Providing a framework for understanding the issues relating to strategic decisions buildin

Question 16

The extent to which an organization’s strategy is determined by decentralized emergence rather than by centralized design depends mainly upon:

Answer 16

How turbulent and unpredictable is the external environment of the organization