Day 1 Porter what is strategy pg 75-end

Question 1

New strategic positions often arise due to what? who can exploit them more readily? why?

Answer 1

industry changes new entrants they don’t have a history tying them down

Question 2

do threats to strategy come from the inside or the outside

Answer 2

both

Question 3

What are 2 approaches to help a company reconnect with strategy?

Answer 3

1. find their core of uniqueness and remove things that are not unique to rediscover the underlying strategic positioning and refocus on the unique core and realign the company’s activities with it. This entails letting customers and product varieties at the edges to fade away or be sold 2. look at the company’s history …what was the vision at the beginning, what were the products and customers that made the company. see if the original strategy is still valid. can the positioning be implemented in a modern way.

Question 4

what is the result of attempting to compete in several ways at once?

Answer 4

confusion and undermining organiational motivation and focus. you can have more revenue but less profit

Question 5

Deepening a position involves what 3 things?

Answer 5

1. making the company’s activities more distinctive 2. strengthening fit 3. communicating strategy better to those customers who should value it

Question 6

expanding domestically/globally is likely to leverage and reinforce a company’s unique postion and identity

Answer 6

globally

Question 7

What is the core of general management? What 3 activities is involved in this?

Answer 7

strategy. 1. defining and communicating the companys unique position 2. making trade offs 3. forging fit among activities

Question 8

By confusing operational effectiveness and strategy, managers have started thinkinga bout competition in a way that is driving many industries towards what?

Answer 8

competitive convergence

Question 9

what are 3 threats to strategy that come from inside the company?

Answer 9

1. misguided view of competition 2. organizational failures 3. desire to grow

Question 10

TF The strategic agenda doesn’t demand discipline and continuity

Answer 10

F

Question 11

what is the biggest threat to strategy that comes from inside the company?

Answer 11

the desire to grow

Question 12

commonly threats to strategy are seen to come from outside the company. what are some examples of this?

Answer 12

changes in technology the behavior of competitiors

Question 13

why do managers have the impression that they do not have to make trade-offs in order to compete, that a well run company should be able to beat its ineffective rivals on all dimensions simultaneously?

Answer 13

because they have been taught that by popular management thinkers. in turn when many companys operate far from the productivity frontier, trade-off appear unnecessary giving them a false sense that they are never necessary.

Question 14

why do managers chase every new technology for its own sake?

Answer 14

because they have been taught to think in terms of revolution

Question 15

why do so many managers not understand the need to have a strategy?

Answer 15

they have been taught that operational effectiveness is the goal and are caught up in the race to achieve it. Operational effectiveness is concrete and actionable and managers have been under pressure to deliver tangible, measurable performance improvements

Question 16

the challenge of developing or reestablishing a clear strategy is what kind of challenge? What does is depend on?

Answer 16

organizational leadership

Question 17

are threats to strategy more likely to come from the inside or the outside?

Answer 17

inside

Question 18

the strategic agenda is the right place for what? (3)

Answer 18

1. defining a unique position 2. making clear trade offs 3. tightening fit

Question 19

compromises and inconsistencies in the pursuit of growth will erode what?

Answer 19

the competitive advantage a company had with its original varieties or target customers.

Question 20

what is example of something that reinforces the best practice mentality which is detrimental to strategy?

Answer 20

business publications and consultants flood the market with info on what other companies are doing

Question 21

what is the best way to contain the risks to strategy when a company seeks growth through broadening within their industry?

Answer 21

create stand alone units each with its own brand name and tailored activities

Question 22

why do companies imitate one another without knowing if it’s the best decision in a herd type behavior?

Answer 22

they assume rivals know something they do not

Question 23

what do most companies ow their initial success to?

Answer 23

a unique strategic position with clear tradeoffs and activities that are aligned with that position.

Question 24

A company can often grow faster and far more profitably by doing what as opposed to what in regards to deepening a postion?

Answer 24

better penetrating needs and varieties where it is distinctive reather than competing in higher growth arenas where it lacks uniqueness

Question 25

the operational agenda involves continual improvements where?

Answer 25

everywhere that doesn’t involve trade offs

Question 26

developing a strategy in a newly emerging industry or in an business undergoing revolutionary technological changes is difficult because there is a high degree of uncertainty about what 3 things?

Answer 26

1. the needs of customers 2. the products and services that will prove to be the most desired 3. the best configuration of activities and technologies to deliver the products and services

Question 27

how does the organizational reality of trade-offs work against strategy?

Answer 27

managers are afraid of making tradeoffs because they don’t want to risk being blamed for a bad choice so they might prefer to make no choice instead

Question 28

why does globalization often allow growth that is consistent with strategy?

Answer 28

it opens up larger markets for a focused strategy

Question 29

T/F Strategy renders choices about what not to do as important as choices about what to do

Answer 29

T

Question 30

managers increase the likelihood of hyper competition how?

Answer 30

by imitating everything about their competitiors

Question 31

a common phenomenon is an established company achieving mediocre returns and lacking a clear strategy. what are ways an existing company loses its clear competitive position? (3)

Answer 31

1. incremental additions of product varieties 2. incremental efforts to serve new customer groups 3. emulation of rivals activities

Question 32

ln many companies, leadership has degenerated into what 2 things?

Answer 32

1. orchestrating operational improvements 2. making deals

Question 33

A company may have to change its strategy if there are major what?

Answer 33

structural changes in its industry

Question 34

what is a way you could do an extension of the strategy that leverages the existing activity system in order to grow in an effective way?

Answer 34

offer features or services that rivals would find impossible or costly to match on a stand alone basis

Question 35

what is often the end result of rivals continuing to match each other over a long period?

Answer 35

they cycle is broken by a merger or downsizing to the original positioning

Question 36

what is a question managers should be asking themselves in order to figure out how to grow effectively?

Answer 36

which activities, features, or forms of competition are feasible or less costly to the company because of complementary activities that their company performs

Question 37

what is an example of something that homogenizes competition and leads to company’s avoiding or bluring strategic choices?

Answer 37

conventional wisdom within an industry is often strong so everyone follows it

Question 38

What is one of the most important functions of an explicit, communicated strategy?

Answer 38

to guide employees in making choices that arise because of trade-offs in their individual activities and in day to day decisions

Question 39

what is the basic approach to growth that preserves and reinforces strategy?

Answer 39

concentrate on deepening a strategic position rather than broadening and compromising it

Question 40

what are 3 organizational realities that work against strategy?

Answer 40

1. tradeoffs are frightening so they may choose to make no decision instead of getting in trouble for a bad one 2. companies imitate each other assuming rivals know something they dont 3. newly empowered employees , directed to seek improvement, lack vision of the whole and the perspective to recognize tradeoffs

Question 41

the operational agenda is the proper place for what ? (3)

Answer 41

1. constant change 2. flexibility 3. relentless efforts to acheive best practice