MCQ Flashcards
- The term ’corporate strategy’ concerns strategy and strategic decisions:
A. At all levels in an organisation.
B. In certain types of organisations.
C. Developed by the senior management in an organisation.
D In the private sector only.
A. At all levels in an organisation.
- A key characteristic of strategic decisions is that:
A. they are likely to be concerned with, or affect, the long-term direction of an
organisation.
B. they identify specific areas of strategic interest for the management of an
organisation.
C. they result in better organisational performance.
D. they are normally definite decisions about the future of the organisation.
A. they are likely to be concerned with, or affect, the long-term direction of an
organisation.
- Identification of what ‘helps managers to focus on the environmental factors
that are most important and which must be addressed most urgently’?
A. PESTEL
B. Key drivers for change
C. Scenarios
D. Five Forces
B. Key drivers for change
4. What is meant by the term 'SBU'? A. Strategic board undertaking B. Single business unit C. Strategic business unit D. Service bureau unit
C. Strategic business unit
5. Which type of lens encourages a detached approach to planning and analysis, valuing hard facts and objectivity? A. Variety B. Design C. Experience D. Discourse
B. Design
6. Which of the following is NOT a way of overcoming bases of competitive advantage? A. Increasing selling power B. Imitation C. Blocking first-mover advantage D. Overcoming barriers to entry E. Strategic repositioning
A. Increasing selling power
- Which of the following is not one of the alternative directions shown on the
Ansoff product/market growth matrix?
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A. Diversification
B. Developing new products
C. Corporate parenting
D. Bringing existing products into new markets
C. Corporate parenting
- It is possible to identify different levels of strategy in an organisation; these
are:
A. Corporate and business unit.
B. Corporate; strategic business unit; and operational.
C. Strategic and tactical.
D. Corporate and functional
B. Corporate; strategic business unit; and operational.
9. What term is used for the 'long-term direction of an organisation'? A. Strategy B.Goals C.Vision D. Mission
A. Strategy
- Which of the following statements accurately relates to the stakeholder
model of governance?
A. Firms generally have a single-tier structure.
B. Shareholders have a legitimate primacy in relation to the wealth generated by
organisations.
C. All board members are insiders (typically managers of the company).
D. Boards attempt to consider the wishes of all stakeholders.
D. Boards attempt to consider the wishes of all stakeholders.
- What term is used for a situation where early events and decisions establish
policy paths that have lasting effects on subsequent events and decisions?
A. Strategic drift
B. Path dependency
C. Cyclical strategy
D. Historicisation
B. Path dependency
- What term is used for M&A integration in which it is implied that both the
acquired firm and the acquiring firm learn the best qualities from the other?
A. Absorption
B. Holding
C. Symbiosis
D. Preservation
C. Symbiosis
- In the context of strategic alliances, what is meant by the term ‘collaborative
advantage’?
A. The benefit of creating a new entity that is owned separately by the partners
involved
B. The result of managing alliances better than competitors
C. The benefits of being part of a network of alliances of which an organisation is
a member
D. The aim of two or more organisations in sharing resources and activities to
pursue a strategy
B. The result of managing alliances better than competitors
- When using PESTEL it is easy to get overwhelmed by a multitude of details.
Instead, it is important to step back and identify the:
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A. relevant Five Forces that exist
B. market segments
C. complex links between each of the factors
D. key drivers for change
D. key drivers for change
15. Which of the following is likely to be a cost of corporate parenting? A. Coaching and facilitating B. Envisioning C. Intervening D. Adding management costs
D. Adding management costs
- Strategic choices require an understanding of:
A. The organisational strengths and weaknesses.
B. The underlying bases for future strategy at business-unit and corporate
levels; and the options for developing strategy in terms of directions and
methods of development.
C. The business environment, the competition and the strategic capability of the
organisation.
D. The key drivers of change
B. The underlying bases for future strategy at business-unit and corporate
levels; and the options for developing strategy in terms of directions and
methods of development.
- A film company and a music recording company may choose to combine,
believing that the result will be more effective than the sum of the two
component parts. What term is used for the benefits?
A. Consolidation
B. Synergy
C. Integeration
D. Diversification
B. Synergy
- Best-in-class benchmarking seeks to assess organisational performance
against:
A. The nearest geographical competitor.
B. the competitor who is ’best inclass’ wherever that may be.
C. The nearest principal competitor.
D. The competitor who is the best in the industry
B. the competitor who is ’best inclass’ wherever that may be.
- Which of the following definitions explains what is meant by the corporate
parent?
A. The founder of the business
B. The levels of management above that of business units
C. The central head office of the organisation
D. The owner or major shareholder of the corporation
B. The levels of management above that of business units
- Core competences are the skills and abilities by which resources are
deployed through anorganisation’s activities and processes such as to:
A. Survive using approaches and techniques that others cannot imitate or
obtain.
B. Achieve competitive advantage in ways that others cannot imitate or obtain.
C. Survive.
D. Achieve competitive advantage.
B. Achieve competitive advantage in ways that others cannot imitate or obtain.
- Which of the following terms is used for’an organisation that is loosely
coordinatedinternationally, but involves dispersion overseas of variousactivities,
with goods and services produced locally in each national market’?
A. Multidomestic
B. Global
C. Exporter
D. Transnational
A. Multidomestic
- Who shapes and communicates strategy?
A. Senior managers
B. Managers at all levels and specialist strategists
C. Specialist strategists
D. Middle and senior managers
B. Managers at all levels and specialist strategists
- What is defined as ‘a group of customers who have similar needs that are
different from customer needs in other parts of the market’?
A. Strategic group
B. Customer grouping
C. Market segment
D. Marketisation
C. Market segment
24. Which of the following are the correct axes for stakeholder mapping? A. Control/interest B. Influence/interest C. Power/interest D. Process/interest
C. Power/interest
25. Which of the following is not a method of strategy development? A. Foreign direct investment B. Strategic alliances C. Mergers and acquisitions D. Organic development
A. Foreign direct investment
26. What term is used for two or more organisations sharing resources and activities to pursue a strategy? A. Acquisition B. Alliance C. Merger D. Organizational get-together
B. Alliance
- What term is used for something that ‘creates substantial growth by offering
a new performance trajectory that, even if initially inferior to the performance of
existing technologies, has the potential to become markedly superior’?
A. Sustaining innovation
B. Disruptive innovation
C. Platform launch
D. Positioning option
B. Disruptive innovation
- Which of the following is least likely to be a contextual factor that might
swing the balance between moving first to moving second?
A. Buyer switching costs
B. Capacity for profit capture
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C. Fast-moving arenas
D. Complementary assets
A. Buyer switching costs
- The four major players in a particular industry have all recently spent large
sums reducing the environmental impact of their factories. What is the probable
result of this on the competitive attractiveness of the industry for the players
within it?
A. The industry would be less attractive because costs of entry have increased.
B. The industry would be more attractive because the bargaining power of
suppliers has been reduced.
C. The industry would be more attractive because costs of entry have increased.
D. The industry would be less attractive because the threat of substitutes will
have increased.
C. The industry would be more attractive because costs of entry have increased.
- The primary aim of Porter’s Five Forces framework is to answer which of the
following questions?
A. What do we know about the various forces?
B. What influence can be exerted?
C. Is the industry a good one to compete in or not?
D. How are competitors differently affected?
C. Is the industry a good one to compete in or not?
- In recent decades, technologies in the aerospace industry have become
more difficult to master and the products have become more complex. Which of
the following best describes how a competitive force has changed as a result in
this industry?
A. Supplier power has decreased.
B. The threat of entry has reduced.
C. Buyer power has increased.
D. The threat of substitutes has increased
C. Tangible, intellectual capital
D. Intangible, financial resources
B. The threat of entry has reduced.
- What term is used for an organisation’s abilities to renew and recreate its
strategic capabilities to meet the needs of a changing environment?
A. Core competence
B. Competent substitution
C. Renewability
D. Dynamic capabilities
D. Dynamic capabilities
- What name is given to the purchase of components and services from the
most appropriate suppliers around the world regardless of location?
A. Multidomestic marketing
B. International compartmentalisation
C. The global–local dilemma
D. Global sourcing
D. Global sourcing
- A competitor finds it difficult to identify the basis for an organisation’s
competitive advantage. What term is used for this situation?
A. Causal ambiguity
B. Causal dependency
C. Interdependent causality
D. Ambiguous intercausality
A. Causal ambiguity
- The Royal Bank of Scotland’s consortium competed with Barclays Bank to
acquire the Dutch bank ABN AMRO: the Royal Bank of Scotland won, but the
excessive price of ‘70bn (~$98bn) soon drove the victor into financial collapse
and government ownership. What term is used for this situation?
A. Winner’s curse
B. Excessibility
C. Hubris
D. Acquisition
A. Winner’s curse
- Which of the following best describes a ‘deliberate’ strategy?
A. A strategic direction that emerges from a stream of decisions
B. A strategy that is the product of competitive pressure
C. An expression of desired strategic direction, intentionally formulated or
planned by managers
D. An expression of desired strategic direction deliberately formulated or
planned by managers that is realised in the fullness of time
C. An expression of desired strategic direction, intentionally formulated or
planned by managers
37. Which of the following is not a category in the BCG matrix? A. Star B. Cash cow C. Question mark D. Ballast E. Dog
D. Ballast
38. The QWERTY typewriter layout is an example of which of the following? A. Recency bias B. Transformational change C. Path dependency D. Strategic drift
C. Path dependency