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Q:
A firm's concern for employees in a mission statement addresses the question, "Is the firm responsive to social, community, and environmental concerns?"
Q:
Environmental advocacy groups now have ________ Americans as members.
A) approximately 100,000
B) just under a million
C) close to 5 million
D) over 20 million
E) almost a billion
Q:
What is a central strategy-implementation technique that allows an organization to examine the expected results of various actions and approaches?
A) EPS/EBIT
B) Financial budgeting
C) TOWS analysis
D) Projected financial statement analysis
E) External analysis
Q:
Which stage of the strategy-formulation framework contains the Internal-Factor Evaluation Matrix?
A) Input stage
B) Analysis stage
C) Matching stage
D) Decision stage
E) Output stage
Q:
The three all-encompassing internal resource categories used in the Resource-Based View are physical resources, human resources, and
A) financial resources.
B) shareholder resources.
C) organizational resources.
D) non-renewable resources.
E) technological resources.
Q:
A firm's philosophy in a mission statement addresses the question, "What is the firm's distinctive competence?"
Q:
In an effort to manage ecological challenges, many companies are
A) moving environmental affairs from the staff side of the organization to the line side.
B) moving environmental affairs from the line side of the organization to the staff side.
C) making the chief operating officer report directly to the corporate environmental group.
D) omitting an environmental representative from their board of directors.
E) purging environmental values from their mission statements.
Q:
Projected financial analysis is an important strategy-implementation technique because
A) it is an exact measurement of financial costs in the future.
B) it is an exact measurement of future company profits.
C) it allows an organization to examine the expected results of various actions and approaches.
D) insurance needs can be computed.
E) none of the above
Q:
Which stage of the strategy-formulation framework includes an Internal-Factor Evaluation Matrix and a Competitive Profile Matrix?
A) Input
B) Matching
C) Decision
D) Penetration
E) Research
Q:
________ exemplifies the complexity of relationships among the functional areas of business.
A) Government auditing
B) External auditing
C) Financial ratio analysis
D) Environmental scanning
E) Distribution strategy
Q:
The utility statement, "Do not offer me attractive looks; offer me clothes," is relevant in developing a mission statement.
Q:
Special natural environment issues include all of the following EXCEPT
A) ozone depletion
B) destruction of animal habitats
C) pollution control
D) spreading computer viruses
E) developing biodegradable products and packages
Q:
A benefit of using projected balance sheets and income statements is that
A) an organization can compute projected financial ratios under various scenarios.
B) money can be put aside to pay future income taxes.
C) insurance needs can be computed.
D) it is useful in analyzing past performance.
E) all of the above
Q:
Each of the nine techniques included in the strategy formulation framework rely on the use of
A) strictly factual data.
B) luck.
C) financial formulas and statistics.
D) intuition and analysis.
E) synergy.
Q:
Who should perform an internal audit?
A) A private auditing firm
B) The organization's accounting department
C) Representative managers and employees from throughout the firm
D) A small team of top-level managers
E) The chief executive officer
Q:
Union Pacific's mission statement focuses on transportation rather than on railroads because good mission statements identify the utility of a firm's products to its customers.
Q:
What challenge facing all organizations requires managers to formulate strategies that preserve and conserve natural resources and control pollution?
A) Economic
B) Ecological
C) Compensational
D) Benchmarking
E) Sociological
Q:
What is a drawback of using only equity to raise capital?
A) The cost
B) Fluctuations in the stock market
C) Dilution of the control of the company
D) That it will cause EPS to roller coaster
E) That it doesn't raise as much capital as debt financing
Q:
Which strategy-formulation technique reveals the relative attractiveness of alternative strategies and thus provides an objective basis for selecting specific strategies?
A) SWOT
B) SPACE
C) QSPM
D) IFE
E) CPM
Q:
A firm's strengths that cannot be easily matched or imitated by competitors are called
A) internal audits.
B) distinctive competencies.
C) external audits.
D) interrelated properties.
E) internal properties.
Q:
A mission statement should be broad in scope, since concrete specification could be the base for rallying opposition.
Q:
General Electric achieved $20 billion in sales in 2011 in eco-friendly technologies including all of the following EXCEPT
A) agricultural silicon that cuts the amount of water used in spraying fields.
B) software that provides centralized control over power consumption.
C) cleaner coal-fired power plants.
D) a diesel-and-electric hybrid locomotive.
E) agricultural silicon that cuts the amount of pesticide used in spraying fields.
Q:
What becomes a more attractive financing technique when cost of capital is high?
A) Stock issuance
B) Debt
C) Cost cutting
D) Borrowing
E) Staying privately owned
Q:
Which stage of the strategy-formulation framework involves the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix?
A) Stage 1
B) Stage 2
C) Stage 3
D) Stage 4
E) Stage 5
Q:
The Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix should include from 10 to 20 internal factors.
Q:
According to George Steiner, vagueness has no place in a good mission statement.
Q:
Venture capital investments in clean technology companies are ________.
A) increasingly rare
B) down slightly
C) increasing dramatically
D) stable
E) a conflict of interest
Q:
After completing an EPS/EBIT analysis, what conclusions would you make if the debt line is above the stock line throughout the range of EBIT on the graph?
A) Debt appears to be the best financing alternative.
B) Stock would be the best financing alternative.
C) A combination of debt and stock is probably the best financial alternative.
D) Dividends must be considered before conclusions can be made.
E) The company should be privately owned.
Q:
Which stage in the strategy-formulation framework focuses on generating feasible alternative strategies?
A) Input
B) Output
C) Decision
D) Throughput
E) Matching
Q:
Constructing an Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix is a summary step when conducting an internal strategic-management audit.
Q:
One of the benefits of having a clear mission and vision is promoting a sense of shared expectations among all managers and employees.
Q:
It has become ________, since uniform standards defining environmentally responsible company actions are rapidly being incorporated into our legal landscape.
A) more and more difficult for firms to make "green" claims when their actions are not substantive or even true
B) increasingly easy for firms to get away with placing "green" terminology on their products without any oversight
C) customary for firms to use terms like "organic," "green," or "earth-friendly" when their products don't warrant it
D) more common for consumers to be cynical about corporate environmental claims
E) impossible for firms to omit "green" terminology from their labels
Q:
What is the most widely used technique for determining the best combination of debt and stock?
A) Debt-to-stock ratio
B) Earnings per share/earnings before interest and tax analysis
C) Gross profit analysis
D) Capital asset pricing model
E) Present value analysis
Q:
Strategy analysis and choice largely involves making ________ decisions based on ________ information.
A) long-term; short-term
B) subjective; objective
C) short-term; long-term
D) subjective; short-term
E) objective; subjective
Q:
Benchmarking is an analytical tool used to determine whether a firm's value chain activities are competitive compared to rivals.
Q:
The operating philosophy of organizations should be to develop a product and then try to find a market for it.
Q:
Managers and employees today must be careful not to ignore, conceal, or disregard a pollution problem or they could
A) be fired.
B) be demoted.
C) be held indirectly responsible for their firm's pollution.
D) have their firm turn on them in a quest for leniency.
E) All of the above
Q:
Which of the following is NOT true regarding stock issuances?
A) They are always better than debt for raising capital.
B) Their effect on stock price is a concern.
C) They can require a company to share future earnings with all new shareholders.
D) Dilution of ownership is a special concern.
E) All of the above statements are true.
Q:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act put an end to the "country-club" atmosphere of most boards and has shifted power from CEOs to directors.
Q:
Although a useful step in the strategic management process, value chain analysis does little to help a firm monitor whether its prices and costs are competitive.
Q:
A good mission statement serves as a framework for evaluating both current and prospective activities.
Q:
________ has 18 buildings in California alone powered only by solar energy.
A) Wal-Mart
B) Home Depot
C) Starbucks
D) Target
E) Family Dollar Stores
Q:
In the low earnings period, too much ________ in the capital structure of an organization can endanger stockholders' return and jeopardize company survival.
A) debt
B) liquidity
C) equity
D) cash
E) tax liability
Q:
Today boards of directors are composed mostly of outsiders who are becoming more involved in an organization's strategic management.
Q:
Value chain analysis can enable a firm to better identify its own strengths and weaknesses especially as compared to competitors' value chain analyses.
Q:
A mission statement that is limited enough to exclude some ventures is a poor mission statement.
Q:
Wal-Mart encourages its employees to adopt "Personal Sustainability Projects" like weight-loss or smoking-cessation support groups, illustrating that
A) employee wellness can be a part of sustainability.
B) employee health issues have no business in the workplace.
C) firms should crack down on employees' personal interests infringing upon business hours.
D) the Global Reporting Initiative requires this of all U.S. companies.
E) a company's interest in its employees should be restricted solely to their work duties.
Q:
Which of the following is NOT given as an example of a decision that may require finance/accounting policies?
A) To extend the time of accounts receivable
B) To establish a certain percentage discount on accounts within a specified period of time
C) To lease or buy fixed assets
D) To use LIFO, FIFO, or a market-value accounting approach
E) To determine the amount of product diversification
Q:
The trend in the U.S. is toward larger boards, with an average of 18 members being the norm.
Q:
The heart of an information system is a database containing the kinds of records and data important to managers.
Q:
AT&T's mission statement focuses on telephones rather than on communication.
Q:
It is ________ for a business to provide a sustainability report annually to the public.
A) good business
B) irresponsible
C) a decreasing trend
D) unethical
E) poor planning
Q:
Which of these is NOT a rule of thumb when using product positioning as a strategy-implementation tool?
A) "The best opportunity might be an unserved segment."
B) "Look for the hole or vacant niche."
C) "Try to serve more than one segment with the same strategy."
D) "Don't position yourself in the middle of the map."
E) All of these are valid rules of thumb.
Q:
Shifting focus from specific issues to more general ones may increase strategists' options for gaining organizational commitment.
Q:
Internal R&D and contract R&D are the two basic forms of R&D in organizations.
Q:
Attracting customers is a major reason for developing a mission statement.
Q:
A document that discloses to shareholders information about a firm's labor practices, product sourcing, energy efficiency, environmental impact, and business ethics practices is known as
A) a code of ethics.
B) a sustainability report.
C) an EMS.
D) ISO 14000.
E) green terminology.
Q:
Which of the following is true about two different market segments?
A) They can usually be served with the same marketing strategy.
B) They usually require different marketing strategies.
C) They are always in different geographic locations.
D) They are usually interchangeable.
E) All of the above
Q:
The tactic of focusing on higher-order issues involves recognizing that it is often possible to achieve similar results using different means or paths.
Q:
Four common approaches to determine R&D budget allocations are: 1) finance as many project proposals as possible; 2) use a percentage-of-sales method; 3) budget for R&D about what competitors spend; or 4) decide how many successful new products are needed and work backwards to estimate the required R&D investment.
Q:
Good mission statements identify the utility of a firm's products to its customers.
Q:
Which state generates the greatest number of megawatts of wind power?
A) Texas
B) Iowa
C) California
D) Minnesota
E) New Jersey
Q:
Multidimensional scaling is used to determine
A) the size of a new building.
B) the size of a new department.
C) the amount of high-tech equipment a firm needs.
D) product positioning.
E) market segmentation.
Q:
Successful strategists minimize their own political exposure on issues that are highly controversial and in circumstances where opposition from major power centers is likely.
Q:
Increased efficiency, quality, productivity, and job satisfaction can come from cross-training workers.
Q:
Having a clear mission and vision can provide a basis for a company's internal and external assessment.
Q:
If a firm has a bad sustainability record this will
A) help a firm in the market.
B) improve a firm's standing in the community.
C) cause investors to closely scrutinize the firm.
D) deflect the scrutiny of a firm by environmentalists.
E) release the firm from governmental reporting obligations.
Q:
Looking for a vacant niche helps a company determine
A) its advertising budget.
B) the size of the marketing department.
C) the best place to position a product.
D) the best place to locate a new facility.
E) its projected R&D expenditures.
Q:
Whenever two firms merge, it becomes especially important to evaluate and consider culture-strategies linkages.
Q:
Honda Motor, long considered the industry's fastest producer, fills a buyer's new car order in just 5 days.
Q:
According to Vern McGinnis, an effective mission statement should define what the organization is and what the organization aspires to be.
Q:
Japan is suffering from a decline in overall economical production
A) due to its growing population.
B) related to the declining age of its workforce.
C) because of a surge in the number of its taxpaying workers.
D) since worker productivity increases are not able to offset declines in number of workers.
E) because more and more women are working outside the home.
Q:
Which is NOT a required step in product positioning?
A) Select key criteria that effectively differentiate products or services in the industry.
B) Serve two segments with the same strategy.
C) Plot major competitors' products or services in the resultant matrix.
D) Identify areas in the positioning map where the company's products or services could be most competitive in the given target market.
E) Develop a marketing plan to position the company's products and services appropriately.
Q:
Strategy changes may be highly effective and productive if a supportive culture does not exist.
Q:
In most industries, only minor costs of producing a product or service are incurred within operations, so production/operations does not have great value as a competitive weapon in a company's overall strategy.
Q:
An effective mission statement generates the impression a firm is successful, has direction, and is worthy of time, support and investment.
Q:
Japan's prescription for dealing with problems associated with an aging society includes
A) relying on large-scale immigration.
B) providing incentives for its elderly to retire at ages 55 to 60.
C) reversing the old-fashioned trend of keeping women at home.
D) enacting laws against discrimination based on age.
E) phasing in a shift from age 60 to age 55 as the date when a person may begin receiving a pension.
Q:
What entails developing schematic representations that reflect how your products or services compare to competitors' on dimensions most important to success in the industry?
A) Positioning
B) Segmentation
C) Penetration
D) Diversification
E) Budgeting
Q:
Culture includes the set of shared values, beliefs, attitudes, customs, norms, personalities, heroes, and heroines that describe a firm.
Q:
Capacity decisions concern distances from raw materials to production sites to customers.