Business Strategies
1. Which of the following should company managers consider when choosing to pursue one strategic course or directional path over another?

A. Are the company’s customers likely to stay loyal to its brand?

B. Are changing market and competitive conditions acting to enhance or weaken the company’s business outlook?

C. Could the company benefit from a strategic overhaul of its technological systems?

D. Does the company have a better business model than those of key rivals?

2. Which of the following is a primary focus of a company’s strategy?

A. How to determine the company’s overall offering to employees

B. How to attract and please customers

C. How to increase the company’s stock price to benefit shareholders

D. How to leverage past successes to achieve profitability

3. Which of the following is the purpose of a company’s business model?

A. It’s management’s storyline for how the strategy will result in achieving the targeted strategic objectives.

B. It describes how the business will generate revenues sufficient to cover costs and produce attractive profits and return on investment.

C. It sets forth the actions and approaches that the company will employ to achieve market leadership.

D. It details the ethical and socially responsible nature of the company’s strategy.

4. Strategy, at its essence is about

A. Developing lasting success than can support growth and secure the company’s future over the long term.

B. Realigning the market to provoke change in rival companies.

C. Matching rival businesses products and quality dimensions in the marketplace.

D. Building profits for short-term success.

5. A set of “stretch” financial and strategic objectives

A. Pushes the company closer to true profit maximization.

B. Challenges company personnel to execute the strategy with greater proficiency.

C. Is an effective tool for avoiding ho-hum results

D. Helps convert the mission statement into meaningful company value.

6. Which of the following are integral parts of the managerial process of crafting and executing strategy?

A. Strategic Management, crafting a strategy, implementing and executing the chosen strategy, and deciding how much of the company’s resource to employ in the pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage.

B. Developing a proven business model, deciding on the company’s strategic intent, and crafting a strategy.

C. Coming up with a statement of the company’s mission and purpose, Strategic Management, choosing what business approaches to employ, selecting a business model, and monitoring developments.

D. Developing a strategic vision, Strategic Management, and crafting a strategy

7. A company’s strategic vision is concerned with which of the following items?

A. Why the company does certain things in trying to please its customers

B. What future actions the enterprise will likely undertake to outmaneuver rivals and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage

C. The company’s directional path and future product-market-customer-technology focus.

D. Management’s storyline of how it intends to make a profit with the chosen strategy.

8. Good strategy and good strategy execution together provide

A. The two best signs that a company is a true industry leader

B. The most trustworthy signs of good management

C. A surefire guarantee for avoiding periods of weak financial performance.

D. Signs of a company having superior business model.

9. Which of the following is one of the basic reasons that a company’s strategy evolves over time?

A. The need to adjust the business model to avoid inflation

B. The need to stay committed to strategy features that may no longer function optimally

C. The need to make regular adjustments in the company’s strategic vision so employees don’t become bored executing the same strategy month after month.

D. The need to keep strategy in step with changing market conditions and changing customer needs and expectations

10. A creative, distinctive strategy that sets a company apart from rivals and gives it a sustainable competitive advantage

A. Is the best indicator that the company’s strategy and business model are well-matched and properly synchronized.

B. Signals that the company places the achievement of strategic objectives ahead of the achievement of financial objectives

C. Is a reliable indicator that the company has a profitable business model

D. Is a company’s most reliable ticket to above-average profitability

11. Which of the following is one of the five basic stages of the strategy-making, strategy-executing process?

A. Developing a profitable business model

B. Launching new products or services every year to remain viable

C. Setting objectives to convert the Strategic vision into specific strategic and financial performance outcomes

D. Conducting external perception surveys to measure company success.

12. In crafting a company’s strategy, managers

A. Face the biggest challenge of how closely to replicate strategies of successful companies in the industry.

B. Have comparatively little freedom in choosing the “hows” of strategy.

C. Need to come up with a sustainable competitive advantage that draws in customers and produces a competitive edge over rivals

D. Are wise not to decide on concrete course of action in order to preserve maximum strategic flexibility.

13. A strategic vision constitutes management’s view and conclusion about the company’s

A. Past and present scope of work

B. Justification of why the business will be a moneymaker

C. Business model and the kind of value that is trying to deliver to customers

D. Long-term direction and what product-market-customer mix seems optimal

14. One of the most frequently used and dependable strategic approaches to competitive differentiation for a company is

A. A best-cost provider strategy

B. Monitoring profits and losses on a regular basis as part of the strategic plan

C. Fostering executive involvement and buy-in at all levels of strategic planning

D. A high-quality, high-priced product or service that’s distinct from competitor’s products or services.

15. What a company’s top executives say about where the company is headed and what the company’s future product-market-customer business mix will be

A. Indicates what kind of business model the company is going to have in the future

B. Constitutes its strategic vision for the company

C. Serves to define the company’s mission

D. Signals what will be the firm’s strategy

16. A multinational pharmaceutical company enters a new geographical location, considered an emerging market, with its established product line: generic antibiotics. Which of the following would not serve as a good strategic move to enhance profits.

A. Implementing a diversification plan that aims at adding non-generic prescription medications to the existing line of products

B. Creating a sales plan that aims to enhance initial sales and market penetration with low prices based on high operational costs

C. Charting an acquisition plan that aims at acquiring local smaller-scale pharmaceutical manufacturer’s that seek funding and offer a complementary product lineup

D. Devising a marketing plan that aims at mass customer segments with attractive advertisements and offers on products

17. The payoffs of a clear vision statement include

A. A strengthened mission to ensure day-to day-quality in the marketplace.

B. Crystallizing employee views about the company’s current performance

C. Helping the organization prepare for the future.

D. Greater ability to avoid strategic inflection points.

18. Which of the following processes is an integral part of crafting and executing operating strategies?

A. Deciding on the company’s strategic intent

B. Setting objectives and using them as yardsticks for measuring the company’s overall performance and progress

C. Developing a proven business model

D. Developing objectives for brand management, production volume, or quality targets for the production unit or key operating unit.

19. The two elements of a company’s business model are its

A. Liquid and physical assets

B. Customer value proposition and its profit formula

C. Strategic plan and strategic vision

D. Personnel and resources

20. Which of the following statements is true of company objectives?

A. They need to be broken down into performance targets for each separate business, product line, functional department, and individual work unit.

B. They’re important because they help guide managers in deciding what the company’s strategic intent should be.

C. They should be set in a manner that doesn’t conflict with the performance targets of lower-level organizational units

D. They’re needed only in those areas directly related to a company’s short-term and long-term profitability.