FAU MAN4720 quiz 1

Question 1

Strategic objectives

	A.	relate to strengthening a company's overall market standing with customers, and competitive vitality.
	B.	are generally less important than financial objectives.
	C.	are more essential in achieving a company's strategic vision than are financial objectives.
	D.	are more difficult to achieve and harder to measure than financial objectives.

Question 2

The most important aspect of a company’s business strategy

	A.	deals with how management plans to maximize profits while, at the same time, operating in a socially responsible manner.
	B.	is figuring out how to become the industry’s low-cost provider.
	C.	concerns how to improve the efficiency of its business model.
	D.	is its approach to competing in the marketplace.

Question 3

When a company is confronted with significant industry change that mandates radical revision of its strategic course, the company is said to have encountered

	A.	a learning and growth perspective
	B.	a strategic roadblock
	C.	a strategic inflection point.
	D.	a new strategic opportunity

Question 4

Put these in the right order from first to last

	A.	Implementation and Execution Crafting a Strategy Setting Goals and Objectives
	B.	Crafting a Strategy Setting Goals and Objectives Implementation and Execution
	C.	Setting Goals and Objectives Crafting a Strategy Implementation and Execution
	D.	Crafting a Strategy Implementation and Execution Setting Goals and Objectives

Question 5

A Balanced Scorecard for measuring company performance

	A.	balances the drive for profits with social responsibility obligations.
	B.	entails balancing long term and short term objectives.
	C.	entails creating a set of financial balances among profitability measures and liquidity measures.
	D.	entails striking a balance between financial objectives and strategic objectives.

Question 6

A company’s strategy is a “work in progress” and evolves over time because of

	A.	the ongoing need of company managers to react and respond to changing industry and competitive conditions.
	B.	the importance of developing a fresh strategic plan every year.
	C.	the ongoing need to imitate the new strategic moves of the industry leaders.
	D.	the need to make regular adjustments in the company’s strategic vision.

Question 7

While there are many routes to competitive advantage, they all involve

	A.	delivering superior value to buyers in ways rivals cannot readily match.
	B.	achieving lower costs than rivals and becoming the industry’s sales and market share leader.
	C.	building a brand name image that buyers trust.
	D.	finding effective and efficient ways to strengthen the company’s competitive assets and to reduce its competitive liabilities. Question 8 Theessense of a good strategy is about having the highest quality products and services mimicking the strategies of successful industry rivals delivering value to buyers that proves superior to what is offered by rivals delivering the lowest cost products to the marketplace crafting a unique approach in the market

Question 9

A strategy that delivers a sustainable competitive advantage is important because

A.

without a proven strategy a company is likely to fall into bankruptcy.

B.

Strategies that are not creative will fail.

C.

how a company goes about trying to please customers and outcompete rivals is what enables senior managers choose an appropriate strategic vision for the company.

D.

a strategy that yields a competitive advantage over rivals is a company’s most reliable means of achieving above-average profitability and financial performance.

Question 10

The objectives that are leading indicators of future performance are

strategic objectives

financial objectives

company objectives

business-level objectives

Question 11

The most important payoffs of doing a thorough SWOT analysis is

A.

Giving an overview of the company’s situation and crafting a strategy that is well-matched to the company's resources and capabilities, its market opportunities, and the external threats

B.

helping strategy-makers benchmark the company's resource strengths against industry key success factors.

C.

enabling a company to assess its leverage in negotiations with buyers

D.

revealing whether a company’s market share, measures of profitability, and sales compare favorably or unfavorably vis-à-vis key competitors.

5.2 points

Question 12

What are usually lagging indicators that reflect past decisions and activities of a company?

mission statements

company strategies

financial objectives

strategic objectives

company objectives

Question 13

Who decides whether your attempted competitive advantage actually gives you an advantage in the market where you are trying to sell your products?

the government

your buyers

your suppliers

your competition

Question 14

A company’s strategy is most accurately defined as

A.

management's game plan for growing the business, attracting and pleasing customers, conducting operations, and achieving financial and market performance objectives.

B.

The different tactics management uses to execute plans

C.

the business model that a company’s board of directors has approved for outcompeting rivals and making the company profitable

D.

management's concept of "where we are headed.

Question 15

Company objectives

A.

should be set in a manner that does not relate to the performance targets of lower-level organizational units.

B.

need to be broken down into performance targets for each of its separate businesses, product lines, functional departments, and individual work units

C.

are needed only in those areas directly related to a company's short-term and long-term profitability.

D.

are important because they help guide managers in deciding what the company’s Strategy Map should look like

Question 16

What are the most telling signs of good management?

good strategy, good goal setting

good strategy, good business plan

good strategy, good objectives

good strategy, good execution

Question 17

SWOT analysis

is a tool for measuring whether a firm’s strategy is closely matched to industry key success factors.

reveals whether a company is competitively stronger than its closest rivals.

provides a good overview of a company’s overall situation.

identifies the reasons why a company’s strategy is or is not working very well.

Question 18

Which is not one of the three tests of a winning strategy mentioned in the text?

How well does the strategy fit the company's situation?

Does the chosen strategy match up with the implementation steps put in motion?

Is the strategy helping the company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage?

Is the strategy producing good company performance?

Question 19

A company achieves sustainable competitive advantage when

A.

it has a profitable business model.

B.

buyers have a lasting preference for its products or services as compared to the offerings of competitors.

C.

its strategy and its business model are well-matched and in sync.

D.

it is able to maximize shareholder wealth.

Question 20

Well stated objectives must include all of the following EXCEPT

be quantifiable

be strategic

be measureable

have a deadline for achievement

Question 21

A company needs financial objectives

A.

to translate the company’s business model into finance.

B.

because without adequate profitability and financial strength, the company’s ultimate survival is jeopardized.

C.

to indicate to employees that financial objectives always take precedence over strategic objectives.

D.

to overtake key competitors on such important measures as net profit margins and return on investment.

Question 22

A SWOT analysis can best be thought of as:

a system

a test

a tool

a strategy

Question 23

What are the most reliable predictors of a company's success in the marketplace and future financial performance?

strategic objectives

superior strategy execution

it's business model

a good strategy

financial objectives

Question 24

Strategy can be though of as

A.

The action steps to achieve our goals and objectives?

B.

The tactics we use to execute our plan

C.

What is the plan - How are we going to achieve our goals and objectives?

D.

What are our goals and objectives?

Question 25

Objectives that will stretch an organization to its full potential should be

easy to acheive

beyond what is actually acheivable

unreasonable, but not impossible

challenging, but acheivable