Question 1

Which of the following is not one of the five questions that comprise the task of evaluating a company's competitive strength and cost structure?

Accepted Answer

A)   What are the company's most profitable geographic market segments?
B)   How well is the company's strategy working?
C)   Is the company's cost structure and customer value proposition competitive?
D)   Is the company competitively stronger or weaker than key rivals?
E)   What strategic issues and problems merit front-burner management attention?F) A) and B)
G) B) and D)

Question 2

Which of the following is not an example of an external threat to a company's future profitability?

Accepted Answer

A)   The lack of a distinctive competence
B)   The potential of a hostile takeover
C)   Adverse changes in foreign exchange rates
D)   Unfavorable demographic shifts
E)   The introduction of restrictive trade policies in countries where the company does businessF) C) and D)
G) D) and E)

Question 3

SWOT analysis

Accepted Answer

A)   is a way to measure whether a company's value chain is longer or shorter than the chains of key rivals.
B)   is a tool for benchmarking whether a firm's strategy is closely matched to industry key success factors.
C)   reveals whether a company is competitively stronger than its closest rivals.
D)   provides a good overview of a company's overall situation.
E)   identifies the reasons a company's strategy is or is not working very well.F) A) and D)
G) A) and E)

Question 4

The difference between a distinctive competence and a core competence is that

Accepted Answer

A)   a distinctive competence refers to a company's best-executed functional strategy and a core competence refers to a company's best-executed business strategy.
B)   a distinctive competence refers to a company's most strategically important resource whereas a core competence refers to the basis of a company's competitive advantage over rivals.
C)   a distinctive competence is a competitively relevant internal activity that a firm performs especially well relative to other internal activities, whereas a core competence is a competitively important activity performed by key strategic allies.
D)   a distinctive competence represents internal activity that is performed with a very high level of proficiency whereas a core competence is a proficiently performed internal activity that is central to a company's strategy and competitiveness.
E)   a core competence usually resides in a company's technology and physical assets (state-of-the-art plants and equipment, attractive real estate locations, and so on)  whereas a distinctive competence usually resides in a company's human capital, information capital, or organizational capital.F) A) and D)
G) C) and D)

Question 5

A company's competitive strength scores

Accepted Answer

A)   pinpoint its strengths and weaknesses against rivals and point to offensive and defensive strategies capable of producing first-rate results.
B)   determine whether a company has a cost-effective value chain.
C)   learn if the company's market opportunities are better than those of its rival.
D)   analyze whether a company is well positioned to gain market share and be the industry's profit leader.
E)   determine whether a company's resource strengths are sufficient to allow it to earn bigger profits than rivals.F) B) and D)
G) B) and C)

Question 6

The most important payoff of doing a thorough SWOT analysis is

Accepted Answer

A)   identifying whether the company's value chain is cost effective vis-à-vis the value chains of rivals.
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.
E)   assisting strategy makers in drawing conclusions about the company's overall situation and crafting a strategy that is well-matched to the company's resources and capabilities, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being.F) B) and E)
G) B) and D)

Question 7

A company that lacks a stand-alone resource that is competitively powerful may attempt to develop a competitive advantage through

Accepted Answer

A)   improved employee training programs, new marketing promotions, or technological enhancements to production processes.
B)   the development of a new business strategy that draws upon existing resource strengths.
C)   extensive strategic planning and resource identification sessions involving managers at all levels of the organization.
D)   bundled resources that enable superior performance of cross-functional capabilities that can be leveraged to support its business model and strategy.
E)   devising clever approaches to turning resource weaknesses into resource strengths.F) A) and B)
G) C) and D)

Question 8

A company resource weakness or competitive deficiency

Accepted Answer

A)   represents a problem that needs to be turned into a strength because weaknesses prevent a firm from being a winner in the marketplace.
B)   causes the company to fall into a lower strategic group than it otherwise could compete in.
C)   prevents a company from having a distinctive competence.
D)   usually stems from having a missing link or links in the industry value chain.
E)   is something a company lacks or does poorly (in comparison to rivals)  or a condition that puts it at a disadvantage in the marketplace.F) A) and B)
G) C) and D)

Question 9

Which of the following is not a component of evaluating a company's competitive strength and cost structure?

Accepted Answer

A)   Evaluating how well the strategy is working
B)   Scanning the environment to determine a company's best and most profitable customers
C)   Assessing whether the company's costs and prices are competitive
D)   Evaluating whether the company is competitively stronger or weaker than key rivals
E)   Pinpointing what strategic issues and problems merit front-burner management attentionF) B) and E)
G) A) and B)

Question 10

A resource-based strategy

Accepted Answer

A)   focuses on exploiting a company's best-executed operating strategy.
B)   is based upon efficient performance of the company's primary value chain activities.
C)   concentrates on minimizing the costs associated with the design of a product or service.
D)   attempts to exploit resources in a manner that offers value to customers in ways rivals are unable to match.
E)   focuses on working with forward channel allies to develop capabilities to outmatch the capabilities of rivals.F) B) and D)
G) A) and E)

Question 11

Which of the following is not a good option for trying to remedy high internal costs vis-à-vis rivals firms?

Accepted Answer

A)   Investing in productivity-enhancing, cost-saving technological improvements
B)   Redesigning the product or some of its components to permit more economical manufacture or assembly
C)   Implementing aggressive strategic resource mapping to permit across-the-board cost reduction
D)   Outsourcing high-cost activities to vendors or contractors who can perform them more economically
E)   Relocating high-cost activities (like manufacturing)  to geographic areas (such as China or Latin America or Eastern Europe)  where they can be performed more cheaplyF) A) and E)
G) D) and E)

Question 12

The value of doing competitive strength assessment is to

Accepted Answer

A)   determine how competitively powerful the company's core competencies are.
B)   learn if the company's market opportunities are better than those of its rivals.
C)   learn whether a company has a distinctive competence.
D)   learn how the company ranks relative to rivals on each of the important factors that determine market success and ascertain whether the company has a net competitive advantage or disadvantage vis-à-vis key rivals.
E)   determine whether a company's resource strengths are sufficient to allow it to earn bigger profits than rivals.F) A) and E)
G) All of the above

Question 13

The common types of valuable resources and competitive capabilities that management should consider when crafting a strategy include

Accepted Answer

A)   a skill, specialized expertise, or competitively important capability.
B)   valuable physical and intangible assets.
C)   valuable human assets and intellectual capital.
D)   valuable organizational assets and competitively valuable alliances.
E)   All of these.F) A) and B)
G) A) and E)

Question 14

A much-used and potent managerial tool for determining whether a company performs particular functions or activities in a manner that represents "the best practice" when both cost and effectiveness are taken into account is

Accepted Answer

A)   competitive strength analysis.
B)   activity-based costing.
C)   resource cost mapping.
D)   SWOT analysis.
E)   benchmarking.F) A) and B)
G) B) and C)

Question 15

One important indicator of how well a company's present strategy is working is whether

Accepted Answer

A)   it has more core competencies than close rivals.
B)   its strategy is built around at least two of the industry's key success factors.
C)   the company is achieving gains in financial strength.
D)   it has been able to create new industry demand through the use of a blue ocean strategy.
E)   it is subject to weaker competitive forces and pressures than close rivals (a good sign) .F) C) and D)
G) D) and E)

Question 16

A company that is at a disadvantage in the marketplace because it lacks competitively valuable resources possessed by rivals

Accepted Answer

A)   should consider divesting assets and making future investments in promising new industries.
B)   may be able to develop substitute resources that accomplish the same objective as the competitively valuable resource possessed by rivals.
C)   can still marshal competitive power in the marketplace by incorporating product or service features desired by niche buyers.
D)   is virtually blockaded from using offensive strategies and must rely on defensive strategies.
E)   should abandon strategy elements that have caused its weakness in the marketplace.F) B) and D)
G) B) and E)

Question 17

A distinctive competence

Accepted Answer

A)   is a competitively important activity that a company performs better than its competitors.
B)   gives a company competitively valuable capability that is unmatched by rivals.
C)   can produce a competitive edge in the marketplace.
D)   has the potential for being the cornerstone of a company's strategy.
E)   All of the above.F) B) and D)
G) A) and B)

Question 18

Which one of the following is inaccurate as concerns a distinctive competence?

Accepted Answer

A)   A distinctive competence is a competitively important activity that a company performs better than its competitors.
B)   A distinctive competence is typically less difficult for rivals to copy than a core competence.
C)   A distinctive competence can be a basis for sustainable competitive advantage.
D)   A distinctive competence has potential for being the cornerstone of the company's strategy.
E)   A distinctive competence gives a company competitively valuable capability that is unmatched by rivals.F) B) and D)
G) A) and D)

Question 19

The two most important parts of SWOT analysis are

Accepted Answer

A)   pinpointing the company's competitive assets and pinpointing its competitive liabilities.
B)   identifying the company's resource strengths and identifying the company's best market opportunities.
C)   identifying the external threats to a company's future profitability and pinpointing how many market opportunities it has.
D)   drawing conclusions from the SWOT listings about the company's overall situation and translating these conclusions into strategic actions to better match the company's strategy to its resource strengths and market opportunities, correct the important weaknesses, and defend against external threats.
E)   making accurate lists of the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and then using these lists as a basis for ascertaining how well the company's strategy is working.F) None of the above
G) C) and D)

Question 20

Which of the following best describes the market opportunities that tend to be most relevant to a particular company?

Accepted Answer

A)   Those market opportunities that provide avenues for taking market share away from close rivals and enhance a company's image as a leader in product innovation and product quality
B)   Those market opportunities that offer the company a chance to raise entry barriers
C)   Those market opportunities that help promote greater diversification of revenues and profits
D)   Those market opportunities that match up well with the firm's financial resources and competitive capabilities, offer the best growth and profitability, and present the most potential for competitive advantage
E)   Those market opportunities that help correct a company's biggest weaknesses and competitive deficienciesF) B) and E)
G) A) and D)

Exam 4: Evaluating a Companys Resources, Cost Position, and Competitiveness

Which one of the following is inaccurate as concerns a distinctive competence?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following is not a good option for trying to remedy high internal costs vis-à-vis rivals firms?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A much-used and potent managerial tool for determining whether a company performs particular functions or activities in a manner that represents "the best practice" when both cost and effectiveness are taken into account is

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following best describes the market opportunities that tend to be most relevant to a particular company?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A company's competitive strength scores

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The common types of valuable resources and competitive capabilities that management should consider when crafting a strategy include

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

SWOT analysis

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The difference between a distinctive competence and a core competence is that

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A resource-based strategy

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

One important indicator of how well a company's present strategy is working is whether

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A company resource weakness or competitive deficiency

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A distinctive competence

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A company that is at a disadvantage in the marketplace because it lacks competitively valuable resources possessed by rivals

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A company that lacks a stand-alone resource that is competitively powerful may attempt to develop a competitive advantage through

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The value of doing competitive strength assessment is to

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The two most important parts of SWOT analysis are

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following is not one of the five questions that comprise the task of evaluating a company's competitive strength and cost structure?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following is not a component of evaluating a company's competitive strength and cost structure?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following is not an example of an external threat to a company's future profitability?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The most important payoff of doing a thorough SWOT analysis is

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified

Correct Answer
verified