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BUAD 453 Strat Exam Questions And Answers
What are the three Ds of the strategic planning process? -ANSWER Direction Deployment Development
What do the 6 Steps of the strategic planning process consist of? - ANSWER STEP 1: Define the corporate mission, vision, values, and goals.
STEP 2 or 3: Diagnose externally: Conduct an external analysis with regard to understanding the macro environment, as well as the competitive/ industry environment.
STEP 2 or 3: Diagnose internally: We carry out an internal analysis focused on recognizing resources/capabilities and distinctive strengths (core capabilities) that could be a source of competitive advantage.
STEP 4: Based on the diagnosis from internal and external analyses, we
develop alternatives and select amongst them.
STEP 5: Deliver - Implement the decisions and track process using the balanced scorecard.
STEP 6: Feedback loop.
What are some examples of corporate core competencies? Innovation capability
Supply chain management
Brand reputation
What are typical levels of strategy that a company must consider? Corporate Strategy: Overall direction of the company.
Business Strategy: How the company competes in a particular market.
Functional Strategy: Specific areas like marketing, HR, or R&D.
What are the four conditions for organizational success? Clear goals and objectives.
Strong leadership.
Effective utilization of resources.
Constant monitoring and adopting.
What is a strategic positioning continuum? - ANS The continuum runs from cost leadership at one extreme where the focus is cost and, as a rule, high efficiency to differentiation at the other extreme where the focus is on unique products and, usually, higher prices.
How would you distinguish cost leaders? - ANS Highly efficient production Economies of scale Competitive pricing, like Walmart or Southwest Airlines
How would you identify a differentiator? - ANS Unique product characteristics Strong brand identity Can command premium pricing, for instance, Apple or Tesla.
What does STEEP stand for? -ANywER Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political
What is each of these components as an example for the premium chocolate industry? -ANywER Social: Organic chocolate demanded by health-conscious consumers.
Technological: Innovations in sustainable packaging.
Economic: Increased raw material costs, such as cocoa.
Environmental: Fair trade and sustainable farming.
Political: Trade tariffs on Cocoa imports.
To what purpose is VRIO analysis put? - ANSWER To determine if the resource or capability provides a sustainable competitive advantage.
What are the questions to be asked at each stage? ANSWER Value: Does it add value? Rarity: Does it rare? Imitability: Is it hard to imitate? Organization: Is the firm organized to exploit it?
What is the purpose of a value chain analysis? ANSWER To understand how value is created at each step of the business process, it shows areas where improvement or competitive advantage can be made.
Value Chain Analysis
What are the two types of activities in value chain analysis? - ANSWER Primary Activities: Inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing, sales, and services.
Support Activities: Procurement, technology development, HR, and firm infrastructure.
SWOT
What does SWOT stand for? - ANSWER Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
What is a SWOT analysis used to do? - ANSWER Assess internal and external factors affecting business success.
What are the dimensions of a Balanced Scorecard? Financial: Profitability, revenue growth.
Customer: Customer satisfaction, retention.
Internal Processes: Efficiency, quality.
Learning and Growth: Employee development, innovation.
How does a balanced scorecard change how business success is understood? -
ANSWER It helps in setting objectives in a holistic manner that are congruent with the strategy but impact different elements of the organization. It also helps track organizational performance over time to ensure that the objectives are achieved in line with the overall strategy.
The view of the firm from the customers' perspective, internal business processes, and learning and growth of employees.
What examples of measures exist for each of the dimensions? - ANSWER FInancial- shareholder, Internal Business Processes-, Learning and Growth, Customer-vision.
Limitations of balanced scorecard? - ANSWER Generic, list of metrics.
What is definition and purpose competitor analysis? - ANSWER use a systematic approach to (1) identify current and future competitive rivals to a firm, (2) assess the strengths and weaknesses of current and future competitive rivals, (3) determine a match between a competitor's strategies and capabilities, (4) analyze the future plans and intentions of competitive rivals, and (5) predict a competitor's reaction to competitive initiatives launched by a firm.
What does an S-Curve consist of? - ANSWER Introduction.
Growth.
Maturity.
Decline.
What is a Blue Ocean strategy? - ANSWER A Strategy, which looks to exploit new, uncontested market spaces by not sticking to the conventional markets.
At what stage of the S-Curve is a Blue ocean normally developed? - ANSWER Introduction
What is a Red Ocean strategy? - ANSWER INTENSE competition
At what S-Curve stage does one normally see a red ocean strategy being developed? - ANSWER Maturity
Describe ways business can diversify to increase value? - ANSWER Growth i.e. Disney with multiple theme parks, consumer products, studio production and media networks.
