Management

Front 1

What is strategy? (5)

Back 1

consists of the competitive moves and business approaches that managers are employing to:
1. grow the business
2. attract and please customers
3. compete successfully
4. conduct operations
5.achieve the targeted levels of organizational performance

Front 2

What is a sustainable competitive advantage and how does it relate to strategy?

Back 2

- when an attractive number of buyers prefer its products or services over the offerings of competitors AND
- when the basis for this preference is durable

Front 3

What is a company’s business model

Back 3

explains the rationale for why its business approach and strategy will be a money maker

Front 4

how is strategy different from a business model

Back 4

absent the ability to deliver good profitability, the strategy is not viable and the survival of the business is in doubt

Front 5

Identify and describe the 5 tasks of strategic management.

Back 5

1. developing a strategic vision
2. setting objectives
3. crafting a strategy to achieve the objectives
4. implementing and executing the chosen strategy efficiently and effectively
5. evaluating the performance and initiating corrective adjustments

Front 6

Explain in some detail Figure 2.1 in the book.

Back 6

starts at phase 1 which is developing a strategic vision and progress through phase 5 of evaluating the performance
- after phase 5 it goes back and revises each phase as needed in light of actual performance, changing conditions, new opportunities, and new ideas

Front 7

What is a strategic vision?

Back 7

describes a route a company plans to take in developing and strengthening its business
- it lays out the company's strategic course in preparing for the future

Front 8

What is a mission statement?

Back 8

says much more about the company's present scope and purpose
- who we are, what we do, and why we are here

Front 9

How are strategic visions and mission statements different?

Back 9

strategic vision portrays a company's future business scope

mission typically describes it's present business and purpose

Front 10

Why is it important to develop a strategic vision? (6)

Back 10

- delineates managements aspirations for busines
- provides a panoramic view of where we are going
- charts a strategic path
- is distinctive and specific to an organization
- captures the emotuons of employees and steers them in common direction
- is challenging and a bit out of reach

Front 11

Why is communicating your strategic vision important?

Back 11

1. Give the organization a sense of direction, mold organizational identity, and create a committed enterprise
2. Illuminate the company’s directional path
3. Provide managers with a reference point to
- Make strategic decisions
- Translate the vision into hard-edgedobjectives and strategies
- Prepare the company for the future

Front 12

what are company values

Back 12

the beliefs, traits, and behavioral nirms that a company personnel are expected to display

Front 13

why should values be linked to a company vision

Back 13

to incorporate the values into company operations and work practices
- used as benchmarks for job appraisals, promotions, and rewards

Front 14

What are objectives, what is the purpose of setting objectives, and why is it important to set objectives?

Back 14

objectives- organizations performance targets, results management wants to acheive
- important for avoiding ho-hum results

Front 15

strategic objectives

Back 15

relate to target outcomes that indicate a company is strengthening its market standing, competitive vitality and future business prospects

Front 16

financial objectives

Back 16

relate to the financial performance targets management has established

Front 17

Explain the need for a balanced scorecard in terms of setting objectives.

Back 17

placing balanced emphasis on achieving both types of objectives

Front 18

What is strategic intent and how does it relate to a company’s objectives?

Back 18

relentlessly pursuing an ambitious strategic objective
- its the concentrating full force of its resources and competitive actions on achieving that objective

Front 19

What are long-range and short-range objectives and why are they important?

Back 19

long term- to be achieved in 3 to 5 years. calls for actions now that permit reach target later
short term - targets to be achieved soon. they are milestones or stair steps for reaching long term performance targets

Front 20

Why are objectives needed at all organizational levels?

Back 20

company objectives need to be broken down into performance targets for each seperate business. wont reach full potential without them reaching for their own goals.
- a top down approach

Front 21

What is a strategic plan and what 3 strategic management tasks does it consist of?

Back 21

lays out its future direction, performance targets, and strategy
1. strategic vision
2. objectives
3. strategy

Front 22

why is strategy important

Back 22

- a compelling need exists for managers to proactively shape how a firms business will be conducted
- a stategy-focused firm is more likely to be a strong bottom-line performer that one that views startegy as secondary

Front 23

What is strategy formulation?

Back 23

How to grow the business
How to please customers
How to outcompete rivals
How to respond to changing market conditions
How to manage each functionalpiece of the business
How to achieve targeted levels of performance

Front 24

Who is responsible for crafting and executing strategy?

Back 24

CEO- ultimate responsibility for leadering strategic making process
SENIOR EXECUTIVES- influential roles involving their areas of responsibilities
MANAGERS- on the scene company personnel with detailed familiarity

Front 25

Identify and describe the 4 different levels of a company’s strategy making hierarchy (i.e., corporate, business, functional, operating)? (see Figure 2.2)

Back 25

corporate strategy - CEO and other senior executives
business strategy - general managers
- functional strategies within each business - by head of major functional activities within a business
operating strategies within each business - by brand managers,

Front 26

Identify and explain the 3 basic tests (or questions) of a winning strategy?

Back 26

1. how well does the strategy fit the company's situation
2. is the strategy helping the company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage
3. is the strategy resulting in better company performance

Front 27

What is strategy implementation and what does it involve?

Back 27

- converting plans into actions
involves building a capable organization, allocating resources, establishing strategy-supportive policies, instituting the best practices for continuous improvement, installing systems, motivating people, rewards results, creating the right culture, and being a leader to drive the process forward

Front 28

What is involved with evaluation, review, and adjustment and why is this 5th task important?

Back 28

- customer needs and comp. conditions change
- new opportunities appear
- one or more aspects of executing strategy may not go well
- new managers with different ideas
- organizational learning occurs
NOT ONE TIME EXERCISE

Front 29

Who performs the five tasks of strategic management?

Back 29

senior executives

Front 30

What is the role of the Board of Directors?

Back 30

exercise strong oversight to ensure five tasks of strategic management are executed to benefit
shareholders or stakeholders
- make sure executive actionsa re not only proper but also aligned with interests of stakeholders
- be inquiring critics and overseers
- evaluate caliber of senior executives strategy making skill
- institute a reward plan for top executives that serve interests of stakeholders and shareholders
- oversee company's financial actg.

Front 31

Why is it important to link strategy with ethics/social responsibility?

Back 31

to display ethical behaviors
demonstrate character and personal integrity in actions and decisions

Front 32

Identify and briefly explain 6 key leadership roles in the strategic management process.

Back 32

1. stay on top of whats happening
2. make sure company has good strategic plan
3. put constructive pressure on company to achieve good results
4. push corrective actions to improve overall strategic performance
5. lead development of stronger core competencies and competitive capabilities
6. display ethical integrity and lead social responsibility initiatives

Front 33

trustworthy signs of well management

Back 33

good strategy. good execution

Front 34

Which of the following statements about a company's strategy is true?

Back 34

Managers at all companies face three central questions in thinking strategically about their company's present circumstances and prospects: What's the company's present situation? Where does the company need to go from here? How should it get there?

Front 35

The competitive moves and business approaches a company's management are using grow the business, attract and please customers, compete successfully, conduct operations, and achieve the targeted levels of organizational performance is referred to as its

Back 35

strategy

Front 36

Which one of the following is not related to actions and approaches that comprise a company's strategy?

Back 36

How to prove to shareholders that the company's business model is viable

Front 37

In committing to a particular strategy, a company's managers are in effect saying

Back 37

"Among all the many different business approaches and ways of competing we could have chosen, we have decided to employ this particular combination of competitive and operating approaches in moving the company in the intended direction, strengthening its market position and competitiveness, and boosting performance."

Front 38

The heart and soul of any strategy is

Back 38

the actions and moves in the marketplace that managers are taking to improve the company's financial performance, strengthen its long-term competitive position, and gain a competitive edge over rivals.

Front 39

Which of the following is not one of the most frequently used strategic approaches to building competitive advantage?

Back 39

Striving for a competitive edge based on bigger profit margins

Front 40

A company's strategy and its quest for competitive advantage are tightly related because

Back 40

a company is almost certain to have better profits and financial performance when its strategy produces a competitive advantage over rivals.

Front 41

A company achieves sustainable competitive advantage when

Back 41

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

Front 42

Which one of the following is not something to look for in identifying a company's strategy?

Back 42

The company's actions to validate and improve upon its business model

Front 43

Company strategies evolve because

Back 43

of the ongoing need to respond to changing market conditions, advancing technology, the fresh moves of competitors, shifting buyer needs and preferences, emerging market opportunities, new ideas for improving the strategy, and any evidence that indicates the strategy is not working well.

Front 44

It is normal for a company's strategy to end up being

Back 44

a blend of proactive actions to improve the company's competitiveness and financial performance and as-needed reactions to unanticipated developments and fresh market conditions.

Front 45

A company's strategy can be considered "ethical"

Back 45

so long as its actions and behaviors can pass the test of "moral scrutiny" and are aboveboard in the sense of not being shady or unconscionable, injurious to others, or unnecessarily harmful to the environment.

Front 46

In crafting an ethical strategy, company managers

Back 46

have to go beyond what strategic actions and behaviors are legal and address whether all the various elements of the company's strategy can pass the test of moral scrutiny.

Front 47

A company's business model

Back 47

is management's rationale for how the strategy will be a moneymaker—absent the ability to deliver good profitability, the strategy is not viable and the survival of the business is in doubt.

Front 48

The difference between a company's strategy and a company's business model is that

Back 48

strategy relates broadly to a company's action plan for running the business and building competitive advantage, while its business model relates to whether the revenues and costs flowing from the strategy will allow the business to earn satisfactory profits and returns on investment.

Front 49

A viable business model

Back 49

must generate revenues sufficient to cover costs and deliver good profitability.

Front 50

A winning strategy is one that

Back 50

fits the company's internal and external situation, builds sustainable competitive advantage, and boosts company performance.

Front 51

Crafting and executing strategy are top-priority managerial tasks because

Back 51

there is a compelling need for managers to proactively shape how the company's business will be conducted and because a strategy-focused organization is more likely to be a strong bottom-line performer.

Front 52

The most trustworthy signs of a well-managed company are

Back 52

good strategy and good strategy execution.

Front 53

Which one of the following is not an integral part of the managerial process of crafting and executing strategy?

Back 53

Choosing a strategic intent

Front 54

A strategic vision for a company

Back 54

delineates management's aspirations for the business, providing a panoramic view of "where we are going" and a convincing rationale for why this makes good business sense for the company—a strategic vision thus points an organization in a particular direction and charts a strategic path for it to follow in preparing for the future.

Front 55

Which of the following is not an important consideration in deciding to commit to one directional path versus another?

Back 55

Where should we head in order to prove that our business model is viable and that our strategy is working?

Front 56

The difference between a company's mission statement and the concept of a strategic vision is that

Back 56

a mission statement typically concerns an enterprise's present business scope and purpose—"who we are, what we do, and why we are here"—whereas the focus of a strategic vision is on the direction the company is headed and what its future product-customer-market-technology focus will be.

Front 57

Which one of the following is not a characteristic of an effectively-worded strategic vision statement (see Table 2.2, as well as the discussion on page 26)?

Back 57

Concrete and unambiguous (leaves no doubt as to what the company is trying to accomplish for shareholders)

Front 58

According to both the text discussion and the summary in Table 2.3, which of the following is not a common shortcoming of company vision statements?

Back 58

Lacking in analysis—based more on managerial emotion and excessive ambition than on what is realistically achievable

Front 59

Which of the following statements about a company's values is false?

Back 59

At all but a few companies, the stated values are mostly window-dressing and serve mainly to embellish the company's public image.

Front 60

When there's an order of magnitude change in a company's environment that dramatically alters its prospects and mandates radical revision of its strategic course, the company is said to have encountered

Back 60

a strategic inflection point.

Front 61

A company's objectives or performance targets

Back 61

represent a managerial commitment to achieving specified outcomes and results; they function as yardsticks for tracking the company's progress and performance—well-stated objectives are quantifiable, or measurable, and contain a deadline for achievement.

Front 62

Which of the following represents the best example of a well-stated strategic objective (as opposed to a well-stated financial objective)?

Back 62

Increase market share from 17% to 22% and achieve the lowest overall costs of any producer in the industry, both within three years

Front 63

Establishing and achieving strategic objectives merits very high priority on management's agenda because

Back 63

the surest path to boosting company profitability quarter after quarter and year after year is to relentlessly pursue strategic outcomes that strengthen the company's market position and produce a growing competitive advantage over rivals.

Front 64

Which of the following statements about objectives is false?

Back 64

A company's managers are well-advised to give the achievement of financial objectives a much higher priority than the achievement of strategic objectives.

Front 65

A balanced scorecard for measuring company performance

Back 65

entails setting both financial and strategic objectives and putting balanced emphasis on their achievement.

Front 66

A company exhibits strategic intent when

Back 66

it relentlessly pursues an ambitious strategic objective and concentrates its full resources and competitive actions on achieving that objective.

Front 67

The task of crafting a strategy is

Back 67

a job for a company's whole management team—senior executives plus the managers of business units, operating divisions, functional departments, manufacturing plants, and sales districts (as per the strategy-making hierarchy shown in Figure 2.2).

Front 68

As per Figure 2.2, the strategy-making hierarchy in a single business company consists of

Back 68

business strategy, functional strategies, and operating strategies, whereas in a diversified company it consists of corporate strategy, business strategies (one for each business the diversified company is in), functional strategies, and operating strategies.

Front 69

A company's strategic plan consists of

Back 69

management's vision of where the company is headed, the established financial and strategic objectives, and management's strategy to achieve the objectives and move the company along the chosen strategic path.

Front 70

Leading the drive for good strategy execution and operating excellence does not include which one of the following?

Back 70

Designing an effective motivational and reward system, instituting policies and procedures that are supportive of good strategy execution, and being a proactive and forceful decision-maker

Front 71

Successfully leading the effort to instill a results-oriented work climate and put constructive pressure on the organization to achieve good results

Back 71

entails such actions as promoting a culture of innovation and high performance, emphasizing individual initiative and creativity, and respecting the contribution of individuals and groups.

Front 72

Which one of the following is not among the chief duties/responsibilities of a company's board of directors insofar as the strategy-making, strategy-executing process is concerned?

Back 72

Directing senior executives as to what the company's long-term direction, objectives, business model, and strategy should be and, further, closely supervising senior executives in their efforts to implement and execute the strategy

Front 73

questions that needs to be answered in thinking strategically about a company's industry and competitive environment?

Back 73

What kinds of competitive forces are industry members facing, and how strong is each force?

What market positions do industry rivals occupy—who is strongly/weakly positioned and who is not?

What are the key factors for future competitive success?

What forces are driving changes in the industry, and what impact will these changes have on competitive intensity and industry profitability?

Front 74

In identifying an industry's dominant economic features, there is a need to consider such things as

Back 74

market size and growth rate, the number of buyers, the scope of competitive rivalry, the number of rivals, demand-supply conditions, product innovation, the degree of product differentiation, the presence of scale economies and/or learning/experience curve effects, and the pace of technological change.

Front 75

According to both the text discussion and the summary in Figure 3.4, which of the following is not among the factors that determine whether competitive rivalry among industry members is strong, moderate, or weak?

Back 75

Whether industry members are vertically integrated and whether the industry is characterized by significant scale economies and rapid technological change

Front 76

The rivalry among competing sellers in an industry intensifies

Back 76

as the number of rivals increases and as they become more equal in size and competitive capability.

Front 77

Factors that cause the rivalry among competing sellers to be weak include

Back 77

strong buyer loyalty, rapid growth in buyer demand, and so many industry rivals that any one company's actions have little impact on the businesses of its rivals.

Front 78

According to both the text discussion and the summary in Figure 3.5, competitive pressures associated with the threat of new entrants grow stronger when

Back 78

industry members are looking to expand their market reach by entering product segments or geographic areas where they currently do not have a presence, when current industry members are unable or unwilling to strongly contest the entry of newcomers, and when a newcomer can reasonably expect to earn attractive profits.

Front 79

Which of the following conditions generally raise the barriers to entering an industry?

Back 79

High capital requirements, difficulties in building a network of distributors-retailers and securing adequate space on retailers' shelves, and the likelihood that industry incumbents will strongly contest the efforts of new entrants to gain a market foothold

Front 80

Based on both the chapter discussion and the summary in Figure 3.6, competitive pressures stemming from substitute products are weaker when

Back 80

substitutes are higher-priced, buyers don't believe substitute products have equal or better features, and buyers' costs of switching to substitutes are relatively high.

Front 81

factors in determining whether the suppliers to an industry are a source of strong, moderate, or weak competitive pressures?

Back 81

Whether certain needed inputs are in short supply and whether the item being supplied is a standard commodity that is readily available from many suppliers at the going market price

Whether it is difficult or costly for industry members to switch their purchases from one supplier to another or to switch to attractive substitute inputs

Whether industry members are major customers of suppliers and whether suppliers' sales to members of this one industry constitute a big percentage of their total sales

Whether certain suppliers provide a differentiated input that enhances the performance or quality of the industry's product

Front 82

reasons that industry rivals are often motivated to enter into strategic partnerships with key suppliers?

Back 82

To enhance the quality of parts and components being supplied and/or to reduce defect rates

To speed the availability of next-generation components

To squeeze out important cost savings for both themselves and their suppliers

To reduce inventory and logistics costs

Front 83

Whether the buyers of an industry's product have strong or weak bargaining leverage over the terms and conditions of sale depends on

Back 83

whether buyers purchase in relatively large or small quantities, whether the costs of switching to competing brands or to substitute products are high or low, and how well informed buyers are about sellers' prices, products, and costs.

Front 84

As a rule, the stronger the collective impact of the five competitive forces,

Back 84

the lower the combined profitability of industry participants and the more "competitively unattractive" is the industry environment.

Front 85

The task of driving forces analysis is to

Back 85

identify what the driving forces are, assess whether the drivers of change are, on the whole, acting to make the industry more or less attractive, and determine what strategy changes are needed to prepare for the impacts of the driving forces.

Front 86

the most common types of driving forces?

Back 86

Product innovation, marketing innovation, increasing globalization of the industry, and reductions in uncertainty and business risk

Changes in the long-term industry growth rate, changes in who buys the product and how they use it, and growing buyer preferences for differentiated products

Emerging new Internet applications and capabilities, technological change, and the diffusion of technical know-how across more companies and more countries

Changes in cost and efficiency, the entry or exit of major firms, and changing societal concerns, attitudes, and lifestyles

Front 87

The procedure for constructing a strategic group map involves

Back 87

identifying the competitive characteristics that differentiate firms' market positions and competitive approaches.

plotting the firms on a two-variable or two-dimensional map, drawing circles around those firms occupying about the same strategy space, and making the size of the circles for each strategic group proportional to the size of its members' share of total industry sales revenues.

Front 88

A strategic group map is a helpful analytical tool for

Back 88

determining who competes most closely with whom; evaluating whether industry driving forces and competitive pressures favor some strategic groups and hurt others; and ascertaining whether the profit potential of different strategic groups varies due to the strengths and weaknesses in each group's respective market positions.

Front 89

Trying to determine what strategic moves rivals are likely to make next

Back 89

entails understanding rivals' strategies, watching their actions on a regular basis, sizing up their strengths and weaknesses, gauging how well they are faring in the marketplace, assessing how much pressure they are under to improve their performance, and evaluating the relative merits of their strategic options and alternatives so as to better predict their likely next moves.

Front 90

An industry's key success factors

Back 90

concern the particular strategy elements, product attributes, resources, competencies, competitive capabilities, and market achievements that spell the difference between being a strong competitor and a weak competitor—and sometimes between profit and loss.

Front 91

Which of the following is not an important factor for company managers to consider in drawing conclusions about whether the industry presents an attractive opportunity?

Back 91

How many of the industry's key success factors do companies in the industry typically incorporate into their strategies

Front 92

Which one of the following statements is false?

Back 92

A company's macro-environment includes all relevant external factors and influences that bear upon a company's decision to move to a different strategic group, change its strategic intent, or modify its objectives, strategy, or business model.

Front 93

Evaluating a company's resources and competitive position does not include developing answers to which one of the following questions?

Back 93

How good is the company's value chain?

Front 94

Which one of the following is not helpful in identifying the components of a single-business company's strategy?

Back 94

The company's resource strengths and weaknesses

Front 95

good indicator of how well a company's present strategy is working?

Back 95

Whether its sales are growing faster than, slower than, or about the same pace as the market as a whole, thus resulting in a rising, falling, or stable market share.
B) How well the company stacks up against rivals on such factors as technology, product quality, customer service, product innovation, delivery time, speed in getting new products to market, and other factors on which buyers base their choice of brands
C) Whether the firm's profit margins are increasing or decreasing and how well its margins compare to rival firms' margins
The firm's image and reputation with its customers and whether the company's overall financial strength and credit rating are improving or on the decline

Front 96

SWOT analysis

Back 96

consists of three steps (as shown in Figure 4.2): identifying a company's resource strengths and weaknesses and its opportunities and threats, drawing conclusions about the company's overall situation, and translating the conclusions into strategic actions to improve the company's strategy and business prospects.
B) provides a quick overview of where on the scale from "alarmingly weak" to "exceptionally strong" the attractiveness of the company's overall business situation ranks.
C) helps provide a basis for matching the company's strategy to its internal resource capabilities and its external opportunities and threats.
D) helps identify a company's core competencies and competitive capabilities and the seriousness of its resource weaknesses and competitive deficiencies.

Front 97

A core competence

Back 97

is typically knowledge-based, residing in people and in a company's intellectual capital and not in its assets on the balance sheet; moreover, a core competence tends to be grounded in cross-department combinations of knowledge and expertise rather than being the product of a single department or work group.

Front 98

Which one of the following groups of characteristics is least likely to represent company strengths or competitive assets?

Back 98

More plants than rivals, more employees than rivals, being in business more years than rivals, and smaller capital investment expenditures than rivals

Front 99

A distinctive competence

Back 99

is a more important competitive asset than a core competence.
B) represents uniquely strong capability relative to rival companies—it qualifies as a competitively superior resource strength with competitive advantage potential.
C) is a competitively important value chain activity that a company performs better than its rivals.
D) can underpin and add real punch to a company's strategy.

Front 100

measures of the competitive power of a company's resource strengths?

Back 100

How hard it is for competitors to copy the resource strength

Whether a company's resource is really competitively valuable

How easily the resource or capability can be trumped by the substitute resources/capabilities of rivals

Whether the resource or capability is rare and something rivals lack

Front 101

The industry or market opportunities that are most relevant to a company and those which its strategy should aim at capturing include

Back 101

opportunities that are well-suited to the company's competitive capabilities and resource strengths.

opportunities which the company has the financial resources to pursue.

opportunities that offer important avenues for growth.

opportunities where the company has the greatest potential for competitive advantage.

Front 102

examples of an external threat to a company's future business prospects

Back 102

Mounting intensity of competition among industry rivals and costly new regulatory requirements

Shifts in buyer needs and preferences away from using the industry's product

Vulnerability to unfavorable industry driving forces and adverse demographic changes that are likely to curtail demand for the industry's product

Growing bargaining power on the part of customers and/or suppliers

Front 103

Which of the following analytical tools are particularly useful for determining whether a company's prices and costs are competitive?

Back 103

Value chain analysis and benchmarking.

Front 104

A company's value chain consists of

Back 104

the collection of activities it performs in the course of designing, producing, marketing, delivering, and supporting its product or service and delivering value to customers—these activities can be grouped into (a) the primary activities that are foremost in creating value for customers and (b) the related support activities that facilitate and enhance the performance of the primary activities.

Front 105

Benchmarking

Back 105

is a tool for learning which companies are best at performing particular activities and then using their techniques (or "best practices") to improve the cost and effectiveness of a company's own internal activities.

Front 106

A company's cost competitiveness is largely a function of

Back 106

how efficiently it manages its overall value chain activities relative to how efficiently competitors manage theirs.

Front 107

Strategic actions to eliminate a cost disadvantage

Back 107

can aim at lowering costs (1) in the suppliers' part of the industry value chain, (2) in a company's own internally-performed activities, and/or (3) in the forward channel portion of the value chain.

Front 108

The options for attacking the high costs of items purchased from suppliers does not include which one of the following?

Back 108

Raising prices to customers (so as to cover the high costs)

Front 109

For a company to translate performance of value chain activities into competitive advantage, it

Back 109

must (1) develop core competencies and maybe a distinctive competence that rivals don't have or can't quite match and that are instrumental in helping it deliver attractive value to customers or (2) be more cost efficient in how it performs value chain activities such that it has a low-cost advantage.

Front 110

Doing a weighted competitive strength assessment of how a company compares against key rivals involves

Back 110

developing a list of 6 to 10 telling measures of competitive strength and then assigning weights to each of these strength measures that reflects their relative importance.

rating each company on each strength measure (using a scale of 1 to 10) and then multiplying the strength rating by the assigned weight to get a weighted strength score.

summing each company's weighted strength scores on the various strength measures to get an overall measure of competitive strength for each competitor.

drawing conclusions about the size of a company's net competitive advantage or disadvantage vis-à-vis its rivals (with the size of the advantage/disadvantage being indicated by the sizes of the differences among the companies' competitive strength scores).

Front 111

something that can be learned from doing a competitive strength assessment?

Back 111

Identifying the competitive factors where a company is strongest and weakest vis-à-vis key rivals and the kinds of offensive/defensive actions the company can use to exploit its competitive strengths and reduce its competitive vulnerabilities

Which of the rated companies is competitively strongest and what size competitive advantage it enjoys

Whether a company has a net competitive advantage or is a net competitive disadvantage relative to key rivals (with the size of the advantage/disadvantage being indicated by the differences among the companies' competitive strength scores)

Which rival company is competitively weakest and the areas where it is most vulnerable to competitive attack—when a company has important competitive strengths in areas where one or more rivals are weak, it makes sense to consider offensive moves to exploit rivals' competitive weaknesses

Front 112

Identifying the strategic issues that company managers need to address

Back 112

a. involves using the results of both industry and competitive analysis and what has been learned from evaluating the company's present strategy, SWOT analysis, and the evaluations of the company's own competitiveness.
B) entails developing a "worry list" of "how to…", "whether to….", and "what to do about….."
C) is important because it sets the agenda for deciding what actions to take next to improve the company's performance and business outlook—a good strategy must include actions to deal with all the strategic issues and problems that stand in the way of the company's future success.
D) entails locking in on what challenges the company has to overcome in order to be financially and competitively successful in the years ahead.

Front 113

Which of the following statements is false?

Back 113

Because the value chains of rival companies tend to be quite similar, costs outside a company's own value chain do not affect whether it is at a cost advantage or disadvantage vis-à-vis key rivals.