When applied to strategy it specifies the range of markets in which an organization will complete?

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_____ is a comprehensive plan for accomplishing an organization's goals

_____ is a way of approaching business opportunities and challenges; it is a comprehensive and ongoing management process aimed at formulating and implementing effective strategies

_____ are those that promote a superior alignment between the organization and its environment and the achievement of strategic goals

A well conceived strategy addresses three areas:

Distinctive competence

Scope

Resource development

_____ is something the organization does exceptionally well

The _____ of a strategy specifies the range of markets in which an organization will compete

_____ is how an organization will distribute its resources across the areas in which it competes

Most businesses today also develop strategies at two distinct levels:

Business level strategy

Corporate level strategy

_____ is the set of strategic alternatives from which an organization chooses as it conducts business in a particular industry or market

_____ is the set of strategic alternatives from which an organization chooses as it manages its operations simultaneously across several industries and several markets

_____ is the set of processes involved in creating or determining the strategies of the organization

_____ is the methods by which strategies are operationalized or executed within the organization

The primary distinction is along the lines of content versus process: the formulation stage determines _____, and the implementation stage focuses on _____

What the strategy is

How the strategy is achieved

_____ is a plan of action that an organization chooses and implements to support specific goals

_____ is a pattern of action that develops over time in an organization in the absence of mission and goals or despite mission and goals

The starting point in formulating strategy is usually _____ analysis

SWOT


Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

In SWOT analysis, the best strategies accomplish an organization's mission by: (3 things)

1. Exploiting an organization's opportunities and strengths while

2. Neutralizing its threats and

3. Avoiding (or correcting) its weaknesses

_____ are skills and capabilities that enable an organization to conceive of and implement its strategies

Strengths may include such things as:

- Deep pool of managerial talent

- Surplus capital

- Unique reputation and/or brand name

- Well established distribution channels

A _____ is an organizational capability possessed by a large number of competing firms; _____ exists when large numbers of competing firms are able to implement the same strategy

A _____ is a strength possessed by only a small number of competing firms (rare among a set of competitors); organization's that exploit this often obtain a _____

Distinctive competence

Competitive advantage

_____ is the practice of duplicating another firm's distinctive competence and thereby implementing a valuable strategy

When a distinctive competence cannot be imitated, strategies that exploit these competencies generate _____ - a competitive advantage that exists after all attempts at strategic imitation have ceased

Sustained competitive advantage

A distinctive competence might not be imitated for 3 reason:

1. The development of it may depend on unique historical circumstances that cannot be replicated

2. Because its nature and character might not be known or understood by competing firms

3. If it is based on complex social phenomena

_____ are skills and capabilities that do not enable an organization to choose and implement strategies that support its mission

Organizational weaknesses

An organization has essentially 2 ways of addressing weaknesses:

1. May need to make investments to obtain the strengths required to supports its mission

2. May need to modify its mission so that it can be accomplished with the skills and capabilities that the organization possesses

Organization's that fail either to recognize or to overcome their weaknesses are likely to suffer from _____ - which is when an organization is not implementing valuable strategies that are being implemented by competing organizations

Evaluating opportunities and threats requires analyzing an organization's _____. _____ are areas that may generate higher performance. _____ are areas that increase the difficulty of an organization's performing at a high level

Environment

Organizational opportunities

Organizational threats

Formulating business level strategies - 3 important classification schemes are:

Porter's generic strategies

The Miles and Snow typology

Strategies based on the product life cycle

According to Michael Porter, organizations may pursue what 3 strategies at the business level?

Differentiation

Overall cost leadership

Focus strategy

_____ seeks to distinguish itself from competitors through the quality of its products or services; firms that implement this are able to charge more than competitors because customers are willing to pay more for the extra value they perceive

Differentiation strategy


(ex. Rolex)

An organization implementing an _____ attempts to gain a competitive advantage by reducing its costs below the costs of competing firms; keep costs low so they can sell products at low prices

Overall cost leadership strategy

A firm pursing a _____ concentrates on a specific regional market, product line, or group of buyers

Focus strategy


(can have either a differentiation focus or an overall cost leadership focus)

A second classification of strategic options was developed by Raymond Miles and Charles Snow; they suggested that business level strategies fall into 1 of 4 categories:

Prospector

Defender

Analyzer

Reactor

A firm that follows a _____ is a highly innovative firm that is constantly seeking out new markets and new opportunities and is oriented toward growth and risk taking

A company that follows a _____ concentrates on protecting its current markets, maintaining stable growth, and serving current customers, generally by lowering its costs and improving the performance of its products

A business that uses an _____ attempts to maintain its current businesses and to be somewhat innovative in new businesses, combines elements of prospectors and defenders

Analyzer strategy


(most large companies use this approach)

A business that follows a _____ has no consistent strategic approach; it drifts with environmental events; these firms do not usually perform as well as organizations that implement other strategies

The _____ is a model that shows how sales volume changes over the life of products; understanding the 4 stages help managers recognize that strategies need to evolve over time

Product life cycle: Introduction stage

- First stage

- Demand may be very high

- Need to focus on getting products out the door

- Manage growth, inventory, and cash flow

Product life cycle: Growth stage

- Second stage

- More firms begin producing the product

- Sales continue to grow

- Ensure quality and delivery

- Begin differentiating your product from competitors

Product life cycle: Maturity stage

- Third stage

- Overall demand growth begins to slow down

- Number of new firms producing the product begins to decline

- This stage is essential if an organization is going to survive

- Product differentiation concerns are still important

- Keeping costs low and beginning the search for new products is also important

Product life cycle: Decline stage

- Fourth stage

- Demand decreases

- Number of organization's producing the product drops

- Organization's that fail to anticipate this stage usually go out of business

After business strategies are formulated, they must be _____

How to implement a differentiation strategy

- Emphasize high quality and high value

- Meet specific customer needs rather than simply reducing costs

- Emphasize creativity, innovation, and response to customers needs

How to implement an overall cost leadership strategy:

- Focus on simple product attributes to meet customer needs in a low cost manner

- Likely to engage in advertising

- Have costs lower than competitors

- Increased volume of production to reduce the per unit costs

- KEEP COSTS LOW

How to implement a prospector strategy:

- Encourage creativity and flexibility

- Adopt a decentralized organization structure

How to implement a defender strategy:

- Protect market from new competitors

- Downplay creativity and innovation in bringing out new products

- Focuses on lowering costs or improving performance of products

How to implement an analyzer strategy:

- Maintain current business and to be somewhat innovative in new business

- Attributes tend to be similar to the prospector and defender strategies

(tight financial controls, high flexibility, efficient production, customized products, creativity, and low costs)

Most large organizations are engaged in several businesses, industries, and markets. Each business or set of businesses within such an organization is frequently referred to as a _____

Strategic business unit (SBU)

Decisions about which businesses, industries, and markets an organization will enter, and how to manage these different businesses are based on an organization's _____; the most important strategic issue at the corporate level concerns organizational _____

Corporate strategy

Diversification

_____ describes the number of different businesses that an organization is engaged in and the extent to which these businesses are related to one another; there are 3 types, name them

Diversification


Single product strategy

Related diversification

Unrelated diversification

An organization that pursues a _____ manufactures just one product or service; this product is often sold in a single market

Most large businesses today operate in several different businesses, industries, or markets. If the businesses are somehow linked, that organization is implementing a strategy of _____

Bases of relatedness in implementing related diversification:

Similar technology

Common distribution and marketing skills

Common brand name and reputation

Common customers

3 primary advantages of related diversification

- Reduces an organization's dependence on any one of its business activities (which reduces risk)

- Reduce overhead costs

- Exploit strengths in more than 1 business (synergy)

Firms that implement a strategy of _____ operate multiple businesses that are not logically associated with one another (very popular in the 1970s)

Unrelated diversification

Unrelated diversification has 2 advantages:

(but the disadvantages outweigh these so almost all organizations have abandoned this)

- Have stable performance over time

- Resource allocation advantages

In implementing a diversification strategy, what 2 questions do organization's face?

1. How will the organization move from a single product strategy to some form of diversification?

2. Once the organization diversifies, how will it manage diversification effectively?

Most organizations do not start out completely diversified, what are ways firms can become diversified?

- Develop new products

- Replacement of suppliers and customers

- Mergers and acquisitions

A company that stops buying supplies from other companies and begins to provide its own supplies has diversified through _____

Backward vertical integration

An organization that stops selling to one customer and sells instead to that customer's customers has diversified through _____

Forward vertical integration

Organizations engage in mergers and acquisitions to diversify through _____ by acquiring former suppliers or former customers; most organizations use them to acquire _____ or _____

Vertical integration


Complementary products

Complementary services

The 2 major tools for managing diversification are:

Organization structure

Portfolio management techniques

_____ are methods that diversified organizations use to determine which businesses to engage in and how to manage these businesses to maximize corporate performance; 2 important techniques of this are:

Portfolio management techniques


BCG matrix

GE business screen

The _____ provides a framework for evaluating the relative performance of businesses in which a diversified organization operates; also prescribes the preferred distribution of cash and other resources

The BCG matrix uses 2 factors to evaluate an organization's set of businesses:

Growth rate of a particular market

The organization's share of that market

The BCG matrix classifies the types of businesses in which a diversified organization can engage as: (name and describe the 4 things)

Dogs - businesses that have a very small share of a market that is not expected to grow


Cash cows - businesses that have a large share of a market that is not expected to grow substantially


Question marks - businesses that have only a small share of a quickly growing market


Stars - businesses that have the largest share of a rapidly growing market

Because the BCG matrix is narrow and overly simplistic the _____ was developed which is a more sophisticated approach to managing diversified business units

The GE business screen considers _____ and _____; these 2 factors are divided into 3 categories

Industry attractiveness (determined by market growth and market share)

Competitive position (market share)

In general, the greater the market growth, the _____ the market, the _____ the capital requirements, and the _____ the competitive intensity, the more attractive an industry will be.

The GE business screen classifies business units as:

Winners

Losers

Question marks

Average businesses

Profit producers

When using the GE business screen, in general, organizations should invest in _____ and _____; should maintain the market position of _____ and _____; and should sell _____

Winners

Question marks


Average businesses

Profit producers


Losers

International businesses have the ability to exploit 3 sources of competitive advantage unavailable to domestic firms (name them)

Global efficiencies (location efficiencies, economies of scale, economies of scope)

Multimarket flexibility

Worldwide learning

International businesses typically adopt 1 of 4 strategic alternatives in their attempt to balance the three goals of global efficiencies, multimarket flexibility, and worldwide learning (name them)

Home replication strategy

Multidomestic strategy

Global strategy

_____ is an international strategy in which a company takes what it does exceptionally well in its home market and attempts to duplicate it in foreign markets

Home replication strategy

_____ is an international strategy where a firm manages itself as a collection of relatively independent operating subsidiaries, each of which focuses on a specific domestic market

_____ is an international strategy where a firm views the world as a single marketplace and has its primary goal the creation of standardized goods and services that will address the needs of customers worldwide

When applied to strategy it specifies the range of markets in which an organization will compete?

scope of a strategy specifies the range of markets in which the organization will compete. resource deployment is how a company will distribute its resources across various areas.

What are 3 levels of strategy within an organization?

The three levels are corporate level strategy, business level strategy, and functional strategy. These different levels of strategy enable business leaders to set business goals from the highest corporate level to the bottom functional level.

What is the strategic planning process?

Strategic planning is a process in which an organization's leaders define their vision for the future and identify their organization's goals and objectives. The process includes establishing the sequence in which those goals should be realized so that the organization can reach its stated vision.

How is strategic planning carried out at different levels of the organization?

Strategic planning can occur at different levels (corporate, business, and functional) in an organization. The number of levels may vary. However, if a company has multiple planning levels, the plans must be consistent, and all must help achieve the overall goals of the corporation.